How TV reality star Donald Trump won the election with his 'disruptive' brand
MARKETWATCH 10:07 AM ET 11/11/2016
His campaign has been likened to the same brash, polarizing advertising of Hooters
President-elect Donald Trump succeeded in selling the brand he created through his TV show and property empire to the American people and putting his name on the White House.
Trump's biggest gamble and, perhaps, one of the main reasons for his success was his decision to target one powerful voting bloc, a strategy that many pollsters thought would alienate too many people, says Stephen Greyser, professor of marketing and communications at Harvard Business School. Like the pro-Brexit campaign in the U.K ( www.marketwatch.com/story/the-brexit-vote-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-referendum-2016-06-07)., Trump focused on "left-behind" voters, while Hillary Clinton's campaign reach was far broader, reaching out to the middle-class and " left-behind" voters. "Not everyone has fully grasped the effectiveness of this market segmentation," he says. "Trump's 'Make America Great Again' was designed to make white working-class men (and women) remember when things were better for them or, at least, they thought they could remember. If Hillary did have a target market, it was black and Latino 'left- behind' voters, many of whom had not yet had a full piece of the American Dream."
And the candidate -- for better or worse -- was more complicated than the brand he created with his Reaganesque slogan, ties, buildings and TV reality show. He was willing to be divisive and offensive to large segments of the voting population. Like the restaurant chain Hooters, he "attracts a certain type of clientele and pushes others away," according to the blog Branding for the People (http://brandingforthepeople.com/donald-trump-hooters-and-disruptive- branding/). "Donald Trump is a disruptive brand. He's brash, opinionated and unapologetic -- the polar opposite of what we have come to expect of politicians." He challenged the status quo, says Brad Davis, associate professor of marketing at Lazaridis School of Business in Waterloo, Canada. "The irony, of course, is that Trump is part of the establishment, just a different one.
When the then-Republican nominee descended the escalator in Trump Tower in June 2015, he had a simple, targeted message: "Make America Great Again." He did not outline as many policy details like his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who has 40 years public service, but his campaign slogan touched a nerve with rural, blue-collar workers across the critical swing states in the South and Midwest. His supporters wore his trademark "Make America Great Again" red baseball caps, and even at his victory party at a Hilton hotel in the New York City. "He knew how to keep things simple, focused on emotion and nostalgia," says e-commerce consultant Bryan Eisenberg.
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While Trump's campaign had many missteps, including an "Access Hollywood" hot mic where he bragged about forcing himself on women, he never veered from his central, repetitive sales pitch at his rallies, which he repeated as often as Obama's 2008 uplifting message "Yes, we can." He had the same talking points that he hammered home at every rally: talking about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, repealing Obamacare and banning Muslims from entering the U.S. Hillary Clinton's "I'm With Her" and "Stronger Together" was perhaps a bookend to Obama's slogan, Eisenberg says, but it sounded less like a sales pitch or, for that matter, a bumper sticker.
Although he was dubbed the "Dark Knight (http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-dark-knight-1469206277)"; by some commentators, his slogan "Make America Great Again" owed much to the sunnier messaging of Ronald Reagan, adds Marcus Messner, social media professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. It owes a lot (save one word) to Reagan's 1980 presidential election advertising slogan "Let's Make America Great Again (http://cdn.redalertpolitics.com/files/2016/07/ reagan.jpeg)" and his 1984 campaign "It's morning again in America (
; For those who were feeling disenfranchised, Messner says, it allowed them to dream and presented a solution to a problem. " While it is somewhat unclear, it caught on with many voters."
Don't miss:Is buying a pair of Ivanka Trump shoes a political endorsement? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-i- felt-about-buying-ivanka-trump-shoes-2016-10-31)
Still, the reality star on the NBC television show "The Apprentice" and tabloid staple for much of the last three decades, Trump had learned nothing if not to sell himself. Hillary Clinton's slogan "Stronger Together" will probably not be remembered for long, Messner says. "It did not make it into the public's conversations," he says. Trump's slogan, however, translated well to the 140-characters-or-less world of Twitter and part advertising jingle ecclesiastical chant. "Overall, Trump's messages, especially on Twitter, seemed spontaneous and raw, while Clinton seemed more scripted throughout the campaign."
