Positive press aligned with his brand and message
– Any press, even somewhat negative press is better than no press to Trump
Trump described what he wanted media-wise in his bestseller The Art of the Deal,
I’m not saying that [journalists] necessarily like me. Sometimes they write positively, and sometimes they write negatively. But from a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks. It’s really quite simple. If I take a full-page ad in The New York Times to publicize a project, it might cost $40,000, and in any case, people tend to be skeptical about advertising. But if The New York Times writes even a moderately positive one-column story about one of my deals, it doesn’t cost me anything, and it’s worth a lot more than $40,000.
The funny thing is that even a critical story, which may be hurtful personally, can be very valuable to your business. Television City is a perfect example. When I bought the land in 1985, many people, even those on the West Side, didn’t realize that those one hundred acres existed. Then I announced I was going to build the world’s tallest building on the site. Instantly, it became a media event: The New York Times put it on the front page, Dan Rather announced it on the evening news, and George Will wrote a column about it in Newsweek. Every architecture critic had an opinion, and so did a lot of editorial writers. Not all of them liked the idea of the world’s tallest building. But the point is that we got a lot of attention, and that alone creates value.137
Why does Trump want this? It’s not just about the money.
Personal/professional interests—why he wants this.
– Ego satisfaction, recognition, and treatment as a celebrity
– Reputational interest as a “winner” and not a “loser”
– Reputational interest as a hugely successful businessman
– Reputational interest as a master dealmaker/negotiator
– Reputational interest as a top international real-estate developer
– Customer and potential customer perception of brand and of Trump (the person)
– Perception of financial and monetary success
– Actual financial and monetary success
– Sufficient financial success to enjoy the trappings of the uberwealthy
Trump’s editor Peter Osnos at Random House, publisher of The Art of the Deal, worked closely with Trump on the book and its marketing. He insightfully noted Trump’s core interests in these comments about their book marketing campaign:
It was all about being high-visibility. Trump had this urge to be a really big name, so he cultivated celebrity. But his lifestyle was surprisingly unglamorous. He’s quite disciplined in some ways. Doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, lives above the store. He was not a big New York socialite, never was. He basically enjoyed going upstairs and watching the tube. What he was interested in was celebrity and his businesses—construction, real estate, gambling, wrestling, boxing.138
Priority-wise, the celebrity/reputational interest appeared to matter even more than his interest in substantive success. Jeffrey Breslow invented a Monopoly-like board game called Trump: The Game in 1988. Here was his pitch to Trump:
Breslow was prepared to get down on the floor and pit his strategic wiles against the guy whose picture would be on the box…. But Trump had no interest in playing or even hearing details of the game. He took a quick glance at the mock-up of the box’s cover and said, “I like it—what’s next?”
What came next was a lightning-fast negotiation, a promotional blitz, and the sale of about a million units.139
Reporters also recognized his interest in celebrity. Former New York magazine writer John Taylor covered Trump in New York and said of him:
He was literally addicted to publicity and recognition. He would get this, like, dopamine surge in his brain. I would walk with him into some building or room, and Trump would kind of hang back and watch the room, and wait until the room had filled, and he would have that moment of recognition, when you’d see waves of people turn and realize it was him…. He would live for those moments.140
Trump himself recognized this, as his morning routine for decades included a review of press clippings about him from the previous day.141
A quick note on this celebrity, ego-related interest. Many celebrities and famous individuals crave attention. This draws them to these careers. Other similarly famous individuals shun the attention and view the celebrity as a curse. They get personal satisfaction in other ways. Some love and hate it.
The point here is not to judge this interest as good or bad. Instead, it is to highlight an important Trump interest that drives much of his negotiation behavior.
Ascertain Reporters’ Personal and Professional Interests
So, knowing his interests, Trump’s next step relates to the reporters’ personal and professional interests. Trump learned these early in his career. As he wrote:
One thing I’ve learned about the press is that they’re always hungry for a good story, and the more sensational the better. It’s in the nature of the job, and I understand that. The point is that if you are a little different, or a little outrageous, or if you do things that are bold or controversial, the press is going to write about you. I’ve always done things a little differently, I don’t mind controversy, and my deals tend to be somewhat ambitious. Also, I achieved a lot when I was very young, and I chose to live in a certain style. The result is that the press has always wanted to write about me.
Most reporters, I find, have very little interest in exploring the substance of a detailed proposal for a development. They look instead for the sensational angle.142
Trump also knew that reporters worked on deadlines and had a huge interest in timeliness and responsiveness.
Trump also understood perhaps the most fundamental media interest of all in an increasingly for-profit media world—readership and revenue. Anything that sells papers, increases readership, or bumps up viewers satisfies this interest.
In Trump’s early New York media world, dominated by tabloids and gossip columnists, this interest prevailed.
Of course, many in the media would add truth, accuracy, and unbiased reporting as crucial interests, especially on the hard news and investigative reporting side. But Trump never seemed to recognize this as important to the media. After all, they appeared to cover everything he said and did regardless of its truth and accuracy.
As Barbara Res, Trump’s longtime employee, said:
Donald had a way of getting into print whatever he would say, even if it weren’t necessarily the whole and honest truth…. He managed to say what he would say, and people would write it and then it would be the truth. That was the thing with him that they call the big lie. You say something enough times, it becomes the truth. And he is the master of that.143
So, what does Trump do—knowing his and his counterparts’ personal and professional
