by Laurie Sullivan, Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 23, 2017
Advertisers will need to wait their turn to roll out the “Made in America” campaigns as brands bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and improve the economy, but the Trump effect has already begun to influence change at the top of the electronics supply chain.
Apple, one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones, is considering a deal with Foxconn to build a U.S. manufacturing plant for displays, according to Asian media outlet Nikkei.
The $7 billion manufacturing facility with key iPhone assembler and contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, would create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told the press.
Nikkei also reports that Foxconn’s interactive display startup — Smart Technologies, based in Canada — might move the facility to the U.S. now that U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled an intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The “buy American and hire American” mantra Trump laid out Friday during his inaugural speech could become the catalyst to see more positive movement like the proposed Apple-Foxconn deal.
Moves like these will have a trickle-down effect. Increased manufacturing will spur on logistics and delivery services like the one from Amazon Flex. Even if this deal is not done, it shows a desire by foreign companies to help rebuild manufacturing in the United States.
A deal between Apple and Foxconn would likely have a huge influence on other companies to do the same and eventually spur growth in the economy that lead brands to increase spending on advertising, but it won’t happen overnight.
Not all of Trump’s goals seem to have a clear path. For me the future of Net Neutrality remains up in the air with Trump’s “plan” to name Ajit Pai as head of the Federal Communications Commission, reportsBusiness Insider, citing Politico. Pai, as the media reports, spent time serving telecoms having worked as a lawyer for Verizon between 2001 and 2003. This becomes someone to keep a close eye on.
On the downside, the deal could dismantle steps taken by Google and others during the past four years, put today’s data and ad-targeting procedures into question, and force companies to rethink online advertising and delivery of content. On the upside, it could keep ad-tech companies busy reinventing ways to track consumers from one device to another and serve ads across channels.
I’ll leave you with one more alternative thought on the Trump effect in relation to stimulating the economy and unity in a divided nation.
While most mainstream media reports the news as a negative factor with regard to the Trump administration, the rallies to protest the president’s ideas brought together hundreds of thousands in solidarity in the Woman’s March. The Wall Street Journalreports: “the Metro public transit system reported that about 275,000 trips had been taken as of 11 a.m. Saturday — about eight times normal volume — compared with roughly 193,000 trips the system recorded on Inauguration Day by the same time.”
MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily
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