The Apprentice 2017: Week 7 - "Advertising - Cars"

The Rude Awakening & The Briefing:

·         5am and Anisa answers the phone (+50 for her)

·         Love the background music btw; Anisa and James are being set up for PMs

·         Andrew talks to Charles about how they’ve only won one task

·         They arrive at the Dunton Technical Centre

·         Launching a brand new car with some digital advertising screens; LAS has ultimate decision

·         Sarah moves back to Vitality, Liz has her glasses off, and no-one plays Scarf Wars, and everyone has their coat on properly

·         Liz is apparently 6 foot?!?

·         +50 Anisa

Initial Plans:

·         Anisa volunteers for PM as does Michaela, everyone backs her; Claude is worried as Anisa should be a natural choice with her PR and branding experience (+40 Michaela, +20 for Anisa volunteering but -30 for Claude’s comment)

·         James is PM for Graphene, a few misgivings about the market, but Sajan heads up the TV ad with Liz making sure there’s a woman (and she heads over there); Joanna is STL (+40 for James, +15 for Joanna being STL)

·         Michaela chooses Anisa for STL and Jade and Andrew will join the PM for the TV ad (+15 for Anisa)

·         Some brainstorming of brand names: Andrew comes up with Miami, Jade visualises an idea as does Andrew, Michaela backs Jade as they’re both females and therefore the target market. Saj is going to direct for Graphene, Liz ‘back seat drives’ according to the voiceover and wants to go for a comedic advert with herself as the star. Saj describes Liz as a dominant person, but he’s the director so it will be his decision. (+15 for Jade with her idea being backed, -15 for Liz after Sajan’s statement)

·         James goes for an old setting with a new car (Norman village) – Karren reckons they don’t get when the Norman era was….. (-30 for James/Sajan/Liz)

·         +40 Michaela, +15 Jade/Joanna, +10 James, +5 Anisa, -30 Sajan, -45 Liz

The Advert Takes Shape:

·         The teams go to Exterion media to create the digital display:

·         Joanna comes up with a rambling storyboard which Bushra and Harrison struggle to understand (and the photographer is looking at his watch) Joanna reckons Bushra is just looking to ridicule whatever point she makes (-15 for Joanna and Bushra)

·         Anisa has misgivings on the name, and Charles calls Michaela aggressive and a control freak saying that she should listen to the team. (-15 for Michaela)

·         Sarah describes Anisa as being too PR and style over substance (Claude looks confuzzled) (-15 for Anisa)

·         Liz reckons the set is a pretend village and correctly describes it as a pretend Norman fort. Liz thinks they’re scuppered, and James wants to speak to ST to check that the brand is consistent with the advert, and Sajan (with Liz’s help) come up with ‘Conquer Life’. Harrison doesn’t get what conquer is ("is it what comes off of a tree?"). Liz reckons the brand name sounds like a comic strip whilst Joanna describes it as futuristic. Harrison is concerned about the chickens. (-100 for Harrison with his stupid question)

·         Michaela’s ST get an Essex housing estate with Andrew as a star, Andrew describes Michaela and Jade as big characters with it being difficult to get a word in edgeways and that they’ve sidelined him. He’s worried about the time going and the amount of takes, but Michaela reckons there’s enough to pad it out to 20 seconds of advert (-15 for Michaela and Jade from Andrew’s criticism)

·         Liz says Saj is too bothered with cinematography and camera angles and not enough with actual direction (-15 for Sajan)

·         6pm at the media place: Joanna wants to show a story with Expando, whilst Anisa takes control of Vitality’s ad. She doesn’t want to be in the boardroom again (you weren’t even brought back love!)

