Hi Apprentice fans, hope you all enjoyed Thursday night's Apprentice. Both teams were coming off a big week with David's comeback, Mahsa's meltdown, and all of the fighting that went down in between. I was looking forward to seeing the performances this week. Steuart had the great opportunity to meet with Larry Young, CEO of Snapple. As the winning project manager, this was a well-deserved reward for Steuart. Given his interest in the distribution field, I hope that he learned a lot.
After last week, I think the men's team started to pull it together and David was even impressing his teammates. The ladies rid themselves of Mahsa's drama and were feeling good about the upcoming task. I'm glad they didn't get too comfortable, as my father mixed up the teams this week. Octane became Liza, Steuart, Brandy and Clint. Fortitude was certainly less "ladylike" when they added David and Anand to the mix. After watching Stephanie and Anand bicker in the boardroom last week, I was curious how this team would survive.
The task this week was to create a four-page advertisement for the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection. The teams were judged on creativity, brand integration and overall presentation. Terry Lundgren, Chairman and President of Macy's, joined my father in judging this task. With my Father, Terry, Eric and I to impress, the teams had a tough sell ahead. Brandy, who apparently "loves a well-dressed man," and David, who had received positive praise from my Father last week, both decided to step up as Project Managers for their teams.
Fortitude began brainstorming the task and decided to put the focus on the clothing. They came up with a concept of a black-and-white ad campaign with only the shirts, ties and cuff links in color. As they began the photo shoot, Stephanie and David were working very well together. David seemed to have developed such a "man-crush" on one of the models that he neglected to realize the shirts weren't fitting him properly. David tasked Poppy and Anand with the job of "entertaining" the models. I was surprised when I showed up at 5 p.m. and they hadn't even had lunch yet. David was ordering his team around, and I think his tone came off a bit abrasive, as we know from past tasks. Poppy and Anand were not responding well to that.
Octane decided to push the envelope with their ad campaign, which was "a day in the life." They wanted to do several edgy photos in different locations, the first being Trump SoHo. I thought they picked a great location, as the hotel has a young, hip, downtown vibe to it. When Octane's models didn't show up, Brandy and Steuart were quick to jump in. Steuart felt he was a "pretty good-looking guy" and was up for the challenge to model. I liked how Brandy and Steuart didn't waste time and stepped up. I think quick decision-making is key. Instead of lingering about what to do, they solved the problem and got on with the task.
When it came to presentation time, the teams were judged by Terry Lundgren and Cathy Glosser, EVP of Global Licensing at the Trump Organization - two people who know the industry and the product extremely well. Brandy delivered Octane's advertising campaign flawlessly, and the products were well presented. She has proved on numerous tasks to be a good public speaker, and I think she's learned that's a very valuable skill set. The judges were impressed, but also raised their eyebrows and asking if the campaign was too sexy. They also commented that the collection was referred to as just the "Trump Signature Collection" which was not the collection's full and correct name.
David took the floor, and the judges liked how the black-and-white campaign made the product images pop, those being the only items in color. The "T" design they chose for the back was clever, but the product shots were too small; from a brand perspective, the product should always shine. I was surprised that in presenting the campaign, David frequently used the word "I." This was a team effort, and although he was the Project Manager, I would have liked to see him display a little bit more of that team player attitude.
A lot of questions were posed in this week's boardroom, and we learned quite a bit about our candidates... maybe a little too much. David's sexuality was questioned, Poppy was renamed "Poppy the Puppy," and we had Clint's "Trump Attributes," and man-crushes. And who can forget Brandy announcing her preference for older men?
Overall the judges felt that Octane created an eye-catching campaign. They thought they did a great job and were looking forward to producing this advertisement for the Donald J. Trump Signature Collection. Fortitude was left battling it out. My father was extremely disappointed that they chose a model that didn't fit in the clothing. For this type of advertisement, that's a huge oversight. Both my father and I are extremely meticulous, and I think that's such an important trait in business. Attention to detail is so important. You could potentially lose business, time, money, or all of the above by being careless. David was the Project Manager on this task, and as a leader it was his responsibility to not only lead, but also to oversee both the small and large parts of any assignment. He was held accountable by my father and fired. We wish David the best and are looking forward to seeing what he does next.
Hope you all enjoyed the show. Thank you for your commentary via Twitter (www.twitter.com/donaldjtrumpjr) and here on the blog. Be sure to watch next week as a big scandal unfolds and we see some true colors come out.
Have a great weekend!