Who Needs Product Differentiation When You've Got Donald Trump?

from the branding-is-all-you-ever-need dept

Tue, Mar 28th 2006 7:45pm — Mike Masnick

Branding is everything for some companies... and anything associated with Donald Trump tends to fit into that category. Still, in an age where the ability to take an existing product and just slap your brand on it and pretend it's something new, isn't it worth wondering what the product differentiation strategy is? You see it with phone service these days, whether MVNOs or even various branded VoIP plays. It's especially common with websites, though, since it's so easy to rebrand them. We're often approached to offer such things ourselves, such as a Techdirt-branded jobs portal or a Techdirt-branded magazine subscription offering. The problem with all of these is that they have no differentiation at all. It's the identical offering that plenty of other sites have, just with a different logo swapped in. We generally turn down these offers, because they don't do much for our brand. Donald Trump, however, is not above such things. His latest, is that he's launched his very own travel site -- as if there weren't already enough travel sites online. So what might you expect from a Donald Trump travel site? Well, it promises great deals -- and you might think that includes expensive (if garish) resorts and such. However, poking around the site, it doesn't take long to discover that Trump's travel site is simply a rebranded version of Travelocity -- with the same prices and the same results (though, not displayed in as useful a manner or with nearly as much info). The best part, though, is that all of the hotels come with "Trump Deal" ratings, suggesting that Trump was letting you know where that Motel 6 ranks on his quality-meter. Except... the Trump Deal ratings just happen to be identical to the AAA ratings found on Travelocity. Apparently Trump even needs to rebrand AAA ratings in his own image these days.

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17 Comments

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Reese, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:11pm

sad...
first post and i have to just feel bad for the man if hes reduced to this
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Byron Smart, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:18pm

Trumped Reviews
Love him or hate him, Trump does have good some decent opinions when it comes to the travel industry. His bulidings and hotels would have all failed if not placed in fairly good locations that accomidate travel. Packages that accomidate travel and experience are best reviewed by those who expect a certain level of service.
However, he is not going to be fair and balanced (LOL) about the reviews, because of partnerships with organizations that he will promote to promote him. So it really depends on his current business acquistions and or mergring decision level at the time of his stamp of approval. However he has been pretty on the ball with most projects... And the ones that fail he learned the art of the court system to bail out quietly without having to foreclose assets..

So regardless it will be intresting..
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Byron Smart, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:34pm

Re: sad...
However most billionaires or successful people do all methods they can once the spot is shining. His show is losing it's shine from the quality of contestants, thus he is going broader next season. He has product companies flashing their products and uses plugs more than what his hair looks like it was formed from. I dont see this being successful or even useful since I think this medium would die out when his show runs out of steam. But it might profit 2-3 million and people will not care. After all this is a man with a bad hair do, arrogant persona, and someone that people love to hate, however he redeems his bad decisions by focusing on better ones in the future..
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areef rakhangi, 28 Mar 2006 @ 9:57pm

Whats Donald trump got to do with ratings
Every body has his own clear mind. Donald trump is one successful man now and its his luck that he almost good at whatever he is doing. His convictions are strong and his body language perfect. He is fair well balanced many a times. Times are changing and we will have to keep looking at changes and accept them soon. You have one type of rating today and is a measurement in one form. tommorrow measurement standards may change and then there will be one common standard. But anyway i love donald trump
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Skyler Westebbe, 28 Mar 2006 @ 10:05pm

Well it's better than Trump Ice!
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WhoNu, 28 Mar 2006 @ 10:39pm

wish Donald would Trump that fat ass Lou Dobbs.
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Riding_On_The_Coattails_Of_Daddy, 28 Mar 2006 @ 11:48pm

donald trump stop using aliases when you boast about your complex business intellect. just like the kennedy's, you rode in on daddys fortunes.
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giafly, 29 Mar 2006 @ 12:51am

Rebranded Rabbit?
...What is that thing on his head?

Back on topic. (Re)branding generic products has been common since the 19th century apparantly. Back then it was about e.g. selling ordinary soap in pretty wrapping to increase the perceived value. Today, it's is very common with topical Websites, as you can see if you check the wording of news stories.
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Matthew, 29 Mar 2006 @ 2:44am

Branding and bottom lining.
Perhaps these things won't do much for your brand, but they may certainly help your bottom line and this is why Donald Trump does it. It is worth paying attention to the actions of someone who's got more money.
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STJ, 29 Mar 2006 @ 4:18am

tomato juice
Campbells is doing the same thing with their tomato juice. The same factory also makes V-8. Same line, same ingredents, different label. All it is, is just catering to a different group who is willing to pay a different price. When was the last time you saw a comercial for campbell's juice?
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Suzan Heglin, 29 Mar 2006 @ 8:03am

Product Differentiation Up and Down
Marketing strategy is: when you're small you imitate the big guy, as close as possible, and when you're big you differentiate. Our problem is that we are still relatively small and people think we have the same product as the bigger guys because we market to a similar niche. In fact, our technology is different, better, and folks don't believe it could work because they're conditioned to believe the other technology is the only way. The challenge is to ride in the wake of the big guy without also standing in his shadow . . .
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Suzan Heglin, 29 Mar 2006 @ 8:06am

Product Differentiation Up and Down
Marketing strategy is: when you're small you imitate the big guy, as close as possible, and when you're big you differentiate. At APConnections, our problem is that we are still relatively small and people think we have the same product as the bigger guys because we market to a similar niche. In fact, our technology is different, better, and folks don't believe it could work because they're conditioned to believe the other technology is the only way. The challenge is to ride in the wake of the big guy without also standing in his shadow . . .
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Brandon Zylstra, 29 Mar 2006 @ 9:09am

A brand stands for something...
but this shows that Donald Trump stands for nothing, except taking any opportunity to grab more money... hopefully it will backfire. I for one won't ever use it, and I'll certainly have a dimmer view of Travelocity now.
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Patrick Mullen, 29 Mar 2006 @ 11:59am

OK, so lets see
Trump has a billion dollars, a model for a wife and does pretty much what ever he wants. He even has an awesome golf course with his name on it. You are questioning him on what again?
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Jaime, 6 Jan 2007 @ 5:52pm

donald's investments
why am i not surprised. theres a rumour that the trumph is to start his own phone company craze.

but this is a very shy rumour, that smells more like some scammer tryng to use donald's name.

can anyone confirm or dismiss these rumour.

thx
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gracinfjgy, 10 Apr 2007 @ 1:39pm

Re: Product Differentiation Up and Down
you are so a fucker mendigo stupido baboso
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gracieboss, 11 Jul 2008 @ 5:03pm

What was he thinking?
Wonder how much Mr. Trump paid for this search engine and his monthly costs to keep it in operation? He could have paid less than $200 for his own travel site and for $49.95 had it maintained and updated for him by just listening to John O’ Hurley’s advice at www.yourtravelstorebiz.com
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