Primed reveals the five underlying candidate narratives for winning a party’s nomination to stand in a general election. In fiction, the idea that there are a limited number of original basic plots and character archetypes is well known. In politics, it’s generally accepted that a brilliant narrative is a fundamental aspect of a persuasive election campaign. But nobody has developed a universal way of applying classic storytelling principles to primary election campaigns - until now.

Listeners are provided with a new framework that codifies successful primary election campaign narratives and helps candidates to develop their own election-winning stories. The framework draws on psychological and political marketing theory. It can be used across the political spectrum, in different geographies and at all levels of primary election.

The framework is demonstrated through case studies of the primary election campaigns of Hillary Clinton (2016), Donald Trump (2016), Bernie Sanders (2016), Pete Buttigieg (2020), Joe Biden (2020), David Cameron (2005), Jeremy Corbyn (2015), Boris Johnson (2019), Lisa Nandy (2020) and Liz Truss (2022).

Primary election campaigns are more important to political professionals than general election campaigns. You need to win the primary first to have a shot at the general election. Don’t go into a primary election unprepared. Get Primed.