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Most extreme examples are like that cult that bought Newsweek etc. But lots of subtler cases. And yeah, often a PE playbook move. It feels like the NYT has been doing it without even admitting it to itself.
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Much sharper and consciously deceptive quality-downs, not merely cost-downs or moving a brand downmarket, which tend to be more openly telegraphed.
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Uncomfortable question. Does this describe “Brand America”? Party of Lincoln —> Party of Trump. It’s still called the “Grand Old Party” and “Republican” though it is is the Petty New Party and openly monarchist. “Democrats” following fairly close behind.
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Trumpification oddly enough is not a good term for it. It’s an adjacent phenomenon. He likes to slap his low-value brand on higher-value things he buys with bad debt. The textbook play is to keep the higher-value brand as long as you can, and be discreet about your own role.
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Tunneling might be the closest concept to what I'm trying to nail here. There's definitely an element of at least fraud-in-spirit if not in-letter.
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Replying to @vgr
It’s related to the concept of tunneling en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunneling
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🤔. trend w PE firms buying longstanding brands, and either swapping out quality or introducing a new&cheaper line w same old brand, & keeping flagship. Seems like a trust-in-brand arbitrage. But also pulls forward “consumption” of brand value in future.
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