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Paul Baines is Professor of Political Marketing and Head of Executive Education at the �鶹��Ƶ School of Business (ULSB). He is also the Co-Director of the �鶹��Ƶ Help to Grow programme (2021-2025) and Principal Investigator for the GreenerFuture Leicestershire project (April 2024 - November 2025). Previously, he was Deputy Dean (Strategic Projects) at ULSB. He is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University.

He holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from Alliance Manchester Business School (at the University of Manchester), a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from Middlesex University and an MSc in applied statistics from Lancaster University. He is a Fellow of the Market Research Society, member of the (US) Market Research Council, and Member of the (UK) Academy of Marketing and Corporate Member of ESOMAR, the World Association for Market Research. He is a world-renowned expert on political marketing and propaganda and is a frequent broadcast and press media commentator (see media page) on political marketing/strategic communication issues.

Paul’s teaching and management development training experience has encompassed undergraduate, postgraduate and post-experience levels, including MBA and executive MBA teaching, in the UK, Canada, Finland, Malaysia, Singapore and Cyprus across a number of aspects of marketing including marketing research, marketing strategy, marketing communications, political marketing, public relations, branding, and consumer behaviour. Paul has worked on strategic communication research for a range of UK and overseas government departments. Away from academia, Paul is a Ward Member for Charnwood Borough Council, was Mayor of Charnwood 2021-2022, and is presently Shadow Lead for Finance and Investment and Deputy Leader of the Charnwood Conservative Group.

My research work centres around political marketing, specifically the use of marketing in a political context, including elections, referendums, and government communications more widely. I am the Co-Chair of the UK Academy of Marketing Special Interest Group on Political Marketing, see: https://academyofmarketing.org/political-marketing-sig/

My research seeks to further our understanding of how marketing messages are received and processed by their audiences and segments, especially when emotional appeals are used. Research work has included evaluating the effectiveness of police social marketing/counter-terrorism communications, counter-marketing in a terrorism and disinformation context. A recent stream of my research work has focused on sustainable marketing for SMEs. I am the Principal Investigator for the GreenerFuture Leicestershire project, see: https://greenerfutureleicestershire.co.uk/. I am also presently supervising a PhD student on B2B value proposition development in SMEs and how Swiss firms internationalise and am open for applications in the above areas. My main areas of research are as follows:

• Political marketing and propaganda, particularly from communication, segmentation, targeting and positioning perspectives.
• Emotional appeals in marketing communications.

Selected recent publications

Baines, P. (2025). Putin as Czar: On the Machiavellian Nature of a Modern Russian Despot. In: Harris, P., Lock, A. and Rees, P. (Eds.). Machiavelli, Marketing and Management Revisited. Oxford: Routledge.

Baines, P.; Harris, P.; Hejlova, D. and Panagopoulos, C. (Eds.) (2025). The Sage Handbook of Political Marketing. London: Sage Publications.

Baines, P.; Whitehouse, S.; Rosengren, S. and Antonetti, P. (2025). Fundamentals of Marketing 3e. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

Mukherjee, S.; Datta, B.; Baines, P. (2024). Safety in numbers? Why Indians at the base of the pyramid herd their votes and the policy Implications. Journal of Political Marketing. DOI: 10.1080/15377857.2024.2440005.

Shabbir, H.; Baines, P., Dean, D. and Braddock, K. (2023). Countering reactionary co-radicalization (RC-R): Using multi-representational ads. Critical Studies on Terrorism. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2023.2295062.

Baines, P.; Rosengren, S. and Antonetti, P. (2022). Marketing 6e. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baines, P.; Whitehouse, S.; Antonetti, P. and Rosengren, S. (2021). Fundamentals of Marketing 2e. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baines, P.; Brady, M. & Jain, S.P. (2022). Guest editorial: Pandemic Aftershock - The challenges of rapid technology adoption and social distancing for interactive marketing practice, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. 16(1), 3-14. DOI:10.1108/JRIM=03-2022-277.

