Celebrity Apprentice (Episode 2)
| January 14, 2008 | Posted by Roshawn Watson under Uncategorized |
By: Roshawn Watson
The latest task was to design a thirty second original ad for the Pedigree dog adoption drive. The winning project manager was given $20,000 towards his or her favorite charity.
Nely, a TV executive veteran, naturally took leadership for team Espressariro (the women) while renaissance man and marketing genius Gene Simmons was project manager for the men (team Hydra).
Once again, the teams took very different approaches to the task.
Team Empressario decided to meet with the pedigree executive to get a feel for what he wanted. Overall, they tried a more holistic approach, right down to group meditation before the meeting. Nely and Marilu Henner took the creative lead for the task. Marilu was increasingly dissatisfied with the actors and even decided to do an on-camera spot herself. Later, she and Nely said that the clips did not work. Instead, Empressario ultimately decided on using images of caged dogs and Marilu’s voice telling heart-tugging stories of dogs wanting to be adopted.
Team Hydra was noticeably confident in their own skin. Accordingly, Gene decided that the meeting with the executive would yield little benefit, so they omitted the meeting in favor of getting started immediately on the video. Lenox Lewis, former international heavyweight boxing champion, starred in the commercial at the bequest of Stephen Baldwin (the director). Lenox Lewis came across as genuinely interested in the dog, the cause, and was very charismatic. Additionally, they used Trace Adkins voice, which had a certain majestic quality, as he urged listeners to give one of the 2 million abandoned dogs a home. Although team Hydra’s interactions with the Pedigree executive and even Ivanka were perceived as decidedly rude, ultimately the superior quality of their commercial won the guys their second task.
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The Lessons
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Superior products can win. The guys won despite their shortcomings in interpersonal skills and despite Nely’s years of experience as a television executive. If this was real life, and team Hydra truly alienated their client, they might not be able to keep the account. However, people who are able to produce are vital to success. Lip service, meditation, and great personal interactions can take you only so far; production quality matters.
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Make your contributions count. Surprisingly Nadia Comeneci, an Olympic gold-medalist, took little initiative. She seemed like more of a hindrance than a help. She executed her duties very poorly and required much supervision. Although she was a champion in sports, she demonstrated little leadership qualities. Ultimately, she got fired because her team couldn’t trust her to do her part.
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Take calculated risk. It was very risky for Gene and Stephen Baldwin to take sole responsibility for directing and editing their video, especially after their team expressed their discontent with not being able to contribute. However, Gene took that calculated risk because he truly believed that he and Stephen could operate more efficiently by themselves rather than with a larger group. Obviously, smaller units can often move faster because of less bureaucracy and more focus. This time, it paid off.
More to come later this week…
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Not bad. Would say point#3 is more about belief in one self, or follow your gut instincts than taking calculated risk. i've never watched that show, not a big Trump fan
That's a cool way to think about it too. Thanks for sharing