The Trump brand has changed. Radically.
Five years ago the fabulously successful lifestyle brand made a sharp right turn away from the promise of luxury, high living, extravagance, and indulgence and turned into a political brand. Now the Trump brand’s values of conservatism, authoritarianism, social dominance, and nationalism resonate.
There’s no political or tribal bias to that observation.
After tracking the brand for more than 30 years, it’s just a fact of brand-life. The Trump brand has fundamentally changed. It wasn’t overnight or even in a year. It took 58 months, but that’s the way it happens, especially with human brands with entrenched values.
Gone are the high-end steaks, flashy jewelry, and expensive suits and ties, replaced by political rhetoric and MAGA hats (in classic red and camo), t-shirts, teddy bears, and dog toys, all appropriately priced for a middle class audience. The “Entertainment” portion of the brand gets buttressed every day!
To be fair, categories like “Country Clubs” and “Hotels” are still doing OK monetized more by political push and potential Presidential access than brand pull. No, now when it comes to the new Trump brand-version of hotels, it’s a mid-scale, patriotically-themed chain called, “American IDEA.”
The times – and the brand – have changed. And whether you see this as good or bad will depend entirely upon your political affiliation, brand acumen, and self-image. And contrary to Kellyanne Conway, facts are facts especially when it comes to brands.
Based on the emotional brand engagement assessments of 1,500 Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, we invite you review our new Trump brand survey results here.
Find out more about what makes customer loyalty happen and how Brand Keys metrics is able to predict future consumer behavior: brandkeys.com. Visit our YouTube channel to learn more about Brand Keys methodology, applications and case studies.
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