The value of Donald Trump’s name has risen to all-time highs, coinciding with a surge in demand for everything from his condominiums and hotel rooms to his golf courses and men’s suits.
White House win provides a stimulus for the Trump brand
By Darren Samuelsohn
Donald Trump is already making money from the presidency, a post-election bump to the value of his brand that highlights the inextricable ties between his famous name, his business interests and the powerful public office he is about to assume.
Since his surprise November win, the value of Trump’s name has risen to all-time highs, coinciding with a surge in demand for everything from his condominiums and hotel rooms to his golf courses and men’s suits, according to experts in marketing, real estate and other industries who have been tracking the Trump brand since long before the launch of his political career.
“It’s the most incredible culmination of a country built on a capitalist economy, that the presidency should be fused with a branding machine and with this global corporation,” said Trump biographer Gwenda Blair.
But as Trump now prepares to take the oath of office, the president-elect’s team must manage the gush in popularity and ensuing earnings while facing critics who are already accusing Trump of using the presidency for profit.
Trump and his advisers are expected to roll out their plans at a Wednesday press conference explaining how he can shield himself and his family from conflict of interest charges. While Trump has resisted a complete divestiture from his company as some ethics experts are urging, he is taking steps to address the controversy, including scrubbing his images off billboards and other advertisements tied to projects from India to Uruguay and imposing restrictions against selling any memorabilia with the presidential seal or White House logo inside his hotels or golf course pro shops.
“His focus is not going to be on the company or the brand,” Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel, told POLITICO.
But Trump and his business allies have not been hesitant about their ability to bank on the boom in interest: His adult sons have been traveling the world since the November election drumming up business for the brand their father spent decades building, and just last week, Eric Trump visited the beachside Uruguay Trump condominium that’s reportedly seen a 20 percent surge in business during construction over the last year. Trump’s new Washington D.C. hotel also recently raised the prices on the “romanesque revival,” a bourbon cocktail that at $24 is the least expensive option at the bar.
The president-elect boasted in a New York Times interview shortly after defeating Hillary Clinton that his company is in better shape than ever before, noting hotel occupancy “will be probably a more valuable asset now than it was before.”
“The brand is certainly a hotter brand than it was before,” Trump told the newspaper. “I can’t help that, but I don’t care.”
For the Trump brand, this reversal is something of a redemption after the negative publicity it endured during a bruising 2016 presidential campaign that produced an endless series of headlines about its founder’s brash and often offensive political style. Now, its namesake is going where no other corporate CEO has ever gone before in American history, a move that continues to boost the value to his brand even when just standing still.
“It’s a golden brand. There’s never been a Rockefeller or Disney who’s been president,” said Robert Dankner, president of a New York real estate brokerage that has dealt in Trump properties.
There’s no question that Trump understands the value of the Trump name. On his financial disclosure forms, he has indicated it is his biggest asset, representing about a third of his proclaimed $10 billion in wealth. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump made his business a central theme of who he was as a rookie politician. At one post-primary celebration last March, Trump plugged multiple products that his company had sold, from wines to steaks and bottled water. He also detoured from the trail to visit his Scotland golf courses and open his Washington D.C. hotel.
Now entering the White House bubble, there’s little indication Trump is truly ready to let go. The executive producer credit line remains on his reality television show ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and the websites for his golf courses still prominently feature photos of Trump.
He also will not be lacking for opportunities to trumpet his properties. Next week’s inauguration parade down Pennsylvania Avenue passes his new hotel and he is hosting two major professional golf championships this summer at his country clubs in New Jersey and Northern Virginia. There also will be many trips to Trump Tower in New York, which has been called White House North, to his West Palm Beach private club that’s expected to be a winter presidential retreat and to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course, which one of his senior staffers recently labeled “CampDavidNJ.”
As Trump’s popularity rises in the afterglow of his election win, his business value appears to be following along with his political ascension, especially as he gains greater name recognition outside the country.
Trump-related properties are enjoying a new surge in popularity from foreign clients. Interest among Russians, for example, in buying luxury property in the U.S., namely in New York and Miami, has gone up 35 percent over the last year, with many clients specifically interested in Trump buildings, said Marina Kuzmina, the Moscow-based director of international sales at the global real estate consultant firm Knight Frank. Trump’s Uruguay condominium has also seen a 20 percent spike in sales compared to last season, with a bulk of the buyers coming from Argentina, according to a report in La Nacion.
“As hard as it is for us in the U.S. to appreciate this, the Trump brand is a global brand,” said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University. “I can assure you more people will be aware of Donald Trump and the Trump brand than ever before.”
Back in the U.S., Trump may still be polarizing, but his brand does appear to make many products worth more money. The New York-based research firm Brand Keys, for example, found in a mid-December focus group survey that having the president-elect’s name attached to a piece of real estate or a golf club added 45 percent more value to the property. That’s an all-time high for the Trump brand, which the firm has been studying for more than 20 years. For comparison, the average A-list celebrity brings an average of 12 to 15 percent more value with their sponsorship.
