Trumps Brand

By definition, a "brand' is what customers think about a product, service, or person. A "brand promise" is what you WANT your customers to believe.  So what is Donald Trump's political brand and how much value does it have?

Before entering the political arena, the Trump brand stood for luxury. When he translated himself into politics, his political brand became about populism, the working class, and up-ending Washington DC.  That upending was fundamentally his "brand promise" and it particularly appealed to less educated, working class, older white males.

But in brand marketing, it is not what he says about himself that defines his brand, but what the wide range of his "customers" think about him.  So his brand is actually an amalgamation of what his supporters, opponents, and neutral folks think about him.

He cannot determine what people think about him. All he and his compatriots can do is set a goal about his brand image and work to solidify that understanding in the minds of his "customers", i.e. the American people. They do that by carefully defining talking points and then hammering away at them.

And even more important in brand marketing, the product quality must match the aspirations in the brand promise, or the claims are seen as lacking credibility.

As far as I have been able to observe, Trump's current brand image in the minds of his customers is:

• Not yet fulfilled promises to change the way Washington does things (which some folks favor and some do not)
• Frequent insults, most often via Twitter (which some folks agree with and some do not)
• His cabinet and key leadership appointments (which some folks favor and some do not)
• His overall attitude and bearing (which some folks favor and some do not)
• Not yet fulfilled promises about specific legislation or issues (which in each case some folks favor and some do not)
• Ethics issues (some folks support him but some do not)

My conclusion is that every one of the key elements of Trump's political brand is a mixed bag. This is why his approval rating, indicative of acceptance of his brand promise, is historically low for an incoming president.

I am reminded of the saying that is often cited as a Chinese proverb, "No matter where you go, there you are."

Sometimes this is simply said as a joke, but it really is Chinese wisdom. It means that you cannot run away from yourself.  No matter how you try to change your image, you are still the same person you have always been, deep down inside.  True change is much harder.

Trump's current  political brand is muddied and his brand promise is not persuasive. To gain the kind of acceptance his ego wants him to have, he is going to need to change deep down inside, not just tweak his public image.  I am not convinced that is likely.