·         Michaela likes Anisa’s digital ad, she’s nervous about pitching but says she’ll have to prove she can do it and find confidence from somewhere; Anisa and Sarah are worried and they decide to ask Michaela if they can pitch – Michaela however reckons she’s doing a good job, and ‘thanks for the confidence guys’ (-30 for Michaela with the girls having no confidence in her, -15 for Anisa and Sarah with Michaela’s ‘thanks for the confidence’ comment)

·         Jade/Michaela/Andrew on editing, Michaela admits not as much footage as they would like; she wants Andrew to write down the 10 key points but he reckons there would be too much for 20 secs (‘I’ll just tell you which ones are wrong then’) ; Michaela says Andrew is getting on her nerves ‘jack of all trades master of none’ wants to do stuff but not doing anything productive (-15 for Andrew)

·         Liz/Saj/James editing: Liz still back seat driving acc to the voiceover; she completely takes over and Karren criticises James for not taking ownership of any decisions himself. (-30 for James)

·         Harrison/Bushra/Joanna do some market research – they don’t notice much apart from that it’s for a car and the brand name; Bushra and Joanna argue about being constructive and Bushra reckons Joanna’s a bit too aggressive (-15 for Joanna)

·         Anisa/Charles/Sarah market research: they think it’s for a rental car rather than an actual car that can be bought

·         Michaela, Anisa and Sarah do the pitch; Charles comes up with a solution to the rental car problem (+15 for Charles)

·         James, Liz and Bushra to do the pitch; Joanna criticises Bushra doing the pitch and thinks it should be her or Harrison (-15 for Bushra)

·         James/Liz/Bushra: James starts off well, but Bushra loses it and Joanna has criticism, James says Liz is 6ft 2 so shows lots of space in the car; asked how the digital panels and TV ad are part of the same campaign (James and Liz pass the buck to Bushra who BS’s – Joanna reckons they can’t get the right answers because Bushra disagrees with everything); asked on the strapline and name and Bushra answers both. Saj says name was a joke (-30 for Bushra with Joanna’s 2 critiques)

·         Michaela/Anisa/Sarah: Michaela freezes when starting off the pitch but brings it back and Jade/Charles reckons she sounds good, Anisa talks with her hands which Jade and Charles criticise and she also hesitates a little and struggles to read the panel (Andrew: oh my god), asked on strapline as not to use ‘fast’ and Anisa says ‘we thought we got away with it’, Jade/Andrew/Charles all want her to stop admitting to all the criticism and to stop talking (Andrew ‘take her out, tackle her, just do something’) (+30 for Michaela with praise from Jade and Charles; -75 for Anisa: -30 for the initial critique of Jade and Charles, and -45 as that whole ST criticises her)

·         Vitality – confusion over what ad is, cannot use ‘fast’

·         Graphene – baffled by name but felt pitch was good, didn’t match up to advert and confusing

·         +15 Charles, -15 Jade/Sarah/Andrew/Sajan, -30 Joanna/James/Michaela, -60 Bushra, -100 Harrison, -105 Anisa

The Initial Boardroom:

·         Vitality: why was Anisa not PM? As Michaela only has a construction magazine, Jade came up with the advert and Andrew designed to sit in the car and ‘look pretty’ (Michaela), LAS liked the use of the drone, and calls the strapline an escape from prison, criticises the panels being confusing, Michaela asked on the others not thinking she was the best to pitch (blames nerves and broad accent), asks Andrew on ‘Anisa shut up!’, was Michaela happy with the pitch? They’re proud of her facing demons and Jade/Charles said she was good (-15 for Andrew with Michaela’s backhanded compliment, +40 Michaela for the team saying she was a good PM)

·         Graphene: Bushra’s idea for family, Saj did 26 shots on the ad, Liz and James talk the confusion over the setting, Joanna seems proud of the name Expando, Liz asked whether they killed any wildlife (‘no!’), LAS trying to work out link between panels and advert and Harrison admits there isn’t any, Joanna talks about Bushra disagreeing with everything, Bushra feels she was blocked out by Joanna and Harrison (-15 for Bushra/Joanna/Harrison)

·         LAS awards the win to…… Vitality as their panels had some link to the ad, and ‘clearly the best’ – sends them as treat to the Orbit in the Olympic Park and the world’s largest tunnel slide

·         Michaela is delighted that she won as PM, Andrew reckons done more than enough to prove that fresh and young and can be whatever LAS wants him to be, but Michaela calls him all over the shop, unprofessional and could never be LAS’ business partner (-15 for Andrew)

·         Joanna blames Liz, Saj blames Liz and James, Harrison tells Liz that if she thinks the strapline caused the loss then she’s completely wrong, Liz blames James for poor decision-making (-45 for Liz with Joanna/Saj/Harrison all levelling some blame at her; James loses 30 for Sajan and Liz blaming him)

