A Study of Political Marketing Communication using Eye Tracking Technique: An Analysis of 2023 Republic of Türkiye Presidential Election Billboards

Abstract

Purpose – This research aims to analyze the billboard campaigns employed during the 2023 Presidential Elections in Türkiye through eye eye-tracking and to evaluate the effectiveness of these with political marketing perspective. Design/methodology/approach – In the study, billboards were obtained from the official election kits of candidates, parties, and alliances. The study is limited to candidates, parties, and alliances that published official election kits. Billboards were analyzed using an artificial int elligenceelligence-based eye eye-tracking method, which is based on an analysis process where algorithms trained with real eye eye-tracking data are utilized to analyze new visuals. Findings – As a result of the analyses, heat maps were generated. The attention to the elements within the billboard designs was visualized using these heat maps. It was observed that elements with textual content received greater attention, and key slogans such as ' right, independence, strong, and President' were identified as focal points. Furthermore, an increase in the number of elements used in billboards corresponded to a dispersion of attention across these elements. Discussion – Significant findings, not attainable through traditional methods, were obtained through the eyeeye-tracking method regarding billboards. Therefore, the utilization of neuromarketing tools in political marketing communication campaigns should become integral t o such processess. The incorporation of reassuring keywords enhances the interest in slogans. Logos of the wordmark type (text logos) were found to be an element increasing interest in logos. To enhance the efficiency of campaign strategy, it is suggested to create billboards with fewer elements or, in cases of utilizing numerous elements, to diversify the billboards.