Trump Made the One Mistake All Brand Marketers Should Avoid

Image credit: Darren Halstead via Unsplash

‘Hut Hut!’ Flood the Zone…the offensive, daring and co-ordinated American Football strategy with the aim of creating confusion, lack of focus and the overcommitment of defenders to one side, leaving areas of the field vulnerable for a killer strike. This was Trump America last week with his global tariff war. His ‘art of the deal’ tactics sent global markets into confusion on his why, how and what, and while his MAGA base perhaps lapped it up, a big problem led to a 90 day pause while he works on his next play.

The problem was in the bond markets; the cost of US borrowing started to rise very unexpectedly. Yields increased as the free market started selling off US bonds. Extraordinary as typically in times of global market strife, investors fly to safe havens to preserve wealth i.e. gold, oil, US treasuries – the bonds. Not this time, US bonds were being rejected. In marketing terms the volume and demand for the American brand suddenly lowered. And while stories swirled of China dumping billions of bonds in retaliation, western investors were questioning the value too, waiting to see if other governments like Japan who hold $1 trillion might make a move.

In other words, Trump’s tariff strategy made the one mistake all brand marketeers should avoid – don’t undermine the core reason why customers buy you. In creating confusion he threw into question the US’s promise as the global reserve currency they believed in: positive strength, stability and continuity. Replacing these mighty brand associations with a profound feeling of undependability. The one thing all sensible investors absolutely do not want to feel. The cost of acquisition had just gone up, profits and margin was at risk so things had to pause.

After the storm some could argue it’s worked in the short term. He’s got 10% tariffs in place for 90 days raising billions in tax revenues, stock markets are bouncing back, key trading partners are negotiating ‘fairer’ trade terms and some manufacturing is moving away from China with Apple decamping to India.

But what’s the longer term impact for achieving his objectives?

I think it’s fair to say many of us are wondering what the F*ck will this dude do after 90 days? Despite relaxing on China electronic goods tariffs, uncertainty still shrouds the American brand. And the face off with China is still massively in play. And it’s the China face off that is the constant. The long term theme Trump, Republicans and many Democrats seem aligned on is China. If there is a long term strategic objective for Making America Great Again, for unleashing these tactics, it appears the US is deadly serious about stopping the dominance and practices of China in the world’s free market.

However in flooding the zone Trump hasn’t taken allies, the commonwealth and key investors who want to believe in the stability of the reserve currency with him. This is the strategic challenge of the next 90 days; will he bring stakeholders with him, can he hold confidence in the dollar and can he inspire new trading terms based on a shared vision of the free world led by the US in opposition to China?

That’s one hell of a brief, and it remains to be seen whether he will course correct the brand narrative and adopt new behaviours to win over the citizens of the free world outside of his MAGA base. Who seem to crave American isolationism while also wanting the security of American global hegemony. A cultural tension to now resolve.

Given the bond market response, the lingering uncertainty and the desire to really take on China Trump is surely going to have to try something different, something more globally unifying.

A state visit is on the cards with the British Royal Family. A moment to re-engage the wary and confused of the free world with a refreshed narrative, and who knows, perhaps it should be led with an idea global partners could actually buy into : ‘Changing the future of free nations again.’

I remember when Brand Obama landed in the UK in 2011 he mesmerised Westminster Abbey with inspiring words steeped in history, reverence, hope and collective interest:

”…no-one drew greater inspiration from these notions of freedom than your rabble rousing colonists on the other side of the Atlantic. As Winston Churchill said, the " Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence". "For both of our nations, living up to the ideals enshrined in these founding documents has sometimes been difficult, has always been a work in progress. "The path has never been perfect. But through the struggles of slaves and immigrants; women and ethnic minorities; former colonies and persecuted religions, we have learned better than most that the longing for freedom and human dignity is not English or American or Western - it is universal, and it beats in every human heart.’

Something like that might get people believing again.