Black, I.; Baines, P.; Baines, N.; O’Shaughnessy, N. and Mortimore, R. (2021). The dynamic interplay of hope vs fear media appeals in a referendum context. Journal of Political Marketing. DOI:10.1080/15377857.2021.1892900.

Baines, P.; O’Shaughnessy, N. & Snow, N. (Eds.) (2020). SAGE Handbook of Propaganda. London, SAGE Publications.

Antonetti, P.; Baines, P. and Jain, S. (2018). The persuasiveness of guilt appeals over time: Pathways to delayed compliance. Journal of Business Research. 90, 4-15.

Pareek, B.; Ghosh, P.; Wilson, H.; Macdonald, E.; and Baines, P. (2018). A Bayesian zero-inflated dynamic multinomial choice model of media impact on voter choice using real-time experience tracking data. Journal of the American Statistical Association. 113 (524), 1457-1475. DOI:10.1080/01621459.2017.1419134.

Baines, P. and Jones, N. (2018). Influence and interference in foreign elections: The evolution of its practice. The RUSI Journal. 163, 12-19.

Mortimore, R..; Baines, P.; Worcester, R.M. and Gill, M. (2017). Findings of the BPC/MRS enquiry into polling during the 2015 British General Election: The Ipsos MORI response and perspective. International Journal of Market Research. 59(2). (Winner of the IJMR Collaborative Research Award 2017).

Baines, P. (2017). Technological Impacts on market attitudes and behaviour. Psychology & Marketing. 34(4), 351-355. Walker, L.; Baines, P., Dimitriu, R. and Macdonald, E. (2017). Antecedents of retweeting behaviour in a (political) marketing context. Psychology & Marketing. 34 (3), 275-293.

I am interested in supervising full- and part-time PhD research in the following areas:

• Political marketing / government communications
• Marketing communications
• Market segmentation and positioning

I am presently supervising doctoral students in the following areas:

• Marketing mix, internationalisation and Swiss firms
• Customer value proposition design and development in B2B SMEs

My teaching has previously encompassed undergraduate, postgraduate and post-experience levels, including full time and executive MBA teaching, in the UK, Canada, USA, Finland, Malaysia, Singapore, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, and Cyprus across a number of aspects of marketing including marketing research, marketing strategy, political marketing, public relations, branding, and consumer behaviour. At ULSB, I teach on the following modules and areas:

• UG: MN2107 Strategic Brand Management
• PG: MN7010 Principles and Practices of Marketing
• PG: MN7715 Strategic Leadership on the Senior Leader Apprenticeship Programme
• Executive education: marketing and strategy workshops for in-company programmes for a variety of university clients; the executive education module: Business and Marketing in an AI era; GreenerFuture Leicestershire sustainability webinars/workshops including the Climate Action Leadership Programme; Help to Grow Module 5: Developing a Marketing Strategy; PG: ADMN7716 Evidencing Senior Leader Praxis

