The Social Democrat Party and the use of political marketing in the 2016 elections in Romania

The 2016 parliamentary elections were a turning point in political campaigning in Romania. With the major changes brought to the law on political campaigns and party financing, the political parties searched new avenues to reach out effectively to voters. Our analysis focuses on the political campaign conducted by the Social Democrat Party (PSD) and closely investigates their political strategy, branding, targeting and the communication tools used during the 2016 parliamentary campaign, in order to identify the main approach changes and which communication tools were the most effective. To get our answers we centralize and compare the social media activity (FB posts, online campaigns), the activity on the television and the major outdoor campaigning elements - banners and posters. Also, we took into account the precampaign period used to increase awareness and to gently integrate the main political message among the voters.