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The Apprentice: Week Eight

The Apprentice: Week Eight
  • Posted at 11:27am
  • 14 May 2009
  • by PaulJones-RT
  • 6 comments

"Daaaaaaaan to Margate," sang Chas and Dave, "we'll have a pill of jellied eels at the cockle stall." Rousing indeed. But that antiquated view of the seaside town was exactly what the officials of Margate were hoping to dispel when they turned to Sir Alan Sugar for help in "re-branding" the holiday destination.

So, what would Sir Alan's top people come up with? James convinced Empire to pursue the pink pound. As he put it, "I'm inclined towards the gay option." It seemed like a reasonable strategy. After all, Brighton's done well out of it. And, as Howard noted later, "Where gays lead, many others follow." Quite.

But a branding exercise is all about getting your message across clearly and concisely, and a panel of marketing and tourism experts were unimpressed by Empire's poster ad, which used a thousand words to paint a very blurry picture.

What Empire needed was a slogan. Fair play to Mona for coming up with "Things are changing" after chatting to a pre-op transsexual, but I have something even simpler. It's memorable, and it gets the message across in a single word: Mar-gay-te! Get it? Mar-GAY-te! Job done.

After briefly toying with Ben's slurred seaside pun "Shell-ebrate family fun" (Margate as a drinking destination? With an ad voiced by Sean Connery?), Ignite went with Lorraine's "See Margate through a child's eyes". Now, marketing a seaside town as a family get-away hardly counts as a radical re-branding, but Empire's execution was so woeful that Debra, James and Mona found themselves back in the boardroom.

I must admit I was a bit tense there for a minute. There was a real sense that James might go, which would have been completely unjust, and I only hope Sir Alan is not preparing us for his dismissal in the near future.

Sir Alan sees James as a "court jester", because - God forbid! - he sometimes does his job with a smile on his face. It's Nick and Margaret's duty to tell Sir Alan that James has been one of the most competent candidates of the competition.

It was reasonable enough that Mona went. Don't get me wrong, it would have given me a great deal of pleasure to see the serpentine Debra skewered by Sir Alan but, after a positive blip last week, Mona was back to being a bit useless. As James said: "Debra is a nightmare to work with - but at least she's consistent."

Besides, after having Debra as a team leader, I'm sure Mona would be the first to admit she could use a holiday. I hear Margate's nice this time of year…

**

What did you think of this week's episode? Post a comment below and let us know.

And don't forget to check out the rest of our great Apprentice content.

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Comments

  • Posted on 21 May 2009
  • at 1:49pm
  • by Phil

I thought it was interesting how Alan said that Margaret and Nick were not Deborah's biggest fans. Wasn't nick raving about her on The Apprentice Your Fired and I quite "A very exciting woman".

  • Posted on 15 May 2009
  • at 3:59pm
  • by Alex Peterson

Great writing, VERY entertaining! Kate to win! With branding ideas like yours you should step up to the plate next year :)

  • Posted on 15 May 2009
  • at 3:44pm
  • by Moanalot

Starmoss, I am entitled to my opinion and I do not like working for a woman.

  • Posted on 14 May 2009
  • at 7:09pm
  • by Dr. Dark

Mona should have gone back to the penthouse and Debra taken the taxi home. It wasn't one of Mona's better performances but from what we see on the TV (after editing) Debra was the weakest link last night.

The other team were worthy winners on the night.

The winner will come from either Kate or Ben.

  • Posted on 14 May 2009
  • at 6:23pm
  • by Starmoss

They already came up with MarGAYte. They said so on you've been fired yesterday.

Moanalot you need to get with the times. 'never liked working for a woman' is a daft generalising statement.

But I do agree with you that I would not want to work anywhere near Debra! She should have let Howard be project manager.

  • Posted on 14 May 2009
  • at 12:27pm
  • by Moanalot

I don't agree with you at all. Mona should not have gone. She has excellent people skills and has a quiet way of getting on with things. I thought James was useless and he totally lacks charisma. It is beyond me as to why Sir Alan keeps Debra in the competition. She is the last person I would want to work for, but there again, I have never liked working for a woman! My money is still on Kate to be the eventual winner as she is one who seems to get on with the people she works with and has such a lovely smile. She is a good team player. Ben was charm personified last night and seemed to gel with the unfortunate Lorraine. May she quickly be removed from the Board Room also. Paul,you should apply for the next series as I thought your slogan for MarGAYte was fantastic....You too could have the potential to be called at 5 in the morning to be ready in 30 minutes....Cor, I could never do that...

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