Post-Revolutionary Marketing

One candidate in Iran's presidential election, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, "has done more than the others to market his particular presidential brand," writes Tehran-based design consultant Tori Egherman. The Rafsanjani campaign, in a move "particularly unconventional for post-revolutionary Iran," has employed as guerrilla marketers "Iran's hip youth." The young, unpaid campaigners "wrap themselves in Hashemi stickers, tape his poster on their backs, celebrate soccer success in his name." Even referring to the candidate as "Hashemi" breaks convention, writes Egherman. "In a country where wives often call their husbands by formal names like Engineer (Mondandes) or Mister (Agha) and young girls are often called Young Ma'am (Dokhtar Khanum), the use of a name other than the surname is more than familiar: it is intimate." Another candidate, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, is reaching out to young voters with "casual and stylish clothes, chic glasses and sponsors such as Efes Zero Alcohol beer."