Trump losing more than election
When the Republican nominee decided to brag about his sexual conquests, he did not foresee that it would affect his business interests. Appalled by his remarks, affluent supporters have pulled away and affiliates are dissociating from the tarnished brand
NEW YORK // When Donald Trump’s boasts about groping women came to light, event planner Beth Bernstein took action. She removed photos of weddings she had organised at a Trump hotel in Chicago from her website and asked to be removed from their list of preferred businesses.
Ms Bernstein is not alone. Indications are that the Republican nominee for president is in danger of losing not just the election, but something perhaps even more precious to a man who claims the marketing value of his name is worth US$3 billion (Dh11bn): the many customers, mostly wealthy, who have stayed at his hotels or held galas at his oceanside resorts.
Experts say the Trump brand is tarnished and has reached a tricky crossroads as his appeal shifts from the high-income people he has long courted to a more middle-class base, including the fans he cultivated during the campaign.
“The current trajectory is very harmful to his businesses,” said Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at New York University.
“His brands cater to the affluent, who are disproportionately turned off by his activities.”
Will Johnson, an analyst at a research firm that monitors brand perception for 3,500 brands, agrees. “He alienated the upper socioeconomic group,” he says. “He’s low on trust and high on arrogance.”
Ever confident, the business mogul insists that, if anything, his campaign has burnished the Trump brand and boosted his business. But the numbers tell another story. At his new Trump International hotel in Washington, business appears to have got off to a slow start.
According to the hotel website, they have been cutting prices by 10 per cent or more. By contrast, five major luxury competitors in the city charged more or were sold out.
The managing director of the new hotel, which Mr Trump will formally open today, disputes that it is struggling.
But the fallout is not limited to Trump hotels. Charities are considering moving events from Trump properties. The US Golf Association is under pressure to move next year’s US Women’s Open away from a Trump-owned course. Mr Trump’s businesses are privately owned, so gauging the damage caused is difficult.
But marketing experts say he is vulnerable because so much rides on his name.
The backlash is already happening. A petition to remove his name from Trump Place in Manhattan, which he does not own, got more than 340 names.
“He’s disgusting and people are embarrassed to say where they live,” says Marjorie Jacobs, one of the signatories. Staff at the building already have new uniforms without the Trump on them.
A poll of 1,536 registered voters nationwide found that the comments about groping women have greatly devalued his name.
Foursquare, which tracks people’s locations via their smartphones, found that foot traffic to Trump golf courses, hotels, resorts and other properties was down 19 per cent from a year ago, before Mr Trump began his presidential journey.
Several big- name brands, including NBC, Macy’s and others, severed ties in July last year after Mr Trump’s derogatory remarks about Mexican immigrants, but there has been no similar high-profile exodus since. The home listing site, Streeteasy, also found no difference in price between Trump-branded homes in 16 buildings in Manhattan and similar properties near by. But Mr Trump’s demographic base is changing.
Among the aspirational American middle class, there was a 14 per cent increase in those who think Mr Trump is a visionary.
“I think at some point, probably after he loses the election, we’ll do a re-evaluation of what the brand means and what the brand stands for,” says Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff, whose company polled voters on the groping issue.