Team Trump’s Smart Marketing Strategy
[guest post by Dana]
A week ago, JVW humorously walked us through the campaign swag of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. He also included some items from from the Trump shop, including the TRUMP straw. Marketing genius, apparently:
Brad Parscale had just boarded a Jet Blue flight earlier this month when the paper straw he was using ripped in half.
As he tried to keep his iced tea from spilling onto his suit, the annoyed Trump campaign manager tweeted that he was “so over paper straws.” Prodded by his wife not to leave it at that, Parscale emailed his staff from the air with an idea: Let’s sell plastic Trump straws.
In short order, the campaign sent an email to supporters with the subject line, “Making straws great again.” By the time Parscale landed in Florida, the presidential straws were already in production and an advertising campaign was up and running. The first batch was sold out within hours.
The “ploy was part of a strategy to stoke and validate the grievances of Trump’s base — and then turn them into hard cash, has been a major success:
The straws (they are actually reusable and recyclable) have been a cash cow, generating more than $456,000 in sales since they first became available July 19, according to the campaign. That and other offerings have attracted scores of new donors to the Trump campaign, and helped the president build a massive early financial advantage over Democrats.
Even Democrats are taking notice and begrudgingly acknowledge the successful marketing strategy:
“I think something Trump has always understood very clearly is how to tap into a cultural moment or zeitgeist and leverage it to his advantage,” said Tara McGowan, a top Democratic digital strategist who served on a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC during the 2016 campaign and has been active in the climate change movement. “So for him, taking a relatively new thing in the world that most people hate (paper straws) and leveraging it to both make a political statement and raise [hundreds of thousands] of dollars by selling plastic straws is both brilliant and sinister.”
[Ed. sinister??]
Following the Trump playbook, Team Trump zeros in on Trump supporters’ resentment of all things politically correct, as well as their love of country. Many items sold are on the cheap side, and as such, draw in new, small donors for whom this might be the first time they are giving to a campaign.
The overall strategy is working.
Additionally, although it sells for $45, three months ago, the Trump campaign had raked in $45 million from the sale of nearly one million MAGA hats. I haven’t taken the time to research it but it would be interesting to know whether the campaign sees an uptick in sales of Trump swag after he goes on tweet rants attacking Democrats (four Democratic congresswomen, Elijah Cummings this weekend, etc). Also, it’s curious there’s no “Send Them Back” swag in the Trump shop yet. Seems like that would be a real moneymaker…
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
Good morning.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/29/2019 @ 7:28 amGood morning, Dana.
Also: “Heh!”
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 7:40 amHeh, indeed. Good post.
DRJ (15874d) — 7/29/2019 @ 7:51 amIt’s no surprise that Trump has the ability to convince people to buy his s**t.
Paul Montagu (dbd3cc) — 7/29/2019 @ 7:58 amI don’t have any Trump gear, but he does have a good looking MAGA camo hat.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2019 @ 7:58 amThe Democrats will be selling cook books that only have recipes in which one can only use fruit that has fallen from a tree.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:01 am6. Low-hanging fruit. 😉
Gryph (08c844) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:08 amI have no strong opinion about this. Sucking on a straw, paper or plastic, has always seemed effeminate to me, although a God-send for kids’ juice boxes.
There has, however, been a trillion-dollar cold drink industry built around the plastic straw. From McDonald’s Super-Size to 7-11’s Big Gulp to Starbucks’ multitude of fruity concoctions and countless others that people linger over. Paper straws cannot handle that, no matter how much wax they put on them. That’s where the resistance will come from.
nk (dbc370) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:17 amOK, occasionally these guys will do something that impresses me. The merger between shameless commerce and the Presidency has been a theme of Trump — so maybe this is just natural for them. But I admit that I like it…
Appalled (d07ae6) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:33 amMAGA hats can and will trigger many mental defects roaming the streets of America.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:36 amThe first Democrat candidate who can sell compostable plastic straws on his/her campaign website should be made an automatic frontrunner, challenging both Trump’s anti-conservation product line and the Left’s SJW intolerant mindset.