Selected press appearances

• Press mention, Slobodan Maricic, “Od pomfrita do gradske čistoće: Sumiranje kampanje Haris I Trampa” (trans. “From French Fries to urban cleanliness: Harris and Trump's campaign summary”. BBC Serbia, 1st November. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.com/serbian/articles/czxv7p7qg69o/lat (accessed 14th November 2024).
• Press mention, Slobodan Maricic, “Pokušaji ubistva Ronalda Regana i Donalda Trampa: Dani koji su mogli da promene svet” (trans. “Assassination attempts on Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump: Days that could have changed the world”). BBC Serbia, 25th July 2024. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/svet-69205954 (accessed 25th July 2024).
• Appearance on BBC Radio West Midlands, with Sarah Julian, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 3rd July 2024. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_wm (at about 08.15).
• Appearance on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, with Tammy Gooding, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 2nd July 2024. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_hereford_worcester (at about 07.36).
• Appearance on BBC Radio Leicester, with Ady Dayman, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 25th June 2024. Retrieve from: https://lnkd.in/dniYbQbR (accessed 27 July 2024).
• Press mention, Laurie Havelock, “Zelensky sacking of Ukraine’s UK ambassador shows ‘ruthless’ commitment to clear comms, experts say”, i (news), 21 July. Retrieve from: (accessed 25 July 2023).
• Press mention, Daniel Sanderson, “SNP accused of spending £600,000 on ‘propaganda’ campaign , 30 January. (accessed 1 February 2023).
• Press mention, Slobadan Maričić, “Politika i Crna Gora: Kako posle odlaska dugogodišnjeg lidera preživljavaju stranke na Balkanu (trans. Politics and Montenegro: How parties in the Balkans survive after the departure of a long-time leader). , 20 May 2023 (accessed 22 June 2023).
• Broadcast appearance on GB News, with Patrick Christys, on Rishi Sunak becoming PM, 4.35pm, 24 October 2022.
• Broadcast appearance on , with Joe O’Brien, on Ukrainian propaganda in Ukraine-Russia war, 9.30am, 19 October 2022.
• Press mention, Tracey Shelton, “Ukraine and Russia’s second front is a propaganda war. But who is winning? , 18 October. (accessed 18th October 2022).
• Press mention, Morgan Meaker, “Celebrities and Tik Tok: Inside Ukraine’s 21st century war”, , 16 August. (accessed 16 August 2022).
• Press mention, Dave Burke, “Millionaire Rishi Sunak accused of ‘dressing down’ after wearing shoes with hole in sole”, , 11 August. (accessed 16 August 2022).
• Broadcast appearance on , with Emily Siu, “Cute dogs Bono and ads: Ukraine’s PR strategy to rally global support”, 11 July 2022.
• Press mention, Morgan Meaker, “How Ukraine is winning the propaganda war”, , 13 June. (accessed 16 June 2022).
• Broadcast appearance on GB News, with Nana Akua, on Rishi Sunak and Tory election prospects, 4.30pm, 3 April 2022.
• Broadcast appearance on GB News, with Alastair Stewart, on Rishi Sunak and Tory election prospects, 12.20pm, 10 April 2022.
• Broadcast appearance on GB News, with Nana Aqua, on whether a general election should be forced when the PM changes, 5.20pm, 24 April 2022.
• Broadcast appearance on BBC Radio Leicester, with Ady Dayman, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 25th June 2024. Retrieve from: https://lnkd.in/dniYbQbR (accessed 27 July 2024).
• Broadcast appearance on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, with Tammy Gooding, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 2nd July 2024. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_hereford_worcester (at about 07.36).
• Broadcast appearance on BBC Radio West Midlands, with Sarah Julian, on the role of leaflets in UK general elections, 3rd July 2024. Retrieve from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_wm (at about 08.15).

Selected op-ed articles

1. Baines, P. (2024). Slashing HE courses will not help the next UK government boost growth. Times Higher Education, 31 May.
2. Baines, P. (2022). Sea of sameness: why universities have trouble branding. Times Higher Education, 26 August.
3. Baines, P. (2022). West is hampering Ukraine – Kyiv has every right to target Russian territory. , 10 June.
4. Baines, P. (2022). Ukrainian propaganda: how Zelensky is winning the information war against Russia? The Conversation, 11 May.
5. Baines, P. (2022). Who wants to be Dean? , 9 March.
6. Baines, P. (2021). Universities must swap physical for digital estates – at warp speed. , 29 January.
7. Baines, P. and Saren, M. (2020). The Civil Service urgently needs a rebrand to usher it into the 21st century. , 12 September.
8. Saren, M. and Baines, P. (2020). Opinion: It’s time to rebrand the Civil Service. , 4 September.
9. Baines, P. (2020), “Protecting Europe from Russian interference”. , 29 July.
10. Baines, P. (2020), “", 29 July.
11. Baines, P. (2020), “After the Russia report: how to protect British democracy from interference. , 22 July.
12. Press mention, Rebecca Chimjeka, “Misinformation frustrates Covid fight”, , Saturday August 21-27. (accessed 24 August 2021).

Administrative responsibilities

• Head of Executive Education
• Principal Investigator, GreenerFuture Leicestershire project
• Co-Director, Help to Grow Programme