Brands Trump Commodities.

Say what you will. Please.

That’s the lesson of Trump. He is the first politician in years to speak his mind instead of hiding behind fake patriotism and snore-inducing soundbites.

It doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong. You know what he’s thinking. He gives you a glimpse inside the person who wants to run this country. Mark Cuban recently said that Trump’s outspokenness has been the most important development for U.S. politics in years. Mark the Shark has it right.

Trump is a brand. The other 62 Republicans running for their party’s nomination are commodities. Trump’s bold moves have turned the also-runnings into also-rans. There is an old but true marketing maxim: if you don’t position yourself, your competition will do it for you.

Trump has positioned the other Republicans as commodities. He is bold. They are bland. He makes statements. They mutter tired clichés.

A brand is a promise. Whether you like Trump’s offer or not is up to you. At least he has given, and will continue to give, you solid clues as to what makes him tick and what he believes. Like it or lump it. Donald will trumpet. You cannot please everybody.

How many times have you seen a cool ad or video and then had no idea what the message was or what they wanted you to do? Cool or not, it was a waste of money.

What does your target think of you? Have you clearly defined your positioning? Have you been positioned by your competition?

If you can positively answer these questions, good for you. You’re in the minority.

If you don’t know, you need help. Drop me a line at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Have to leave you with a classic Trump quote: “If your business is not a brand, it is a commodity.” Ouch. That could leave a mark. Just ask the other Republican candidates.

Ben Franklin Biograffiti

The more you read about Ben Franklin, the more you realize that he was ahead of his time.

Ironically, even more than any of his inventions, he was a lightening rod. I’m reading Ben Franklin, An American Life by Walter Isaacson. I highly recommend it. Isaacson’s research is thorough and his comments on Franklin are thoroughly entertaining. Two of my favorite of Isaacson’s nuggets:

·      Ben Franklin is the founding father who winks at us.

·      But the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself.

We always think our society is on the verge of ruin. How many times have you heard, “The founding fathers would be rolling in their graves.”

Well, Franklin was ahead of the good and the bad. While he invented bifocals, he was our first Dear Abby. He was the only man to have a hand in shaping the critical documents of our nation including the Declaration of Independence, and he created fictional characters to write in gossipy, salacious letters to his newspaper, which he then answered and published.

Biographies are entertaining to me. I think of them as biograffiti. We throw all these findings about the subject’s life on the wall and examine and judge every little fact and innuendo. I wonder if we’d all be proud of ourselves under the microscope. Would we like our own likeness?

Franklin’s critics contend that he cultivated his own likeness for prosperity and posterity. Today, our public servants and celebrities hire handlers to do this. Franklin wouldn’t be horrified by our present-day world. He would thrive on it.

Thrive on.

If you would like to discuss your personal or company’s brand story or perception, drop me a line at jhenke@henkeinc.com.

Thanks.