INSIDE
NOVEMBER 2016 BCBUSINESS 55
The presidential campaign of Donald Trump
offers many lessons. The idea that Trump
has something to teach marketers may
seem profoundly distasteful at first blush:
"Bob's Panini House—if you hate and fear
religious and ethnic minorities, we have the
sandwich for you!"
But the Trump campaign has forcefully
underscored key elements of consumer
decision-making: branding and emotion.
"Although the toxic nature of Donald
Trump's rhetoric should alarm us all, when
he is on message there is no questioning the
effectiveness of his communication," says
James Hoggan of the PR firm James Hoggan
& Associates. "Trump offers a lesson on how
emotional dialogue can shape public opin-
ion in the face of significant obstacles."
Witness the Brexit vote last June. If there
was ever a British municipality that could
be said to benefit from European Union
membership, it was Cornwall, England.
As a relatively low-income community,
Cornwall was the recipient of tens of
millions of pounds' worth of annual EU
subsidies. On referendum day, the good
people of Cornwall said, "Enough with this
windfall!" and voted decisively to leave
the EU (followed almost immediately by a
collective bleat from locals that the British
government should reimburse them for
the subsidies they had just voted to kill).
The
Trump
Technique
ILLUSTRATION: KAGAN McLEOD
The U.S. election was
a powerful lesson in
using emotion to sell a
brand
by Steve Burgess
A nightclub pool ... Tea that makes you happy ... Scarves that give ... Coffee CEO recalls LSD ... + more
N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6
"What do I like about playing
hockey? It's a fast game. It takes a
lot of work. You're not going to have
success in hockey if you don't go
out and work"–p.57
Off lıne
E V E R Y B O D Y ' S TA L K I N '
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