Political brand image: an investigation into the operationalisation of the external orientation of David Cameron’s Conservative brand

This paper seeks to address the limited understanding of how to operationalise the external brand image of a political brand. More specifically, this research critically assesses the transfer potential of the six variables of brand image by Bosch, Venter, Han and Boshoff to deconstruct the UK Conservative Party brand from the perspective of young people aged 18–24 years during the 2010 UK General Election campaign. This research demonstrates the applicability of the six variables otherwise known as the ‘brand image framework’ to the political environment. However, the application of the brand image framework in its original conceptualisation proved problematic. Many of the brand image variables were clarified, rearticulated and simplified to address the political context. This refined conceptualisation provided an in-depth understanding of how to investigate the political brand image of David Cameron’s Conservative Party. This study addresses the paucity of research that operationalises external brand image and provides practitioners and academics within and beyond the context of political branding a mechanism to understand the external orientation of brands. This research may also be used by political and non-political brands as a basis to explore external brand image and compare its consistency with internal brand identity

HIGH EFFICACY AND LOW-FREQUENCY OF HEADACHE RECURRENCE AFTER ORAL SUMATRIPTAN

This multicentre, double-blind study compared (100 mg) sumatriptan administered orally with placebo in treating an acute attack of migraine; 238 patients were studied over a 48-h period. Four hours after treatment, 92 of the 142 evaluable sumatriptan patients (65%) showed significant reductions (P < 0.001) in headache severity, clinical disability and accompanying symptoms compared with 32 of the 80 evaluable placebo-treated patients (40%). The duration of attack prior to taking medication and the history of persistent migraine do not influence the observed difference between the two treatment regimens (sumatriptan and placebo), which remained statistically significant (P < 0.001) in both cases. The incidence of headache recurrence in patients who experienced relief 4 h after initial treatment was low, occurring in 16 (17%) and 4 (13%) of the sumatriptan- and placebo-treated patients, respectively. Only patients with a history of migraine attacks lasting longer than 24 h suffered headache recurrences, and these recurrences were not consistent with the International Headache Society definition of migraine. Treatment with sumatriptan was well tolerated