I’ve read on the internet (so, yeah) that the reason he is in bed with Putin is that Putin’s cronies are the only ones who will finance him anymore. The story is that US banks won’t touch him anymore, presumably do to the large number of bankruptcies.
You can make money with Trump, provided you make an agreement with him that is difficult to reneg on. That would be a branding/franchise model.
Don’t sign a branding model that relies on Trump not diluting his brand. Unless that’s an explicit part of your risk assessment (maybe you can dilute with him). Treat his stated plans as background noise: they should be irrelevant to your decision.
Optimally, you shouldn’t just have one product. Because the Donald has a short attention span. He’s going to want to paste his name on everything. Best case scenario is to coordinate with 2 other businesses (NOT competitors - that will produce anti-trust problems) and take turns pitching business proposals at him. One per month for the 3, 4 per year for each. This implies that you don’t want to tie yourself to a fixed manufacturing facility. Just run a design firm and outsource the production to others.
Contract with him to make a couple of visits, TV appearances, etc per product. Sure he might reneg. But you need to fill his calendar, at least until he advances to the next cognitive stage. Make it fun. Donald loves the attention. So give him opportunities like that.
I know they handed the reigns of The Apprentice over to Ah-nuld for this season but I wonder if NBC would even invite Trump back next year.
Ditto. I’ll be damned before I ever set foot in a Trump-branded hotel or casino, or purchase a Trump-branded product.
I also have no respect for anyone who would stay at one of his hotels or casinos, or purchase any of his products.
I didn’t feel this strongly before he came down that escalator in June 2015 to announce his candidacy. Back then I just thought he was a rich blowhard, but I didn’t feel any particular animosity for him personally or his brand.
It would be difficult for me to put into words how much I despise him now. It would give me great pleasure if his actions of the last year contribute to the downfall of both him and his “brand.”
The thing is, all the people in this thread who say they previously had no strong feelings about, or impression of, Trump but now loathe him and the ground he stands on also identify as people who never did buy his branded products, and probably wouldn’t have anyway. So their new-found loathing for him isn’t actually going to do much damage to the brand.
The question is whether people who previously found the brand attractive or aspirational will now find it repellent. But Trump’s behaviour during this campaign hasn’t been out of character. The surprise has not been that Trump acted and spoke as he did, but that this did not result in his campaign crashing and burning.
So, Trump’s behaviour confirms and reinforces the values associated with the brand - brash, excessive, bombastic, vulgar, crass - and the outcome of the campaign (thus far, anyway) shows that those values are accepted and endorsed by a wider section of the population than we might have believed (or hoped). I’m not seeing how this can tend to damage the value of the brand. All we have is the brand being lowered in the esteem of people who wouldn’t have customised it in the first place.
I think there’s a lot of people that before had a neutral opinion of Trump and his brand. If they happened to see a Trump tie or suit that they liked for a decent price they’d consider it. Or if the Trump hotel happened to give the best rate then sure they’d book it.
But a lot of those people will now actively avoid his brand, and especially I can see this severely harming booking of his hotels for corporate events, which is a big money maker for hotels.
When Trump first came into my consciousness in the 80s, he was a media darling. Of the entertainment division. He’s been that until not long before the recent convention. He’s never been the target of “Opposition Research”. And he’s been living in a “bubble” surrounded by employees and yes men. If he’s not elected, he’ll have quite a different status. I don’t think any serious businessmen/bankers/investors will want anything to do with him. He’ll probably make his money the same way Sarah Palin has, on a paid lecture circuit. And maybe he’ll sell some more ghost written books.
I’m one of those who has loathed Trump since the '80’s, and nothing he’s ever done has altered my opinion one iota. I live within 10 miles of one of his ‘resorts’ (actually mostly just a high-priced golf course) that made him innumerable enemies in the local area with his usual tactics in getting it built. (Note that this was more recent, though; it was built within the last decade.)
There’s an actual resort a couple of miles down the road from it, with several restaurants (one high-end fine dining), condos/cottages, and a beautiful seaside view where I’ve eaten several times. I wouldn’t set foot in the one with his name on it.
Data points:
… Foot traffic is down 14% from same month 2015. However, the 2015 numbers also were down ~15% after he made his announcement, so for comparable months (and I think we have only one data point here, so take it for what it’s worth) we’re looking at about a 25% decline in foot traffic from 2014 levels.
… Properties in blue states are affected more than those in red states, though both show declines.
Many hotels and resorts however have a large book of their business based on conventions, conferences, and associations business. In that case a destination actively abhorrent to significant fraction of your target attendees will be less likely chosen, a wedding a bit less likely to be chosen, even when the rate is good and the space pretty, when the brand more explicitly means vulgar and crass …
Excellent find JohnT! Thank you for the link. Real data!
Honestly, he’s been more than golf courses, hotels and casinos for a while. He’s done television, books, etc. I will never watch a TV show he’s associated with again. And I say this as someone who in the past watched The Apprentice. I can’t be the only person who’s gone from mostly neutral feeling over the guy to active loathing. This will hurt when and if he ever tries to get a TV show again (hopefully).
Came in to say that, but you said it better than I would have. Exactly right.
But the thing is, before the election (or before he started his birther thing, more accurately), I would have stayed at a Trump hotel while traveling if it was a good and convenient option. I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so, but if it was the nearest hotel to my destination, and it got decent reviews, I’d considerate it. Now I wouldn’t. I doubt I’m the only one.
He’s old, and will be dead relatively soon. His “brand” will be carried on by his children. People seem to like them more than they like the dad.
Yea, but now its brash, excessive, bombastic, vulgar, crass…racist, islamophobic and reactionary. Obviously there’s a market for those values to, which is why he won the GOP primary. But I don’t think its the same, or as large a market, as he had to draw on for his previous business ventures.
Certainly, I can’t imagine a major broadcast network trying to base a show around him after this campaign is done, as they did with The Apprentice. TV studios like vulgar and crass stars, but they don’t like ones that are going to spout off about how whole demographic groups are rapists or terrorists or whatever.
If he is successfully promoting these traits as values in themselves, then his brand values will increase correspondingly. A rising tide …
As Austin Powers once said, “Everyone likes their own ‘brand’…”.
I don’t think he is done alienating people - there are still groups of people left he has not yet insulted, so I suspect there will be a real consequence to his cavernous mouth.
A play on a famous poem…
First he insulted the Mexicans, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Next he insulted the POWs, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Then he insulted women, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Then he insulted Muslims, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Then he insulted the LGBT community, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Then he insulted families of our soldiers killed in action, but I stayed approvingly silent, and he went on.
Finally, he insulted me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
The Boston Globe is reporting that reservations to Trump properties are down 60%.
Ya think?
It’s only an anecdote, but…
I was at a conference for the luxury travel market last month, and one of our meetings was with a poor young lady representing the Trump hotel in Toronto. She mentioned the name exactly once, and thereafter would refer to, “the property,” or," our hotel."
After her spiel we got her to relax a little and she said something to the effect of, “every morning I get up and watch the news and think, 'REALLY!? You had to say THAT!?”
It would not surprise me at all if a number of his licensing deals went south post-election. I think this might be the exception to the, “any publicity is good publicity,” maxim.