Democratic Party's Political Marketing Communication Strategy in the 2024 Election

Abstract

The 2024 Indonesian General Election presented a distinct situation in political marketing for the Democratic Party, especially with a switch from the Coalition for Change to the Indonesia Maju Coalition and a rebranding with Prabowo-Gibran. This transition was accompanied by a strategy of using Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) as the current political figure of the party and the political legacy of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). This resulted in a complex interaction between the party identity, political personalization, coalition positioning, and changing voter behavior. Against this background, this study investigated how the Democratic Party applied push, pull and pass marketing in its electoral communication for 2024. The study was designed as a descriptive qualitative study and utilized Newman's Push-Pull-Pass political marketing framework. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with Democratic Party insiders and political observers, along with direct observation, official party social-media documentation, national media coverage and relevant political documents. The data were analyzed thematically with the aid of NVivo 12 Plus, such as mother-node and child-node coding, Crosstab Query and Items Clustered by Coding Similarity. Source and data triangulation were employed to strengthen the analytical validity. The results show an integrated but uneven political marketing strategy. Push marketing was dominant, especially through face-to-face and door-to-door activities; pull marketing was through digital branding and social-media communication; pass marketing relied on volunteers, youth and religious leaders, and political networks. Moreover, the study identifies an integration–conversion paradox: despite the Democratic Party’s hybrid communication strategy, encompassing interpersonal, digital, and socio-political networks, the integration was not sufficiently converted into distinctive voter engagement and electoral support. The suggestion is that the problem for the party was not the lack of political marketing channels but the strategic congruence of communication, political positioning, personalization and voter conversion in a fast-changing electoral environment.

Keywords: Political communication, political marketing, push marketing, digital communication, 2024 Election.

ABSTRAK

Pemilihan Umum Indonesia 2024 menghadirkan situasi unik dalam pemasaran politik bagi Partai Demokrat, terutama dengan beralihnya partai dari Koalisi Perubahan ke Koalisi Indonesia Maju serta langkah rebranding yang mengusung pasangan Prabowo-Gibran. Transisi ini disertai dengan strategi yang memanfaatkan sosok Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) sebagai tokoh politik partai saat ini serta warisan politik Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). Hal ini menghasilkan interaksi yang kompleks antara identitas partai, personalisasi politik, posisi koalisi, dan perubahan perilaku pemilih. Berlatar belakang kondisi tersebut, penelitian ini mengkaji bagaimana Partai Demokrat menerapkan strategi pemasaran push, pull, dan pass dalam komunikasi elektoralnya untuk Pemilu 2024. Penelitian ini dirancang sebagai studi kualitatif deskriptif dengan menggunakan kerangka kerja pemasaran politik Push-Pull-Pass dari Newman. Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara semi-terstruktur dengan pihak internal Partai Demokrat dan pengamat politik, serta melalui observasi langsung, dokumentasi media sosial resmi partai, liputan media nasional, dan dokumen politik terkait. Data dianalisis secara tematis dengan bantuan perangkat lunak NVivo 12 Plus, mencakup pengodean mother-node dan child-node, Crosstab Query, serta Items Clustered by Coding Similarity. Triangulasi sumber dan data digunakan untuk memperkuat validitas analisis. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya strategi pemasaran politik yang terintegrasi namun tidak merata. Strategi push marketing mendominasi, terutama melalui kegiatan tatap muka dan kunjungan dari pintu ke pintu (door-to-door); pull marketing dilakukan melalui branding digital dan komunikasi media sosial; sedangkan pass marketing mengandalkan sukarelawan, tokoh pemuda dan agama, serta jaringan politik. Selain itu, penelitian ini mengidentifikasi adanya paradoks integrasi-konversi: meskipun Partai Demokrat menerapkan strategi komunikasi hibrida—yang mencakup jaringan interpersonal, digital, dan sosial-politik—integrasi tersebut tidak cukup berhasil dikonversi menjadi keterlibatan pemilih yang khas maupun dukungan elektoral yang signifikan. Temuan ini menyiratkan bahwa masalah utama partai bukanlah kurangnya saluran pemasaran politik, melainkan keselarasan strategis antara komunikasi, posisi politik, personalisasi, dan konversi pemilih dalam lingkungan elektoral yang berubah dengan cepat.

Kata Kunci: Komunikasi politik, pemasaran politik, push marketing, komunikasi digital, Pemilu 2024.