·         +40 Michaela, -15 Bushra/Joanna/Harrison, -30 Andrew/James, -45 Liz

The Losing Team Boardroom:

·         LAS says both STs were rubbish, James admits not good at creative task and looks to delegate, blames Joanna’s ST; Bushra says Joanna went with what she wanted and wanted to block Bushra from taking credit; Joanna had the name and Harrison the strapline; Sajan asked on directing of the ad, where was the story? Saj talks on camera angles and James criticises the advert ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’ (good one LAS), James says the ad was embarrassing, Liz asked on doing everything (says it wasn’t the Elizabeth show and can rein it in if she was too strong). James brings back Joanna and Saj; Liz told the failure of the task had a lot to do with her and LAS brings her back. (James’ comment means Joanna/Bushra/Harrison lose 15 points each, -15 for Joanna with Bushra’s statement, -15 for Sajan with James’ comments on the advert; -60 for Joanna/Sajan/Liz all being brought back)

·         -15 Bushra/Harrison, -60 Liz, -75 Sajan, -90 Joanna

The Final 3 Boardroom:

·         Liz: ‘louder she shouts something, more will be listened to’ (Karren)

·         James: ‘couldn’t cope with Liz as a strong character’ (Claude)

·         Joanna: ‘full of excuses’ ‘difficulty in accepting did something wrong’

·         Saj: ‘if truly creative, could adapt storyline to setting but didn’t’ (Karren)

·         Liz says been team member in every task they had won, Joanna says she’s a control freak and overpowered James, she says James let Liz PM the team and Saj agrees, LAS asks Saj what has he done that’s creative (he says his photobooth business is creative and LAS disagrees). Says difficult to be creative when had disruptive member of team (ie Liz). Saj criticises James for listening to Liz; Karren criticises Liz and Joanne for speaking at same time, Liz asks Joanna who she wants to speak. LAS says Joanna takes credit for team winning and passes the buck when losing ‘can talk’ acc to LAS and she reckons Saj should have put his foot down with Liz. James asked what needs £250k for when he was earning £200k a year, Saj asked why he should stay in ‘not finished article, got long way to go but has passion and hard work, I am your business partner’; James says ‘this is a creative task but I am numbers guy’; Joanna ‘I am youngest, know I’ve made mistakes’. (-30 for Liz with critique from Joanna and Sajan, and loses another 30 for the comment from Karren; -45 for James (2 comments from Saj and 1 from Joanna); -45 for Saj blame from LAS and Joanna; -60 for Joanna with criticism from LAS and Karren)

·         Liz – worry that control freak mannerisms won’t work with him, Saj – cannot see any standout moments of creativity, Joanna – argumentative and confrontational which worries him, James – let the others walk over him, weak leadership and persuaded easily by Liz which puts him in awkward position. Not seen anything from Saj in this task and he is fired. James told if good with numbers then he would know that certain amount of people left and only 5 tasks; Liz given benefit of the doubt but if any repetition, won’t need to come back to boardroom as she’ll be fired.

·         Saj reckons shouldn’t have gone, makes no sense

·         Andrew says more than one to go, Harrison says James deffo back but Bushra not sure.

·         -45 James/Sajan, -60 Liz/Joanna

Roll Call and Points Tallies:

Michaela’s NOT Part of His Fan Club: Andrew (-45)

“Take Her Out, Tackle Her, Just Do Something!”: Anisa (-50)

Computer Says No: Bushra (-90)

He Finds Solutions, Not Problems: Charles (+15)

He Didn’t “Conker”: Harrison (-130)

She Has A Vision: Jade (0)

The Numbers Guy: James (-95)

Playing the Age Card: Joanna (-180)

Back Seat Driver: Liz (-210)

A Matter of Confidence: Michaela (+50)

As Creative as a Cardboard Box: Sajan (-165)

“There”: Sarah (-15)

Points Rankings for this Week:

1.       Michaela (+50)

2.       Charles (+15)

3.       Jade (0)

4.       Sarah (-15)

5.       Andrew (-45)

6.       Anisa (-50)

7.       Bushra (-90)

8.       James (-95)

9.       Harrison (-130)

10.   Sajan (-165)

11.   Joanna (-180)

12.   Liz (-210)