Bad news has little impact on Trump image

NEW YORK – It doesn’t matter that Donald Trump got fired as chief executive of his ailing casino business. He won’t vanish from the spotlight at all.

Call him the anti-Martha. He stumbles, yet the Trump brand doesn’t get dented a bit – just the opposite of what has happened to Martha Stewart since her tangles with the law.

As branding experts put it, Trump and Stewart are among just a handful of “living” brands that have found widespread notoriety. Others on that list include such names as Michael Jordan and Frank Perdue.

And their fame may even go a little further than most, given that their first names are so recognizable. Mention “The Donald” or “Martha,” and people know exactly who you are talking about.

But these two brands are currently headed on divergent paths.

Trump’s star power is on the rise, fueled in recent months by the popularity of his NBC reality show “The Apprentice.” Now, he can be seen doing everything from starring in television commercials to launching his own menswear line.

The public seems unfazed by his business woes. In fact, Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. has been on life support for months and has destroyed millions of dollars in shareholder value, but that has received little attention outside of Wall Street.

Under a restructuring plan announced late Monday, the company plans to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy next month, emerging within a year. Saddled with $220 million in yearly interest payments and unable to generate enough cash keep pace with newer, richer competitors, Trump Hotels will get a bailout from DLJ Merchant Banking Partners – an arm of Credit Suisse First Boston – aimed at reducing the company’s $1.8 billion in debt.

Trump would remain chairman of the board, but would relinquish his CEO title. And even though the deal requires Trump to come up with nearly $71 million, including $55 million in cash, he would see his stake shrink from 56 percent to 25 percent, with Credit Suisse owning more than two-thirds of the company.

But the fact that Trump won’t be running the business isn’t going to affect his marketing muscle. He agreed to give up trademark rights to his name and likeness for use in connection with casino operations.

That means more Trump, presumably more of the time.

“In the consumer’s view, Trump’s brand has nothing to do with his business acumen. It is about his sense of elegance and bigness, and his sense of stature,” said Robert Passikoff, president of the customer loyalty consulting firm Brand Keys Inc. “His track record doesn’t seem to matter much.”

The public hasn’t been so forgiving of Stewart.

The domestic design tycoon was convicted in March of lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. shares. She was sentenced in July to five months in prison and five months of house arrest. The sentence has been stayed pending an appeal.

Since her legal troubles came to light two years ago, her brand has been faltering as she lost public trust. That has led to massive losses at her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., which has been forced to shift away from Stewart as the focus in its marketing.

Yet while the Stewart brand is on the outs, she still is playing a big role in the business in which she owns a controlling stake. In fact, she was actively involved in naming new members to the company’s board just last month.

“The company has had to take a functional approach to Martha, and use her where it seems right,” said brand expert Seth Siegel of the Beanstalk Group.

And while Trump and Stewart’s brands seem at extremes, it may not stay that way. A reformed Stewart could emerge from jail, while another misstep by Trump could finally catch up to him.