The Apprentice Blog - Season 3

Why did Audrey Bring Angie In?

The results of our poll are in, and it seems pretty evident to me that the poll was unnecessary, since almost everyone agreed:

We asked what people thought

What was Audrey doing bringing Angie into the boardroom? Survey Closed
Total Votes: 360

Audrey was hoping for backup. 70.56% Audrey had no idea herself why she did it. 9.72% I have absolutely no idea.. 7.78% One more body means less chance of getting fired. 6.11% She meant to say "Chris" but it came out "Angie". 2.5% Gambling that Donald would fire Angie before her. 1.67% Angie was partially to blame for the loss. 1.67% Looks like Audrey really should have passed this by Angie first!

What are the critical success factors for the Mini Putt Challenge?

So what do you think will factor into one team making more revenue by designing and running a miniature golf course?

We asked what people thought

What are the critical success factor for the Mini Putt Task? Survey Closed 
Total Votes: 393

Onsite promo - get attention & get putters. 21.37% Creating a fun theme. 17.81% Who cares - Carolyn is back!. 12.21% Pricing - not too much, not too little. 9.92% Don't creep out the customers! 8.4% Teamwork - keep that drama to a minimum.. 7.89% Creating a great golf course and people will come.. 7.12% Extras & facilities - popcorn anyone? 5.85% Extra games, prizes and swag. 5.09% Design the course for speed - in & out - Ka-ching! 4.33% Looks like Kendra had it bang on!

Oh, an in a small aside - we also asked which people prefered:

Safari.		72.73%
No thank you..		21.21%
Clowns		4.33%

Looks like Magna had that one too!

Clip Show - What We Didn't See...

Comprised of mostly never-before-seen moments, this episode showcases the greatest scenes that never aired. Verna's final meeting with Donald Trump, Danny's singing, Gene Simmons flirting with Stephanie, and a few of the contestants' audition tapes are some of the highlights.
03-17-2005 9PM

So the question is... will you be watching?

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

Where is Carolyn?

The question on everyone's mind is not "how did Tara get fired?" but "Where is Carolyn and when is she coming back?"

So, while it this post is not truly business focused, about a particular episode, the progress of the show or a candidates performance... I'm still posting it. 

So the question is - Where is Carolyn?

Is she really on a business trip like Donald says?  Is she doing a guest stint on The Apprentice UK?  Is she sipping margaritas and listening to Jimmy Buffett?

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

What makes a Graffiti Advertising Campaign Work?

Okay - this season the "artist" task isn't about selecting an artist and trying to sell their work, it's all about using an artist to build a graffiti-based viral marketing campaign for a PlayStation 2 game.

Will the advice to "sell something you like" refer to the game or the artist??

Will the artist's style be as critical a factor or will it be all about getting the design implemented?  Will Magna's ill-fated creativity take yet another round of boardroom critism?

What makes a campaign like this successful?

Critical Success Factors in creating a commercial

In the 4th episode the teams are tasked with creating a "mini movie ad campaign" for  Dove's Cool Moisture Cucumber & Green Tea Body Wash

In the last 2 seasons the ad campaign tasks working with Donnny Deutsch have been for Marquis Jet and the NYPD.  Both times there was a push for "sex sells" - for Protégé it worked out, though it raised a couple of eyebrows, Apex completely ignored the suggestion to use sex and that worked out too.

The critical success factors in these two tasks were:

Season 1. Talk to your client

Season 2. Know and talk to your audience.

So the question is...

What are the critical success factors in creating a successful and compelling mini-movie ad campaign (aka commerical) for body wash?

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

Not Playing by the Rules

When Magna agreed to lobby for Donald to overthrow Michael's exemption they were making a creative and innovative play for control of their own team.

While the idea required Donald to be open to discussing the details of the exemption rule, and the possibility that there was some fine print that would allow for creative play, there's no reason to believe he wouldn't be open to considering it.

Erin pointed out, "from a legal perspective, every contract, every corporate bylaw, there are words, and they don't exist in a vacuum. They have meanings, and they have exceptions," she said. "'Exemption' is a word that has meaning, and possibly, if you guys agree, maybe exceptions."

However, the discussion never really turned into a discussion of the rule itself, Donald very expertly kept the conversation focused on performance.  Which in turn moved to a discussion of who was responsible for the loss, which this early in the game is quite often the primary focus of Donald's firing decisions.

I think that Danny and Magna (sans Michael) needed to be a bit less direct in attempting an overthrow of an exemption.  By telling Donald, Carolyn & George that the rule should be broken Magna focused too much on the rule, and not on tangeably demonstrating why this was time to invoke the fine print of the exemption rule. (Assuming of course that there is any.)

