Gonna be winning for The Donald, regardless of the 8 November outcome.
The Trump brand will benefit, and his global legacy has already been assured, even in its vulgarity. All Trump golf courses are branded “National”, so Trump First is inevitably America First, and as we’ve seen, America Frist, with so much ignorance and intercessory stupidity from Birtherism to Islamophobia.
Gonna be a bumpy ride for the nativist mash-up of America First fascism and brand theory(sic)
Turning his attention to Mr. Rubio, whom he calls “Little Marco,” Mr. Trump spelled out his preferred nickname: “L-I-D-D-L-E. Liddle, Liddle, Liddle Marco.”
“You know, you have to brand people a certain way when they’re your opponents,” Mr. Trump said, before relishing in perhaps his most devastating description of this election cycle — calling Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, “low energy.”
“Like Jeb Bush — we call him low energy, low energy,” he continued. “And I don’t care talking badly about him. He spent $29 million in negatives on me, $29 million. Can you believe it? Of other people’s money. Of his lobbyist and his special interest money.”
Finally, Mr. Trump concluded his education interlude.
“But you’ve got to brand people,” he said, going on the describe the original Republican field. “So we started off with 17 people who were up on this stage, and what the hell did I know about this stuff? I’ve never done this before, right? So we start off with 17 people, now we’re down to four. Bush was favored, then Walker was favored, then another one was favored, they’re all favored.”
“Now,” he finished with a flourish, as the crowd roared, “Trump is favored.”
What can marketing and communications professionals learn from all of this? Without advocating for or against any position or candidate, campaign watchers can all learn from (and be entertained by)
brand lessons gleaned from Trump’s candidacy.
1) Define your narrative or someone else will
2) The importance of being authentic to your brand
3) Don’t try to mimic other brands
4) Once you find your voice, people pay attention
5) A good brand strategy is about inspiring the future, not reliving the past
6) Don’t over-extrapolate short-term success in niche markets by projecting it onto the broader market
7) A successful brand is usually measured by its staying power with the customers who matter most
8) Know when to exit an unfavorable market