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Get Four
|  | DECEMBER 14, 2004
Trump: Bigger than Coke or Pepsi? Thanks to his real estate prowess and hit reality show, America's most watched billionaire says his brand "has become the best brand" Whether it's the guest list for his January wedding, or news on Dec. 13 that the U.S. bankruptcy watchdog objects to the financial package meant to restructure his casino operations, Donald Trump just can't stay out of the news. Not that America's brash billionaire has ever shied from the spotlight: The second season of his hit show The Apprentice is nearing its finale, with two players left to go. BusinessWeek Senior Writer Diane Brady recently met with Trump to discuss the state of his business and his brand. "Trump is becoming a very big licensing operation," he says. How big? More than a dozen deals are under discussion and many more -- including Trump caskets -- were rejected out of hand. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation: Q: What do you think makes people look to you as a corporate icon? A: Certainly, the tremendous success that I've had with real estate in Manhattan would have started that, and the great success of The Apprentice also had a lot to do with it. For the finale last year, we had 41.5 million people watching. Mark Cuban tried a show and it failed. Richard Branson tried a show and it failed quickly and miserably. Yet The Apprentice is beating virtually everything. Somehow, there's been a chord hit. Something that I do -- undefined -- seems to get people to want to watch. Q: Why can't you define it? A: I don't want to get overly crazy about defining it because people will say, "Oh, he's so arrogant. Isn't he a terrible human being?" I'm not a terrible human being. I think I know why they watch me and don't watch other entrepreneurs. I seem to have an instinct for doing things. The thing I do the best is I build the best. Outside the industry, I get credit for being the best promoter when, in fact, I'm the best builder. The jobs are so good and the properties are so successful that people just say that I'm a great promoter. Q: How important is the brand, though? Some have suggested that simply slapping the name Trump on a property gives it an automatic premium. A: It's a 25% premium. I recently did a partnership with General Electric (GE ), and when GE was choosing who their partner should be, they did a study that showed not only would you sell out for more money per square foot but, more importantly to them, you would sell out much faster with the name Trump. The brand has become the best brand.... I think it's a bigger brand now than Pepsi Cola (PEP ) or Coca-Cola (KO ). Q: Really? That would be impressive. A: I really think it's a bigger brand.... I'm doing a tremendous suit collection, called the Donald J. Trump Signature collection, that's selling incredibly well. And we're dealing with Estee Lauder on a men's fragrance. It's selling off the shelves. Trump is becoming a very big licensing operation. Q: Do you think you're inspirational to Americans in a way that other billionaires are not? A: It's hard for me to say yes. I went to the Wharton School of Finance and did well there. I'm an intelligent guy. If I answer yes, I sound terrible. I'm supposed to take a different kind of approach and say, "Well, I just work hard." Obviously, there's something going on. You have 41.5 million people watching The Apprentice where another show goes off the air.... We're having fun with this whole thing. Then in the end, you kick the bucket, nobody gives a damn, and that's the end of it. Q: Your personal life is in the press as much as your professional life. Do you feel any pressure to act differently as you become more of a celebrity brand? Martha Stewart obviously discovered how personal actions can affect a brand. A: Being a major celebrity is a huge disadvantage, because you become such a target. Just ask Martha about that. Given what Martha did, had she not been Martha, nobody would have even looked at it. You have a microscope on you all the time. It's an advantage in that I sell more suits than anybody else. I sell more apartments than anybody else. I get advantages even in deals. People want to sell to me because of the name.... But if you go out to dinner and spill a drink, it's on the front page of a newspaper the next day. Q: You were just on the front page of The New York Post, with that free ring for your fiancée, Melania. A: People give me wedding rings. I have every major diamond group throwing diamonds in my face. "Please take our diamonds. Please! Here's a million dollars!" And if I take it, I'm on the front page of the Post. Q: That's a personal peril, though. What about professional perils, such as the attention to your casino operations declaring bankruptcy? A: The casinos represent less than 1% of my net worth, O.K.? What I'm doing is simply shedding $400 million of debt. I'm doing something that, frankly, if someone else did it, it wouldn't even be a story. I'm going to create a great casino company. It should be a positive story, but it's a negative story. We've restructured. We've agreed with everybody. When you have too many successes, everybody looks for a chink in the armor. Q: Are you afraid of failure? A: I hate failure, and I'll do whatever I can to avoid it. I don't like to lose. I don't like using the word "afraid".... One thing about bad times is that you learn a lot about yourself. I've seen people that I thought were really strong who had bad times and folded like an umbrella. And I've seen people who I didn't think were particularly strong and, in bad times, they stood up like an iron wall. You never know about people until you see them in bad times. My company is bigger and stronger than it has ever been.... The one thing I'm really most proud of is that I've really provided a lot of jobs for people. Not only have I provided great products but I've provided a lot of income for a lot of families. Q: Do you think The Apprentice has helped to improve the image of Corporate America? It has been a tough few years. A: When Mark Burnett and I conceived of The Apprentice, nobody thought a show that's largely based on business would ever have huge ratings. It might have a place on CNBC but that's it. Not only did it get great ratings but it became the No. 1 [new] show of the season. That was a great boost to business. I also think we teach ethics in a certain way on the show. I think it's a great tribute to business that The Apprentice is such a success.... In Australia, it's the [top-rated] show. People everywhere are interested in this stuff. 
BW MALL
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