Flying around the country in his "Trump" branded 757 plane, he showcased an aspirational lifestyle that appealed to white, working-class Americans. His brand, like his campaign, was unprecedented for someone running for President of the United States. In fact, it was unlike any other found in the database of Millward Brown's 100,000 brands, according to a study carried out by the market research firm in August 2016 during the height of the campaign. "Trump seems to have employed a true category disassociation strategy," Millward Brown found. "He's the 'un-candidate' and has created a brand like no other."
But Trump's brand was constantly reinforced through around-the-clock media coverage like a free infomercial. " Meaningfully different brands are much more likely to be selected, to command greater premiums and to grow in the future," says Christopher Murphy, chief client officer at Millward Brown North America. While the company usually analyzes financial services or automotive brands, political candidates can be evaluated through a brand lens, too: Does the candidate meaningfully connect either functionally or emotionally? Is the candidate seen as different or capable of driving positive change?" Trump, Murphy concluded, did both.
In sharp contrast, Hillary Clinton's more sober campaign compared to "other proficient but undifferentiated brands," including American Airlines, the U.S. Postal Service and Visit Florida, the state's travel arm, the Millward Brown study found. With her more obtuse slogan and detailed policy proposals, it was designed to connect with key demographic groups, including the college-educated, middle class voters, women, African-Americans, Hispanics, younger and religiously unaffiliated voters. It was not, as Tuesday's election proved, enough to motivate one large (and powerful) voting block and elevate her to the White House as the first female president of the U.S.
From a very good friend ~~~~ not sure of authorship:
Make America Great Again!!!!
Think about this for a moment:
Tuesday Nov. 8 at around 1700 hours, Hillary and 400+ Hillary Clinton loyalists gathered with 100+ cases of champagne, a Two-Million-Dollar, ($2,000,000.00) paid for massive fireworks display in downtown New York and a custom built dome with the mythical “glass roof” and the Bxxxx, (or as her Secret Service call sign names her-- “Broomstick One”) to celebrate Broom Stick One's victory over Trump as the first President of the United States . The inner cities were dancing in the streets, knowing their Welfare checks were going to continue and go up. Mexico was happy as they could continue to empty their prisons into America . Isis was happy as they could continue to infiltrate America with their Terrorists!
Newsweek had already published and shipped the next issue with the cover “Madam President” and a detailed analysis of precisely how the Clinton political machine had captured the Electoral College with a whopping 324 votes. They had her acceptance speech in an article gracefully calling for all Americans to join with her and blah, blah, blah.
Among the 400+ giddy followers were those who had already received confirmation of their future assignments and high paid government jobs in the White House, FBI, Department of Labor, Ambassadorships and the list goes on. All were assured of at least four (4) and probably eight (8) years of lucrative jobs that they had dedicated over 3 years of their lives to achieving. They had all rented or bought housing in D.C. or nearby in Georgetown . Reservations had been made at the Hilton and other 5 star hotels in New York City for the PARTY.
They knew the fix was in: every poll and every media outlet except Fox News and Drudge was in the tank for Hillary and against Trump. At a rate of 45 to 1 Department of Justice employees had contributed to the campaign over trump. CNN, NBC, CBS had all supplied Hillary with the debate questions well in advance. The fix was in over all the scandals and the WikiLeaks was all the fault of the Russians who had even changed the language in the emails. The Department of Justice and FBI had cleared Hillary of any criminal conduct.
Every media pundit and all of the polls except the LA Times and one other had Hillary with a 1-8 point lead. The odds in Las Vegas were 200 to 1 and by election time were still 5 to 1.
The exit polls were 100% in the Democrat’s favor and the path to victory was clear.
Then within 5 short hours it all came crashing down. They were stunned—told to go home and go home they did so they could organize riots and proclaim to the world that Trump was not their President.
Imagine the despairing depression and shock that set in!!
“Congrats to All Patriotic Americans that love their Republic, great job!"
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