Marketing communications is critical to
success and organizations are constantly devising strategic marketing
communications to capture, grow, keep and translate the attention and
perceptions of their prospects and customers into loyalty and profits. Nothing
is more useful to powerful branding than a great slogan which becomes a
defining hallmark of an individual’s or organization’s value proposition,
mission, and vision. We have seen this with ordinary as well as extraordinary
brands, and we have seen this in personal and political branding. President
Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, achieved
political victory with a bold and extraordinary slogan, “Make American Great Again”.
This slogan was not only catchy to even those opposed to his ideals and
ideology, but reflected the hopes, expectations, and the way in which Americans
and non-Americans perceive and regard the United States. It communicated
mission, vision, and strategy, and made Trump and his campaign exceptional
among presidential contenders from campaign right through nomination and
election.
Great organizations and brands know how to
develop a unique value proposition with the characteristics of being difficult
to imitate, credible, consistent, and clear. Donald Trump’s “Make America Great
Again” had these characteristics and gave many Americans the kind of hope that
the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, brought with
his campaign and eventual success as America’s first Black or African American
president. However, there is a striking difference when it comes to actually
making their slogans work. Barack Obama’s “Audacity of Hope” was neutral and
meant for all Americans and even extended beyond America to embrace and share
this hope with the rest of the world. However, Donald Trump’s “Make America
Great Again” was only for America, but not all Americans, and this became
evident with his keen association with the likes of Steve Bannon and Breitbart
News, admiration from White Supremacist groups, his hateful and hostile
rhetoric towards immigrants, especially Mexicans, and his economics of ideological
exclusion and exclusivism where the world was painted an America only taking –
taking back – and not giving to the world. For example, then-candidate Donald
Trump, and now President Trump, widely advocates “taking back the jobs” from
China, Mexico, etc. The world and many Americans are not used to this type of
America, but an America that is kind, humanitarian, charitable, and integrated
into global affairs across continents, regions, and economies. These
ideological basis of Trump’s American greatness were and are seen as
antithetical to the Great America and greatness or strategy that America has
used effectively to become the greatest nation of the 20th and 21st
centuries. Thus, the implementation of “Make America Great Again” has failed as
hostile propositions and strategies became the basis for achieving the mission
and vision, and delivering the value proposition this slogan emboldens.
Marketers, whether they are in politics or
business, must be mindful of how they go about making their slogans work. They
must be consistent in the values espoused in these slogans. President Donald
Trump had a great slogan which espoused the value of greatness and great works,
and which encompassed what many believed was the American Dream, but the
negative and hateful rhetoric, divisiveness, and divisions underlying
implementation, and the elements of exclusivism and discrimination have made
his “Make American Great Again” nothing more than “Make America Hate Again” up
to this point in his Administration. As we look to the media and conduct
self-evaluation based on our own experiences, observations, and research of
what is happening in America today, we can certainly see how many fear that we
have returned to the eras of pre-Civil Rights and Civil Rights movements, which
were characterized by extreme hostility with racial tensions and dehumanization
of others, anti-diversity laws, policies, and processes, and uncertainty about
our political, social, and economic futures.
“Make
America Great Again” can still work, but it will require a totally new
direction by President Trump and his Administration – a turnaround marketing
strategy for success!
Donovan A.
McFarlane, M.B.A., M.I.B., Ed.D., has taught Marketing to hundreds of MBA
and graduate students over the past several years, and is a Business and
Political Science educator. He can be reached at drd.a.mcfarlane@gmail.com
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