If they had been more indirect perhaps they could have created an environment in the boardroom where Donald was the one to table the idea, or perhaps challenged Michael sufficiently to demonstrate the reasons they felt the exemption should be overthrown.

It was a smart and strategic move - but I think they needed to do a little creative salesmanship to have made it fly.

So, we asked what people thought

What do you think of Magna's attempt to fire Michael?   Survey Closed
Total Votes: 754

Too bad it didn't work - neither did Michael 34.9% If they'd spun it right, Michael would be gone. 25.1% Michael was exempt! Shame on Magna. 12.21% Bad idea to challenge The Donald. 8.72% Nice try, very creative, but too late. 6.31% Only Donald can break the rules. 7.11% Rules are meant to be broken. 4.3% I'm not sure. 1.34% Looks like Michael was everyone's target for this episode.

Who's Calling It Quits.

Okay,  we know someone is considering quitting - we just don't know who or why. So the speculation begins. 

Is it based on something we have already seen, or is it a tragic mishap on the show or in their personal lives.  Does someone simply get tired of the game playing and conflict, these are successful professionals after all.  Would you put up with this lack of professionalism and childishness in your business? 

Has Verna realized that last week was just the start of the late nights and lack of lunch?

Is Angie tired of pointing out the obvious to her team members?

Has Audrey's cold built into something much bigger?

Does Kristen decide that the backlash from her fighting with Brian will just get her booted at the next loss?

Or is it something else?

So, we asked what people thought - click to see the poll results below.

Who's quitting in the first 5 minutes of Episode 3?   Survey Closed
Total Votes: 355

Alex - ready for the fast life at Burger King? 0.84% Audrey - was last episode's cold just the start? 3.92% Chris - was last week's boardroom too much? 13.17% Craig - is his inner peace worth more than this? 1.4% Kendra -could her existing business draw her away? 3.64% Kristen - is she catching flack from fighting? 11.76% Michael - he's immune this round, why would he go? 0.56% Tana - tired of losing and getting peed on? 2.52% Tara - could something in her life make her quit? 3.92% Verna - now she's rested, is she done? 58.26% Using some spoiler photos, I've removed anyone that seems to be active in this challenge. I have no inside info beyond the fact that for the first time someone does actually quit The Apprentice in the first 5 minutes.  The "reasons" listed are purely speculative and some facetious. It's interesting that even though Verna "rebounded" from last week's meltdown, and Trump admitted that he was impressed by comeback stories, that she is still the favourite for quitting this week. Personally I think that it's going to be another candidate who says "You can't fire me, I quit."  I just can't put my finger on who it will be.  The game has just begun, and while it's gotten messy, these people can't be surprised by that after watching the last 2 seasons.  If they didn't watch the last 2 season, they really came unprepared. I'd be disappointed if it were Audrey, but her illness is really the only clue we've seen that would make quitting make sense to me.  I could also see some justification for Kristen quitting if her team comes down on her hard for her active involvement in the Motel loss.  But she's been in another reality show (Murder in Small Town X), so this personality conflict situation can't be a surprise to her. The only other situation I can see arising that would cause someone to quit would be a family emergency, something similar to Heidi's situation in season 1. So, what do you think?

Critical Success Factors in a PR campaign

In the 3rd episode the teams are being asked to develop a PR campaign for an Instant Coffee brand.

Since most of the PR for this episode is focused on the drama - lazy team member, decision with permanent ramifications... there isn't a lot to go on in terms of what exactly a "PR campaign" will entail for this task. 

[Update] Well now that the pre-episode teasers are circulating we are getting a bit more detail on the challenge - to orchestrate "grassroots PR campaign" is what is being talked about now... so I expect this will be an on the street, drumming up attention, PR event, perhaps something similar to last season's Crest Challenge where each team was given $50,000 seed money to generate some buzz.

Will this include the long term strategy and planning of a full campaign or simply be a one shot deal to get customer & media attention?  Will they be incorporating this PR into an existing marketing strategy or be developing the whole thing from the ground up? 

It's unlikely they will be at the POS promoting a single product this close to the burger challenge, so it's likely to be more strategic than hands on; more in the office than on the street.

[Update] Okay, I was wrong... it's a street-hussle task.

So what are the critical success factors in developing a PR campaign for this Instant Coffee Task?

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

What will be the most critical factor in the Motel Task?

The teams are given a budget and challenged with renovating and running two "dilapidated" motels, and then, overnight, they are expected to open their doors to customers.   This challenge is going to be won by the team with the best customer ratings.

In the first challenge, the Burger Task, the critical success factor came down to being trained and staffed sufficiently to serve the customer

So the question is, what do you think is the critical success factor for the teams and their project managers in this task?

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor

Net Worth or Magna, Short Skirts or Skills?

So the first question is...

Online Poll Using WebSurveyor