“I suspect the minute he takes the oath of office these numbers, they’re going to move to significant increases,” said Brand Keys president and founder Robert Passikoff. “You haven’t had a brand who became president. There isn’t a paradigm for it.”
Trump’s domestic real estate property also is experiencing a bull market.
According to StreetEasy, a New York real estate listing platform, units in the 16 buildings in Manhattan with Trump affiliations are commanding their highest median resale price since the firm started tracking them in 1995, at $1.53 million. The properties have even seen a 4.9 percent spurt in value since Trump launched his controversial presidential campaign in June 2015. During that same period, the overall Manhattan real estate market increased in median resale prices by 1.4 percent, while a comparable segment of the New York luxury retail market actually saw a 10.2 percent decline.
While the Trump brand may be enjoying its moment, many warn that it isn’t on a guaranteed upward trajectory. There is also the potential that the value of Trump’s brand is fleeting, depending on how well he’s perceived to be governing.
“If he builds U.S. jobs, then I believe equity in brand Trump will rise again. If the economy flourishes, then so too will his brand,” said New York-based branding expert Jim Joseph. “If he's not successful on those two fronts, then his presidency and his brand will suffer, I believe.”
Trump did already lose several business deals during his campaign because of his rhetoric, and boycotts continue from the likes of Serta, the major U.S. mattress manufacturer that once sold Trump-branded mattresses, and LeBron James, the NBA star who is among a group of professional athletes who refuse to stay at Trump’s hotels when their teams are on the road.
Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer, said both Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. told him before the 2016 campaign started that they had an interest – once their father was no longer associated with the business -- in leading a “less Donald-centric company” and adopting a more traditional branding approach like hotel competitors at Marriott and Hilton.
“They don’t want the Trump name to be that polarizing in the future. They’d like it to be more of an ordinary brand, a luxury brand but not one associated with controversy,” D’Antonio said.
Others are content to let the Trump brand do its thing since there isn’t really any other simple option.
“What’s the alternative? Change his name.” asked Doug Holtz-Eakin, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office and John McCain 2008 economic adviser. “Why if you’ve got a company that has a name and all the intangible value that comes with its brand would you destroy that? I don’t think it makes any sense.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/donald-trump-brand-business-233385
White House win provides a stimulus for the Trump brand
By Darren Samuelsohn
Donald Trump is already making money from the presidency, a post-election bump to the value of his brand that highlights the inextricable ties between his famous name, his business interests and the powerful public office he is about to assume.
Since his surprise November win, the value of Trump’s name has risen to all-time highs, coinciding with a surge in demand for everything from his condominiums and hotel rooms to his golf courses and men’s suits, according to experts in marketing, real estate and other industries who have been tracking the Trump brand since long before the launch of his political career.
“It’s the most incredible culmination of a country built on a capitalist economy, that the presidency should be fused with a branding machine and with this global corporation,” said Trump biographer Gwenda Blair.
But as Trump now prepares to take the oath of office, the president-elect’s team must manage the gush in popularity and ensuing earnings while facing critics who are already accusing Trump of using the presidency for profit.
Trump and his advisers are expected to roll out their plans at a Wednesday press conference explaining how he can shield himself and his family from conflict of interest charges. While Trump has resisted a complete divestiture from his company as some ethics experts are urging, he is taking steps to address the controversy, including scrubbing his images off billboards and other advertisements tied to projects from India to Uruguay and imposing restrictions against selling any memorabilia with the presidential seal or White House logo inside his hotels or golf course pro shops.
“His focus is not going to be on the company or the brand,” Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel, told POLITICO.
But Trump and his business allies have not been hesitant about their ability to bank on the boom in interest: His adult sons have been traveling the world since the November election drumming up business for the brand their father spent decades building, and just last week, Eric Trump visited the beachside Uruguay Trump condominium that’s reportedly seen a 20 percent surge in business during construction over the last year. Trump’s new Washington D.C. hotel also recently raised the prices on the “romanesque revival,” a bourbon cocktail that at $24 is the least expensive option at the bar.
The president-elect boasted in a New York Times interview shortly after defeating Hillary Clinton that his company is in better shape than ever before, noting hotel occupancy “will be probably a more valuable asset now than it was before.”
“The brand is certainly a hotter brand than it was before,” Trump told the newspaper. “I can’t help that, but I don’t care.”
For the Trump brand, this reversal is something of a redemption after the negative publicity it endured during a bruising 2016 presidential campaign that produced an endless series of headlines about its founder’s brash and often offensive political style. Now, its namesake is going where no other corporate CEO has ever gone before in American history, a move that continues to boost the value to his brand even when just standing still.
