branding bludgeoning and you should have it all

 crushed bludgeon business long term short term

 

===========

 

“The main objective is to learn to think crudely.

Crude thinking is the great one’s thinking.”

 

—–

Bertolt Brecht

 

===============

 

Well.

 

managing brand identity vale now futureBrands are meant to be subtle things … less crude and more elegance in their architecture. That doesn’t mean they cannot have some coarser aspects to its facing and how it interacts with the public but behind the facing , of at least a successful brand, is often an intricate web of elegantly crafted pulleys & levers.

 

Sigh.

 

This leads me to the brand which Donald J Trump bludgeons us with.

 

Maybe because the rabid Trump trolls haven’t found me en masse yet I really haven’t had to defend my Trump critiques that extensively.

 

However.

 

I do get a small amount of thoughtful pushbacks. Most of the pushbacks are grounded in the random thoughts President Trump offers that have some validity <immigration needs to be resolved, too many regulations, etc.>.

 

Look, no, I am not suggesting there are not scraps of good ideas and good things. Of course there are. But we should be demanding more than scraps. But within the ‘Trump Affect’ it seems like scraps attain value of the whole.

 

Regardless.

 

the trump debateThe main way I address the Trump Affect is to approach it just as he does – branding.

 

To begin I will admit I am slightly biased. I have seen the best of the best in marketing, advertising and positioning of companies & products. I have seen the good & the bad. This means I know you can have it all when it comes to a brand … and we should demand it all.

 

But Trump is kind of like the old Mr. Whipple toilet paper television ads.

Horrible advertising <embracing to anyone associated with it> but allowed the product managers to stand up year after year pointing at sales increases. It was a good idea poorly implemented. Most advertising/marketing people with half a brain knew it would have been more effective if it had been done in a way that not only drove sales built created positive brand <instead all the advertising did was create sales but horrible “brand likeability” scores>.

 

I say that to state we deserve good ideas that fit within who and what America is — effective tactics and building our brand at the same time.

We should not choose between one or the other.

 

Trump forces us to choose the only item on his menu – a bombastic, coarse, juvenile brand.

 

Trump may actually have some good ideas somewhere within all his unflinching bluster but because he is bludgeoning us with what he believes is his most effective brand messaging/personality he is shattering his audience into defensive fragments who are seeking more than what he is offering.

 

On the other side … this also means we are being forced into a variety of different fragments trying to defend and defeat the Trump brand bludgeoning style.

All this defeating & defending is a huge pain in the ass, and difficult, because his style is solely brand with no underpinnings <how do you defeat hollowness?>.

 

In fact … he is doing what most of us marketers would suggest is folly — he stands for nothing therefore he stands for everything. He is like the Swiss Army knife of offerings <without the Swiss Army quality>. Because he has positioned his brand solely on personality <bullying toughness … kind of a Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes. Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer mix if you accept a sports metaphor> he has cobbled together a fragmented group of followers <or maybe better said … selective issue followers> to confuse the rest of us into thinking this is a ‘multi-purpose effective brand.’

I will point out that this is the most simplistic bastardized version of what a brand is. This is a ‘fad brand’ strategy — not built for any functional pragmatic long term but rather solely emotional ‘if you like how you feel’ come along for the ride short term.

 

However.

 

My biggest issue resides within the soul of whatever brand he is selling. I bring that issue up because I believe we are currently being forced into a struggle for the soul of America by someone <a brand> who I am not sure has a soul.

 

Which leads me back to brands.

 

Brands make difficult choices when entering into the market place.managing and informing brand strategy

We can do difficult things, and we should when necessary, but we should always do it the right way.

 

Sadly … we have already lost no matter what.

 

For years we have held our heads high, maybe slightly too arrogantly, as the moral voice for the world with all our freedoms & attitudes.

 

For example … this crazy batshit stupid ineffective travel ban just made us hypocrites as well as less safe.

 

Before this stupid ban people around the world were just laughing at us … now they see us as no better than they … and some now hate us more for all the posturing we had done to date.

