ACADEMIC PAPER An exploratory case study focusing on the creation, and development of a new political brand: The case of Aam Aadmi Party Krishna Das Gupta Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, India Correspondence Professor Krishna Das Gupta, Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier University, Xavier Square, Bhubaneswar 751013, Odisha, India. Email: krishna@ximb.ac.in In the backdrop of India's rising prominence in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), understanding of its political environment, electoral competition, and constituent parties with their political ideologies contesting to form govern- ment attracts immense interest from the researchers in political science, political marketing, and public policy. Although literatures in political marketing are more than two decades mostly carried out in developed democratic systems like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, India as a posttransition democracy received relatively less attention. The article has been conceptualized in the context of 2014 Indian general elections Lok Sabha 2014 as an attempt to study application of political marketing principles in a cross‐ cultural democracy. The author has probed the emergence of new political party Aam Aadmi Party riding on the success of Janlokpal (civil society movement), the marketing approach used by Aam Aadmi Party, essentially positioning and branding strategies, during the national elections and party institutionalization. Research strategy followed secondary research of published data for examining the new party creation from a marketing perspective. 1 | INTRODUCTION As a member of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), India's role will have lasting implications for global political and eco- nomic issues like climate change, nature of future consumption, and world trade. Eventually, India along with China is going to shape up the global economy in next 30–40 years. The link between national development and globalization figures high on the agenda of public policymakers and scholars. Chang and Lee' (2010) states political ideology determines the party's policy position that in turn is a strong predictor of globalization. Dutt and Mitra (2005) also empirically inves- tigate how the ideology of the government in power affects trade policy measures. Marks, Wilson, and Ray (2002) demonstrate the strength of ideological commitments as predictors of party positions in emerging issue of European integration. In this context study of Indian political environment, level of electoral competition, party's unique value prop- osition Brennan and Henneberg (2008) assumes significance to the political researchers, political marketers, campaign planners, and campaign strategists across the globe. Promoting India as strategic market for the global investor is the prime job of the federal system. To this effect, the government at the center and its approach to trade and globalization is the most crucial determinant of policy formulation creating an opportunity for the global investor. The 2014 general elections provided the springboard for the launch of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), a context to analyze the intersection of party development and institutionalization strategies similar to economic circumstances. Received: 27 April 2019 Accepted: 17 May 2019 DOI: 10.1002/pa.1991 J Public Affairs. 2019;e1991. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1991 © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1 of 5