Before the primaries, I knew who trump was, I just didn’t care. I heard jokes about him, I saw promo’s for Apprentice, and so on. He was a public figure of sorts. I never particualry cared for him, but never formed much of an opnion either.
Now that he’s been in the spotlight, and has said quite a number of rather reprehensible things, what effect is that going to have in future business dealings? I don’t know, it could be a good thing for him, “any publicity is good” and all that, but I would tend to think that people may avoid the Trump name, as not only has it been linked to racism, sexism, homophobia and religious discrimination, but should he lose, it would also be linked to failure.
Will people continue to attend venues under the trump name, or will trump towers and casinos and such empty out?
While before this race, I probably was never going to stay in a Trump property, or go to a Trump casino, I guarantee you now that I will actively avoid them. Won’t set foot in anything of Trump’s. Given the choice between a Trump hotel and a fleabag value motel being run by junkies, I’m stocking up on flea powder and Lysol.
My #NeverTrump extends beyond November 8, for what little that accounts for on his bottom line. I imagine others may feel the same, although time will tell.
The problem is, no one knows how much Trumps brand is worth. He says 2-3 Billion, most other people say more like $200-300 million. Since we don’t know what its worth to start with. we can’t guess how much it’s dropped.
Yeah, all the reputable business journals have said at best Trump is worth $3-4bn based on actual ownership of expensive, real assets (physical properties and shares of physical properties), the “real” value of his brand in terms of his actual nominal net worth is essentially nothing anyway.
After hearing more and more details about how Trump’s business “strategy” is to screw over his suppliers, reneg on deals and threaten them with lawsuits, only to finally pay them pennies on the dollar… I don’t think there are many in the country who would even deal with him going forward.
After hearing how is main “strategy” for investors is to strip value out of companies for his own personal gain, while leaving the investors holding the (worthless) bag… I don’t think there are many who will give him a nickle of investment money going forward.
After being exposed as a compete racist/misogynist/jerk… I don’t think there are may who will go near a Trump branded product/hotel/casino going forward. He has recently resorted to selling his name to put on buildings… That name will now be a negative asset - he’ll have to pay others to get his name on them now.
In short - I think this little foray into politics will cut his net worth in half, and will make it very, very hard for him to do any actual business in the future.
“Trump” hotels used to be just a brand of overpriced hotel rooms. Now they are thought of as “Donald Trump” hotels. I would never spend a dollar on anything that might profit Donald Trump.
He has done no damage at all to his brand. The Trump brand has always signified vulgarity, crassness, tastelessness and bombast, and these associations have been enhanced by the election campaign so far.
I used to think of Trump, in is far as I thought of him at all, as your average wealthy reprobate, a reckless, heartless, privileged buffoon. I certainly did not seek his brand, but I didn’t particularly avoid it, either. Now I know he is a dangerous, evil-minded, corrupt, reckless, heartless, privileged narcissist, and I will actively avoid anything attached to his “brand.” I’m certain I’m not alone, and others have linked evidence to corroborate this.
His “brand” was probably always overvalued, anyway. But when he loses this election, I expect we shall more bankruptcies and fire sales.
Trump has always been an aspirational brand for A certain type of middle class, and most of us didn’t give him much thought at all. He has a terrace bar with a great view in Chicago that I’d visit when I was in town because it has a great view and that was about it. But now, I’ll never spend a dime in his properties and I’m sure I’m not alone. He’s established himself as the brand for white racists and decent people won’t want to be associated with his name.
Trump’s hotel customers were mostly cosmopolitan and educated “aspirational” people. He’s acquired millions of new fans but mostly of the drink-beer-while-yelling-at-the-TV type. A year ago these Trumpists might have splurged at a Trump hotel to rub shoulders with successful people, but now they’d just see other bitter losers like themselves.
So, Trump will be desperate to find a new source of revenue after he loses in November. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with. Cruises or carnivals where for $50 you get to shoot a mannequin of Madame President?
More like apparel and other consumer items I’m guessing. Maybe survivalism and supplements.
Politicians need to clear 50%. A fanatic base making up 30% of 30% can be a goldmine in business. Most of the losses sustained by the damage Trump has done to his existing brand will be borne by others: recall that Trump doesn’t own most of his branded real estate. So Trump will lose some franchise fees but gain a lucrative consumer market.