“It’s a golden brand. There’s never been a Rockefeller or Disney who’s been president,” said Robert Dankner, president of a New York real estate brokerage that has dealt in Trump properties.
There’s no question that Trump understands the value of the Trump name. On his financial disclosure forms, he has indicated it is his biggest asset, representing about a third of his proclaimed $10 billion in wealth. Throughout his presidential campaign, Trump made his business a central theme of who he was as a rookie politician. At one post-primary celebration last March, Trump plugged multiple products that his company had sold, from wines to steaks and bottled water. He also detoured from the trail to visit his Scotland golf courses and open his Washington D.C. hotel.
Now entering the White House bubble, there’s little indication Trump is truly ready to let go. The executive producer credit line remains on his reality television show ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ and the websites for his golf courses still prominently feature photos of Trump.
He also will not be lacking for opportunities to trumpet his properties. Next week’s inauguration parade down Pennsylvania Avenue passes his new hotel and he is hosting two major professional golf championships this summer at his country clubs in New Jersey and Northern Virginia. There also will be many trips to Trump Tower in New York, which has been called White House North, to his West Palm Beach private club that’s expected to be a winter presidential retreat and to his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course, which one of his senior staffers recently labeled “CampDavidNJ.”
As Trump’s popularity rises in the afterglow of his election win, his business value appears to be following along with his political ascension, especially as he gains greater name recognition outside the country.
Trump-related properties are enjoying a new surge in popularity from foreign clients. Interest among Russians, for example, in buying luxury property in the U.S., namely in New York and Miami, has gone up 35 percent over the last year, with many clients specifically interested in Trump buildings, said Marina Kuzmina, the Moscow-based director of international sales at the global real estate consultant firm Knight Frank. Trump’s Uruguay condominium has also seen a 20 percent spike in sales compared to last season, with a bulk of the buyers coming from Argentina, according to a report in La Nacion.
“As hard as it is for us in the U.S. to appreciate this, the Trump brand is a global brand,” said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University. “I can assure you more people will be aware of Donald Trump and the Trump brand than ever before.”
Back in the U.S., Trump may still be polarizing, but his brand does appear to make many products worth more money. The New York-based research firm Brand Keys, for example, found in a mid-December focus group survey that having the president-elect’s name attached to a piece of real estate or a golf club added 45 percent more value to the property. That’s an all-time high for the Trump brand, which the firm has been studying for more than 20 years. For comparison, the average A-list celebrity brings an average of 12 to 15 percent more value with their sponsorship.
“I suspect the minute he takes the oath of office these numbers, they’re going to move to significant increases,” said Brand Keys president and founder Robert Passikoff. “You haven’t had a brand who became president. There isn’t a paradigm for it.”
Trump’s domestic real estate property also is experiencing a bull market.
According to StreetEasy, a New York real estate listing platform, units in the 16 buildings in Manhattan with Trump affiliations are commanding their highest median resale price since the firm started tracking them in 1995, at $1.53 million. The properties have even seen a 4.9 percent spurt in value since Trump launched his controversial presidential campaign in June 2015. During that same period, the overall Manhattan real estate market increased in median resale prices by 1.4 percent, while a comparable segment of the New York luxury retail market actually saw a 10.2 percent decline.
While the Trump brand may be enjoying its moment, many warn that it isn’t on a guaranteed upward trajectory. There is also the potential that the value of Trump’s brand is fleeting, depending on how well he’s perceived to be governing.
“If he builds U.S. jobs, then I believe equity in brand Trump will rise again. If the economy flourishes, then so too will his brand,” said New York-based branding expert Jim Joseph. “If he's not successful on those two fronts, then his presidency and his brand will suffer, I believe.”
Trump did already lose several business deals during his campaign because of his rhetoric, and boycotts continue from the likes of Serta, the major U.S. mattress manufacturer that once sold Trump-branded mattresses, and LeBron James, the NBA star who is among a group of professional athletes who refuse to stay at Trump’s hotels when their teams are on the road.
Michael D’Antonio, a Trump biographer, said both Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. told him before the 2016 campaign started that they had an interest – once their father was no longer associated with the business -- in leading a “less Donald-centric company” and adopting a more traditional branding approach like hotel competitors at Marriott and Hilton.
“They don’t want the Trump name to be that polarizing in the future. They’d like it to be more of an ordinary brand, a luxury brand but not one associated with controversy,” D’Antonio said.
Others are content to let the Trump brand do its thing since there isn’t really any other simple option.
“What’s the alternative? Change his name.” asked Doug Holtz-Eakin, the former head of the Congressional Budget Office and John McCain 2008 economic adviser. “Why if you’ve got a company that has a name and all the intangible value that comes with its brand would you destroy that? I don’t think it makes any sense.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/donald-trump-brand-business-233385
