Celebrity Apprentice: Week 9 - Body wash ad
Another week, another true "marketing" task: shooting a magazine ad for Dial Yogurt Body Wash. And I have to say, although I've liked Carol Alt from the beginning, my respect for her increased tenfold this week. Such a class act -- hard worker, straight shooter, you name it -- especially compared to what's-her-name.
Lesson One: Lead with your strengths. As Piers Morgan mentioned, this task could have been scripted for Carol, what with her supermodel background and all. She knew exactly what she was doing, and everybody stepped out of her way and let her lead.
And her confidence in that role was downright inspirational. No hemming and hawing, no hair-twisting "what do you guys think" discussions -- just straight "here's what needs to be done, and here's who needs to do it." An example to women everywhere.It was good to see the guys giving her the respect she so clearly earned.
Lesson Two: Opinions are not market research. Both teams made the same mistake, but from different directions: assuming their own preferences mirrored their audience's.
Team Hydra put a "pure sex" shot in the final page of the ad and offended at least one of the Dial executives. Had the other team's photo essay not been weaker overall, that might have cost them.
Team Empresario, on the other hand, was riddled with uninformed opinions. "How often do you see a shot like [the shirtless Trace Adkins] in Redbook magazine," asked Stephen Baldwin.
Good question. It deserved a quantitative answer, not just the uninformed, biased assumption Stephen rammed down Tito Ortiz's throat based on his own personal "family values." (Note that the topless female model posed no such problem for Stephen.)
If you're looking to appeal to an audience, you have to get into their mindset, regardless of whether it fits your own.
Lesson Three: Youth and good looks are no match for age and treachery. Yes, I know, I'm repeating myself (see week 1), but it's reared its head again. Tito may be a smart, tough guy, but his youth and inexperience showed when dealing with the "strong personalities" of the older contenders, namely Omarosa and Stephen Baldwin.
Baldwin was his usual overbearing self, while Omarosa deliberately railroaded Tito, first by pressing the PM job on him (after Trump warned the teams the project manager would be the most likely to be fired), then by throwing him under the bus in the board room.
To his credit, Tito put up a fight for a good, long while. But eventually he gave the "whatever" response that Omarosa seems to excel at eliciting from opponents (from everybody but Carol Alt).
And I hated to see it happen to such a nice guy.
MY FAVORITE MOMENTS:
* "Hop in the bed, please." Now there's some sexual harassment I could stand.
* Trace Adkins posing shirtless with his guitar. See Favorite Moment #1.
* "Lady O" showing her weasel tendencies by claiming the PM job only until Donald Trump said it was a firing risk, then shoving it onto Tito. Yeah, you showed your true colors, girlfriend.
THE FIRED APPRENTICE'S CHARITY: St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital <http://www.stjude.org>
THE WINNING PM'S CHARITY: The Tony Alt Memorial Foundation <http://www.tamfi.org/>
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