Paul Montagu (dbd3cc) — 7/29/2019 @ 8:41 amI vote for global warming ice cube trays and Second Amendment Kevlar(tm) hoodies for kids from the Dems…
Dave (1bb933) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:11 amEven in this corner of central Florida, this straw silliness is focused on by the norridge city council
Narciso (a0a0bf) — 7/29/2019 @ 9:21 amI’ve always said that KISS were marketing geniuses. Seriously, there isn’t a product you can buy that doesn’t have a KISS logo–everything from posters, decals and t-shirts to coffee mugs; you can even buy a KISS coffin to be buried in.
Did you know that last year KISS earned $100 million in merchandizing sales alone? Yeah, and that doesn’t include album/CD sales, royalties for radio airplay, or ticket sales for concerts that sell out all over the world. They’re on the final tour this year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t stop making money.
The KISS brand name is worth a hell of a lot more than the Trump brand name. Plastic straws, are your kidding me? If there were any real money to be made in marketing that, KISS would have been doing it decades ago.
Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 7/29/2019 @ 12:22 pmA bit behind the curve.
NYers have known Trump’s affinity for ‘marketing’ for decades. When it comes to marketing the brand, promotion, yes; advertising, no. Madison Avenue folks have known this for years and been stiffed by him over same.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 7/29/2019 @ 4:53 pmGene Simmons has a restaurant chain called Rock And Brew that I at first rolled my eyes at but am now a frequent customer. The food is very good for that kind of franchise business and the way the beer marketing is done is subtly impressive.
Ptw (0e5eaa) — 7/30/2019 @ 5:25 amWas never really keen on kiss, probably after the TV movie that was a dumpster fire on wheels
Narciso (72d34b) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:08 amGene Simmons in his day was a mack nearly on par with Prince, Jeter and post-Marla /pre-Melania DJT.
urbanleftbehind (19867a) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:42 amThe next time I saw him was in runaway and the film with Rutgers hauer.
Narciso (72d34b) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:49 amKiss music? Not a fan, but very shrewd marketing.
Simmons was funnier than Hell as a lawyer in the movie Extract that stars Jason Bateman.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/30/2019 @ 6:58 amIf you’ve ever wondered why your dollar is worth only 1.6 of Rockefeller’s pennies (that’s right, $0.016), this is the reason. A medium of exchange is worth only as much as what you exchange it for and if enough people keep exchanging it for enough worthless crap long enough it will be worth less and less. I’m sure economists have a name for it, but they’ve never told me.
nk (dbc370) — 7/30/2019 @ 8:03 amAnd yet my dollar can buy things Rockefeller never dreamed of.
Ptw (72bb0b) — 7/30/2019 @ 8:58 am21.
21.If you’ve ever wondered why your dollar is worth only 1.6 of Rockefeller’s pennies
So, in other words one of his dimes was $6.25, and a penny then is equivalent to 62 cents?
That can’t be right as there are some things you can get for 39 cents (some canned goods or 2 bananas) or 25 cents (1 banana in Target – 24 cents with the Redcard) or even a nickel (copy in a drug store or maybe some beans at a fruit and vegetable store.)
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that: $100 in 1913 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $2,424.31 in 2016, or $1 = $24.24 That mans one of his pennies was 24 cents – approximately a quarter and a dime $2.42.
http://www.in2013dollars.com/1913-dollars-in-2016
Sammy Finkelman (7cd5f4) — 7/30/2019 @ 9:12 amThey had chewing gum in Rockefeller’s time.
nk (dbc370) — 7/30/2019 @ 9:13 amI’m using the gold standard, Sammy. Rockefeller could buy an ounce of gold with a $20 bill when Jackson replaced Grover Cleveland on it. How many Jacksons do you need for an ounce of gold now?
nk (dbc370) — 7/30/2019 @ 9:16 amThere was much less demand for gold back then as well. Beyond electronic/industrial there was less stuff to buy with it.
Basically an apples-to-apples comparison of commodities and many other things over numerous decades is wide open to interpretation of the economic complexities and changes in supply and demand as well.
Ptw (72bb0b) — 7/30/2019 @ 9:33 am71 and change, but that’s not the reason,
narciso (d1f714) — 7/30/2019 @ 10:03 am