What is a party without networks?

A text that says that the European Union will ban political parties from advertising on social networks from October 2025 has gone unnoticed. This, of course, refers to sponsored posts that could reach a huge number of people. Considering that Montenegro is also rushing towards the EU, this new rule on advertising will also apply to us.

Of course, it will take time to establish exactly what it refers to, whether there is room for loopholes in the law that we love the most, but something big is coming. It will be a shock to the political scene in Montenegro. First of all, because political parties depended a lot on sponsored posts. Over time, they have become almost incapable of doing anything else except targeting voters via networks.

In short, if political parties cannot count on advertising on social networks, they will have to work hard to reach people through other communication channels. They will have to find alternative methods of communication.

This would mean that parties will not ignore the media because every second of their appearance will matter to them, they will take good care of their image and will finally practice before their appearances. Maybe they will finally discover that there are behaviorists, ghostwriters, creative directors and media planners. They will have to invest more in OOH (out of home) campaign, billboards, citylights, flyers and new media campaigns, to be present, but not on the networks.

Until now, it was possible for underground parties to practically harass citizens with mutual bickering and to sponsor their every post on social media so much that people couldn't help but notice it. Parties depended on sponsored posts and ignored the essence, they didn't work on the party's image, they just pushed sponsored posts. Some parties existed only on social media, like Potempkin's Villages, they created a page, but they didn't structure the party through advertising rules.

Now the wind will bring down the house of cards, because a party is no longer the same as a profile on social networks. They will have to try harder, think strategically, take five steps back and start advertising according to the rules, and not randomly exclusively on networks. Pour and grind. Parties will no longer advertise by shoveling money into sponsored posts. They will have to turn on their brains.

Parties skipped three key steps of advertising: who we want to say, what we want to say, and how we want to say it. They only dealt with the last one, “how we want to say it,” and they only spoke by pouring money into sponsored posts on social media.

The parties will not know what hit them when and if the law and prohibition come into force. The famous quote will apply to them Stjuarta Handersona Brita: “Without advertising it's like winking at a girl in the dark - you know what you're doing, but no one else does.”

Once again, parties will have to become more concerned with who takes care of their image and brand than with who runs their networks and how much they pour into them. The next elections will be interesting, but no one from the parties wants to talk about it, because of course they have no plan.