campaign

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A campaign is a time-limited action with a defined goal that is attempted to be achieved through the planned and coordinated interaction of several people or actors . The term is often used in the field of public relations ( press campaign , media campaign , election campaign , advertising campaign , smear campaign ), but also in many other areas (e.g. harvest campaign , excavation campaign , measurement campaign , idea campaign ).

The French word campagne "level" (from the Latin campus "flat field") was adopted in the 19th century with the meaning " campaign " in the German language. In the 19th century, the meaning of "business hours" and " season " developed in merchant language . The English campaign has influenced today's usage, especially in the field of advertising and marketing .

Communication, marketing and politics

In the context of communication and marketing to place campaign in numerous compound words and neologisms ( media campaign , PR campaign , information campaign ). Advertising campaigns are usually time-limited campaigns by companies that offer products or services. Other compound nouns refer to those used in the respective campaign media ( Internet campaign , TV campaign , telephone campaign , ad campaign ). This choice of words is intended to emphasize that the respective campaign is based on the specific possibilities of this medium and addresses target groups who can best be reached via this communication channel.

The primary aim of an image campaign is to improve the public image of an organization (e.g. company, association, regional authority ).

Parties and associations

Political campaigns are mostly carried out by parties during elections and votes. Election campaigns play an important role within an election campaign . In Germany, the SPD named its campaign headquarters for the 1998 federal election KAMPA .

In Switzerland , campaigns are carried out during elections and even more often before votes . These campaigns include gatherings, events, stand campaigns , and rarely also parades. The campaigns are mostly organized with the involvement of the media and increasingly through professional marketing . Posters, newspaper advertisements, distributed information brochures or flyers are constant companions of the campaigns. Political advertising is prohibited in the electronic media (radio and TV) in Switzerland; the public media are legally obliged to provide the population with objective, impartial and balanced information, including on the occasion of elections and votes.

The implementation of political campaigns is not only the task of political parties and their associations, specialized organizations and working groups , but also of associations , unions , etc. Such campaigns are often organized and carried out by lobbyists . The term “campaigns” is therefore also used for actions by lobby groups, interest groups, trade unions and other organizations that carry them out to achieve their political goals.

A distinction must be made here

  • the action campaign , which builds up political pressure on an issue in order to enforce or prevent a specific decision;
  • the information campaign (which aims to disseminate a particular political opinion on a topic / problem; government campaigns often try to do this);
  • The image campaign , which has a positive influence on the public image of an organization or a person, is intended to improve awareness, understanding and acceptance.

Political campaigns in particular are often directed against something or someone; in the extreme case it is a character assassination campaign . This area also includes, for example, the creation of the term “ dirty bucket campaign ”.

Media campaign

The actual media campaigns are mostly triggered directly by individual media or media workers on their own initiative with specific objectives. These can be based on research by the media or on external information that is made available to the media. Sometimes confidential, official or business information is “leaked” through indiscretion . Media campaigns can serve the public's interest, uncover legal violations and irregularities or be in the interest of individuals or groups who do not appear directly. This distinction also depends on the veracity of the published information, which often cannot be verified immediately during the campaign. Media campaigns can also sometimes subconsciously or consciously use disinformation . For example, during the Cold War, intelligence agencies anonymously supplied false information. A campaign that seeks to discredit people, groups, institutions or ideas with unfair means and unfair goals is called a smear campaign or smear campaign.

Other departments

Agriculture

In agriculture , the campaign refers to the main working hours at companies that do not work to full capacity all year round, such as farms and factories that continue processing depending on the harvest . Such work is also called seasonal work . Harvest campaigns are for example:

Economy, technology and science

The term production campaign comes from production planning (partly also from supply chain management ) and describes a number of consecutive production orders for the manufacture of the same or similar products.

In archeology, a time-limited research is an archaeological site as excavation referred.

In medicine and veterinary medicine , vaccination campaigns are used to immunize a certain population as quickly and evenly as possible against a (new) pathogen and to prevent the spread of epidemics .

measuring technology

In technology and the sciences , a series of measurements that have been planned for a longer period of time and that have been well prepared in terms of organization , which is large in scope and carried out as a coordinated interaction between several people or institutions , is called a measurement campaign . Cross-border campaigns are of particular importance for astronomy and geodesy .

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Campaign  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Duden: Etymologie - Dictionary of Origin of the German Language , Dudenverlag, 2nd edition 1989
  2. ^ Rudolf Friedrich : The monopoly media. A problem for democracy. In Jeanne Hersch (Hrsg.): Rule of law in twilight. Elisabeth Kopp's resignation.