The problem is that Trump is weak at execution. And rational investors distrust him. So he will have to mine his .3x.3= 9 percent via a franchise structure. I guess that’s ok, since Trump is getting old and a hands-off operation probably fits him best.
His kids might be able to carry the brand forward. Ivanka Trump sold scarves later recalled because of their burn risk. Donald Jr. was embroiled in a real estate scandal. I’m not sure how this plays out for them.
He’s already mentioned the idea of starting a media network. More realistically, he’ll probably do a deal to create a “Trump Channel” on someone else’s existing network.
Back before all of this current mess, I saw Trump as King of the Tasteless, the apotheosis of the people who think wealth means gold-plated everything and massive amounts of mediocrity instead of better-made and less-annoying versions of normal things. Trump meant the trappings of what the more ignorant of the lower-middle-class people thought of as being rich-person stuff: superficial glitz and overblown hype with no quality to back it up. Things that are actually worse than what working-class Americans can normally afford, but that some people got suckered into buying because they were fooled by their aspirations blinding their financial sense. The Trump steaks are a prime example: By all accounts, the people who bought them would have done better to have gone out hunting and kill some whitetails.
Trump’s personal brand was that of a professional wrestling heel, the stereotypical bad boss that the stereotypical working-class professional wresting fan could be counted on to boo with all his heart. His overblown callousness and ruthlessness worked perfectly in the melodramatic opera that is American pro wrestling; here, too, he was an aspirational figure for those ignorant of how the world actually works, being the perfect “high-powered executive” figure for people who thought CEOs were more concerned with big-name Deals than with the nitty-gritty unglamorous work of keeping a big organization on an even keel.
Of course, Trump is one of those people who is fooled by that image. To paraphrase a famous quote, Donald Trump suffers under the delusion he’s Donald Trump, and he’ll never be cured.
Trump takes it farther, though, acting every inch the malignant narcissist with the emotional lability of a toddler and an utterly reckless need to both stay in the spotlight and avenge wrongs done to them, mostly imagined, no matter what the ultimate personal cost. It fits his brand: He projects an image a mile high and covered in gold, but the glamour is a millimeter deep, and inside it’s all rotten and stunted. He’s showing more and more of what’s inside; he’s whittling down his supporters to a fanatical core, and I doubt anyone would want to do business with the people he’ll have left.
Seriously? Even if Trump was down to only 1 million supporters there would still be people willing to pay to market to that audience. Realistically he’ll probably have about 10-20 million diehard supporters after this fiasco. Seeing as he’ll be claiming the election was rigged he can call on some of his conspiracy theory friends and sell guns, ammo and survivalist gear to all those idiots who think they’re going to have to fight off FEMA agents any day now.
Actually, with the large number of exposés of his business practices that his candidacy has brought forth, it would be interesting if the number of investors and contractors he can lure into his con games plummets, bringing down his “empire.”
(I do not make that as a prediction, given the number of idiot investors that have previously been lured into obviously bad investments (even excluding those of Trump), but it would be a suitable bit of irony that his own megalomania exposed so much of his corruption that it brought his own doom.)
Normal companies don’t like being associated with racist groups. The companies that cater to racist organizations and ideologies ghettoize themselves in that subculture, such as Neo-Nazi record labels which only carry Neo-Nazi musical acts. Trump, with all of the positions he’s staked out and doubled-down on, has associated his brand with the kinds of sentiments large-scale boycotts are started over. Normal businesses, real companies doing business in the real world, understand that, and if they don’t, one glance at North Carolina will teach them the horrors of dissociating yourself from the real world and attempting to live in a fantasy land bubble. You find there’s a ceiling you can’t break, a wall you can’t climb.
Trump used to be a Z-lister who existed in a liminal realm, barely in the public consciousness unless you were a Reality TV fan. He’s shoved himself into center stage now, and his act is actively repellent to all but a clannish few.
The actual value of real estate holdings is one thing but the future earnings of various branded ventures is another.
Given that Trump is now clearly associated with hate-mongering and actively disliked by more than who actively have positive associations with the name I have a hard time imagining that major corporations and associations will be as willing to hold their conferences or conventions at any Trump branded venue.
And on the non-convention side his properties have often been higher end … an income group demographic that he is repelling be their political leanings be Democratic or Republican.
His name on cheap crappy wine and cheap imported clothes may still sell to his base but that is not much of a revenue stream.