The essence of any real estate deal is to have the vision of what to do with specific locations. If you have a vision beyond others, you will pay more for that real estate and turn it into multiples of what others may have thought it was worth.
This is the essence of Trump’s current Republican nominee bid. You need me to take the Republican pledge? No problem. You need me to bash Clinton a bit? No problem. Whatever you need, I’ll make it happen. Why?
Because I want that ultimate location that none of you have figured out how to grab like I have…the headline. The top line of the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox News website, CNN and others. Today’s real estate to me…is the media front page.
Does anyone truly believe that the guy who says he will take China’s president to McDonald’s instead of holding a state dinner for him wants to be the USA’s president? Get serious. This is all about location.
If someone in the media, who has the tools, were to do an analysis of how many times Trump’s name (aka brand) was in the top media headlines across print and electronic in the six months prior to his declaring himself a candidate vs post, I bet the graph would be astronomical. If that same analyst then figured out the value to a brand of having it splashed over so many headlines/front pages, I bet its in the hundreds of millions worldwide already.
So what if he’s given up his “Apprentice” contract as he likes to trumpet. Today, Trump is a brand. He rents his brand like he used to rent real estate. He doesn’t need the headache of managing it like he used to. His is a slow migration from capital asset to brand asset. The value of Trump licenses must have jumped sky high since his announcement. That’s the fact that is undeniable. The move from capital asset to intellectual ones across the globe is a trend that one can see through examples such as these:
1. Facebook owns no content, yet is the most used media site.
2. Airbnb owns no real estate, yet is the world’s largest accommodations provider.
3. Uber owns no taxis, yet is the world’s largest mobility company.
4. Netflix is the world’s largest movie house, yet owns no cinemas.
5. Apple and Google are the world’s largest app sellers, yet write no apps.
6. Amaya owns no casinos, yet is the world’s largest gaming company.
So when an old pro at one kind of real estate gets into another game, he simply uses what he’s learned and transfers the knowledge. This is what he has mastered and what too few understand. While there is no doubt that he’s disrupted the campaign, made a few good points about how the system is broken, that’s pretty much where it stops. He uses the ignorance of many to his benefit to keep the message going. In the end, he won’t be the President of the USA because of one reason…he doesn’t really want to be.