 

This is not to say America is still not posturing … it is just our posturing has almost become a caricature of reality <and the brand itself has become a caricature>:

 

One of the most noticeable differences is in style: While Obama signed most of his executive orders in private, Trump has signed all of his in public, with a headline-generating photo opportunities intended to convey constant presidential action.

 

“Executive orders are generally used to enact public policies, but some of Trump’s orders seem to have been for more symbolic or rhetorical purposes,” says Graham Dodds, a political scientist at Concordia University in Montreal.

 

And that seems to be part of the strategy. “We’ve hit the ground running at a record pace,” he boasted in his weekly radio address Saturday. The White House is scheduling executive order signing ceremonies even before it knows  which order Trump is going to sign — or whether he’ll sign them at all.

 

Brands are always about frame of reference. They struggle to exist in a world of ‘nothing’ and thrive in a world of comparisons.

I offer that thought because if you treat specific actions in isolation it can become easy to not only normalize but, in a an extremely flawed logic way, you create a one-on-one false comparison.

Trump branding consists of the best use of false comparison I have ever seen <because it resides in a world of ‘nothing’>.

 

communicate-poor-process-words-say-the-right-thingI will not argue that Trump is a game-changer <for better or worse>. But I worry <a lot> that he is changing America into a dumber America … certainly a less intellectually or open-to-learning society..

 

Just use some words to ponder what I just said I worried about:

 

Justin Trudeau Canada Prime Minister, age 45

We need to remain focused on keeping our communities safe and united instead of trying to build walls and scapegoat communities. To paint terrorists with a broad brush that extends to all Muslims is not just ignorant – it is irresponsible. If we allow individuals and organizations to succeed by scaring people, we do not actually end up any safer. Fear does not make us safer. It makes us weaker. Ramping up fear and closing our borders is not a solution.”

 

Angela Merkel, Germany Chancellor, age 62

“The chancellor regrets the US government’s entry ban against refugees and the citizens of certain countries. She is convinced that the necessary, decisive battle against terrorism does not justify a general suspicion against people of a certain origin or a certain religion.”

 

Donald Trump, US President, age 70.

“bad dudes.”

 

Or.

“Happening all over the world absolutely a terrible thing.” <about St. Petersburg bomb … his press secretary offered US assistance to Russia and said “our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and with the Russian people”.

 

Those words reflect how my brand is competing against other brands. That’s the business way of viewing how things are articulated <instead of just shaking one’s head or applauding ‘simplistic candor’>.

 

Lastly.

 

Surprisingly for a supposed branding guy he is features focused and not benefit focused in his self-marketing. He dangles shiny object features in front of us … and is expecting us to not see the greater whole the features … well … the features actually don’t really coalesce into anything meaningful with a solid useful benefit.

 

While brands are typically intricate webs of creation they also represent complex challenges to defeat. He is bludgeoning America blow by blow and the rest of us are simply trying to counter punch … and he has moved on. Simplistically, he is fundamentally reshaping America with simplistic sledgehammer blows and the rest of us are talking about the last punch. I

 

I do know, personally, in social media i would be using small listicles <albeit I hate them but they are effective>. stacking up three initiatives and showcase how they are fundamentally shifting America <because i would imagine a lot of people will not like the combinations>.

 

I would use the standard business trick of triangulating or boxing in his actions <using the corners/points to surround America in the middle> so that people can see how america is being effected overall.

For example, if the three points in the triangle are international, domestic & social you get to show America how all that he is doing relates.democracy when who if not

 

Anyway.

 

To defeat the Trump brand we HAVE to start doing that because taken one by one some of the Trump brand crap actually looks harmless or ‘not that bad’ and, yet, taken as a whole he is turning the Titanic toward the iceberg and not away from it.

 

To be clear.

This is not the way successful brands are created. Successful brands, the best of the best, offer us everything. We need not compromise on anything important and yet it offers a distinct choice. It is not easy to do what I just said but it absolutely represents a brand which need not bludgeon anyone to build sustainable value.

 

 

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Written by Bruce