Trump’s plan to shut US mosques risks a branding backlash

Donald Trump's plan to shut US mosques risks a branding backlash for UAE partner.

When Damac Properties announced the first of a series of tie-ups with The Trump Organization in May 2013, the Dubai-based developer extolled the virtues of a group of businesses whose image was closely linked to that of its chairman, Donald Trump.

Hussain Sajwani, Damac’s chairman, said the Trump International Golf Course would deliver “the upmost luxury and refinement for which both Damac Properties and the Trump Organization have become renowned”.

Yet as Mr Trump spends more time making increasingly inflammatory statements as he seeks to become the Republican Party’s nominee for the 2016 US presidential election, there is a risk that his pronouncements could do more harm than good to his Dubai-based partners’ attempts to sell real estate.

In an interview this week with Fox News, Mr Trump repeated his assertion that he would consider closing down some mosques in the United States in response to terror attacks in Paris and elsewhere.

“We’re going to have to do something. Some bad things are happening and a lot of them are happening in the mosques,” he said.

“Nobody wants to shut down religious institutions or anything, but we’re going to have no choice.”

Mr Trump also said that should he be elected, he would reverse a policy of accepting refugees fleeing from the war in Syria.

“We don’t know where they came from, we don’t know what their crime record is … it could be wonderful and it could be a disaster but I have a feeling that a lot of bad things are going to happen out of this,” he said. “If I win, they’re going out.”

Mr Trump also questioned the response of GCC governments to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

The Trump Organization signed its first agreement with Damac Properties in May 2013 to operate a Trump International Golf Course at the heart of the 42 million square feet Akoya by Damac project in Dubailand.

Subsequent deals have led to tie-ups last year for a second golf course, Trump World Golf Club Dubai, to be built within the 55 million square-feet Akoya Oxygen project, and earlier this year for Trump-branded mansions at Akoya by Damac.

The Trump Organization is among several brands with which Damac Properties is partnering. It is also producing branded apartments and villas alongside the fashion houses Fendi and Versace, Paramount Hotels and Resorts, and the premier motoring brand Bugatti.

The impact that such deals can have on sales can be significant. A recent Luxhabitat survey on Dubai’s luxury property market shows that branded residences – compared to non-branded housing schemes in similar areas – can command up to twice the price per sq ft.

Damac declined to comment on the potential impact of Mr Trump’s comments on its sales, but Niall McLoughlin, a senior vice president at Damac, in September said there had been “a huge response” to its branded residences.

“It is clear that savvy buyers are excited by these exclusive living concepts which embody the brand of such globally admired companies such as Versace, Fendi, Paramount, Trump and Bugatti,” he said.

John Brash, the chief executive of Brash Brands, who has worked on property branding exercises for clients such as Aldar Properties, Emaar Properties and Dubai Properties Group, said that celebrities used for branding purposes “need to add something to your brand, not overshadow it”.

He said: “If, like Donald Trump, they split opinion or court controversy, you need to be sure your brand wants to share the ride. It’s a risk. You’ll get noticed more but also polarise people more.”

Lisa Knight, founder of The Brand Foundation in Dubai, said some brand associations had worked well for developers – such as Shah Rukh Khan’s tie-up with Royal Estates.

“Donald Trump, in my opinion, would be a wholly negative brand ambassador – perhaps not so much four or five years ago but certainly now that his personality and opinions have been publicly aired,” she said.

“He’s made some pretty awful statements. For somebody who is running to become the president of one of the world’s most multicultural countries, he’s not really demonstrating a very good understanding of anyone other than white, male Americans.”

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