President Donald Trump made his money by slapping his name on hotels and products. Now he’s doing the same thing to the US government.
There’s TrumpRx, a website for prescription drugs. The Trump Gold Card, a high-dollar ticket to citizenship. A Trump coin. A Trump fighter jet.
Beginning with his decadeslong career in real estate, Trump has been deeply attuned to branding and marketing — capturing the public’s attention in simple but memorable ways.
In his second term as president, Trump and his team have built upon that skill with a sophisticated operation — the federal government now utilizing the lessons learned at the Trump Organization. And the president has been hands-on, treating his administration like a business to be promoted — a precedent that could be adopted by future campaigns and administrations on both sides of the aisle, but that has raised concerns about the commoditization of the White House.
Trump’s most significant marketing effort in his political career has been MAGA: “Make America Great Again,” a tagline for his 2016 campaign adopted from a 1980 Ronald Reagan slogan. MAGA has subsequently become the signifier of a much broader political movement — spawning not just hats and T-shirts, but a rallying call and identity.
“What Trump understands is how to capture attention. That is his master stroke,” said Camille Moore, a branding expert and influencer.
“He understands that simplicity and repetition create stickiness. ‘Make America Great Again’ triggers aspirational feelings. These are very simple concepts that anybody can get behind, and that’s what the best branding is based on,” said Moore, who has worked with companies including Saks Fifth Avenue, Netflix and L’O
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