[BBC] The Apprentice 2008 t/m 2011

quote:

Freemium Magazine Launch

The teams are called to gleaming offices in Fleet Street, home to London's oldest newspaper district. Lord Sugar informs the candidates they'll be creating and publishing a free magazine. But first he shuffles the teams, appointing the project managers.

Free magazines earn money by selling advertising, but advertisers only buy space in titles with a surefire market. As such, the teams must choose a hit subject, produce appropriate editorial content and convince advertisers they will reach a big audience.

As Karren keeps notes, one team is led downmarket by their editor with a low-brow lads' magazine. The other team, accompanied by 67-year old Nick, goes for the oldies market, and on the way comes up with some patronising names (causing raised eyebrows from Nick!). But despite some research with sprightly over-sixties, it soon descends into stereotypes. Karren winces as the lads' mag embraces innuendo and photoshoots get racy. Spot research on the street sends signals that the lads' mag may be off-course, but the magazine editor continues to push the boundaries.

At the pitches, one team doesn't know what it's selling, while both teams fail to negotiate until it is almost too late. In the boardroom the final ad sales surprise Lord Sugar, leaving the losing team bickering in a blame game. But when the final page is turned, the end words are: "You're fired!".

quote:

Op woensdag 15 juni 2011 23:38 schreef Wickedangel het volgende:
Je vraagt je af waarom Jim er nog inzit terwijl zo duidelijk was dat hij eruit had moeten vliegen. De laatste vier gaat hij sowieso niet halen. Vinden ze het handig om hem nog even te houden als de ploert van het programma, gewoon ordinair voor de kijkcijfers

quote:

Op donderdag 16 juni 2011 00:32 schreef k_man het volgende:
Gemist. Wel met goede reden (concert Portishead), maar desondanks: gemist. Wordt het nog herhaald?

quote:

Op donderdag 16 juni 2011 00:42 schreef svann het volgende:
Jim was gewoon dominant

quote:

Episode 8: Paris

The venue for the candidates' latest briefing is St Pancras International. With the next Eurostar about to leave, there is just time for Lord Sugar to brief and re-balance the personnel, and then it's off to Paris for half of each team. The others must stay back and choose some new British designs to sell to the French. It is a classic export task, with Lord Sugar on the lookout for proven ability to do business abroad.

While the candidates in Paris arrange sales appointments for tomorrow, the London-based groups are treated to quirky products by entrepeneurs wanting a slice of the French market. There's everything from toys to top-end bikes. It is immediately clear that some of Lord Sugar's budding business partners know very little about the French, and even less about what they will buy. To help, he sets them up with a major French retailer, but the teams must fix all the other pitches. Street-based research gets lost in translation. Candidates struggle to describe in stuttering franglais items they haven't seen, while one candidate proves fluent in French, yet hopeless at diplomacy.

When the teams regroup in Paris, the selected products look less attractive than they sounded. Squabbles ignite, but selling must begin. Paris retailers, baffled by the stumbling pitches, prove tough customers. Lord Sugar's top-end French chain store is characteristically stoney-faced.

Back in the boardroom the teams are subjected to more hard-faced stares, this time from Lord Sugar on hearing that someone decided to employ a playground game to decide who would pitch. And one team discovers it picked a winning product with some blockbusting sales figures. But the losers face an inquisition and then the verbal guillotine: "You're fired!".

quote:

Op woensdag 22 juni 2011 23:05 schreef SickPuppiesNeedLove2 het volgende:
Heerlijk om te concluderen dat de Fransen weinig auto rijden als je marktonderzoek doet in een metro-station lol... ja, natuurlijk rijden die weinig auto

quote:

Die Melody is een tijgertje zeg... die gaat voor de strot... niet echt sympathiek, maar wel geschikt om een business op te zetten. Verder heeft ze niet echt concurrentie geloof is, Jim is meer een gladde verkoper, maar neemt geen verantwoordelijkheid. De rest moet zich zorgen maken.

quote:

Op donderdag 23 juni 2011 09:12 schreef computergirl het volgende:

[..]

Ja inderdaad

[..]

Helen hoeft zich geen zorgen te maken toch?

quote:

15-6-2011

APPRENTICE CANDIDATES’ CATALOGUE OF BUSINESS FAILURES

Tom Pellereau’s business is worth minus £15,597 with a turnover of just £500 last year
Candidates boast a record of dissolved businesses
Candidates’ business have credit scores so low companies are advised to secure payment up front when trading with them

Creditsafe’s analysis of the directorship history of the candidates featured on the BBC’s hit show The Apprentice reveals their vaunted boasts of business acumen may not stand up to scrutiny. The bespectacled Tom Pellereau claims to be a successful inventor, however the company he co-founded in 2008 M&P Consulting turned over just £500 last year and has a net worth of minus £15,597.

A number of candidates are directors of businesses deemed risky for companies to trade with. Surviving candidate Melody Hossaini, the sole director of Inspirengage, and Leon Doyle, the only director of The Menu Master Limited, both head up companies with low credit ratings. Companies trading with their businesses are advised to only grant credit against collateral because of the risk of these companies entering insolvency in the next 12 months.

Ambitious Susan Ma, founder of Tropic Skin Care Limited, criticised for being too meek when dealing with other candidates boasts of a successful business. She newly incorporated her business on the 27th January this year after claiming that she had to temporarily close the website in 2010 because of the overwhelming number of orders; however the company has a low credit rating and firms are urged to be cautious when trading with Tropic Skin Care Limited. Felicity Jackson, fired by Lord Sugar, is the founder and sole director of Surviving Actors Limited, which also has a low credit rating.

David Knowles, Business Development Director at Creditsafe, said: “It appears the boasts of financial wizardry and business brilliance by many of the candidates featured on the BBC’s The Apprentice are pure hot air. Lord Sugar Alan will need to use all his business savvy to guide the winning candidate and ensure his £250,000 investment is not squandered. Businesses interested in understanding the real performance of a company director can utilise credit referencing solutions to track not just the performance of their current company, but also their history to establish if they have a track record of success or failure.”

Seven of the Apprentice candidates have no experience as a director of a limited company, including Helen Louise Milligan winner of the first six weeks’ challenges. Glenn Ward, Zoe Beresford, Jim Eastwood, Natasha Scribbins have no previous experience as company directors, but are still in the hunt for the prize demonstrating ambition and a passionate desire to become entrepreneurs in partnership with Lord Sugar. Edward Hunter and Alex Britez Cabral also had no direct experience and exited the competition at an early stage.

Lord Alan jettisoned Gavin Winstanley one of the few candidates with experience of running their successful business. At the age of just 27 Gavin is the founder and sole director of two companies, www.glasses123.co.uk and Optical World Merseyside Limited, which are both rated as creditworthy.

Knowles continued:
“It is important when looking to invest or trade with any business that you look at the fundamentals of the operation and are not seduced by the personality of the directors. Companies that do not wish to be caught out by trading with a business that has a significant likelihood of entering insolvency can use utilise credit referencing services to minimise their risk.”

quote:

Biscuit

The candidates are enjoying their day off when Lord Sugar turns up at the door. Suddenly it's down to work after he tells them to make, brand and pitch a new type of upmarket busicuit. Project managers get picked (in one case reluctantly) and then it's time for the teams to split up, with half off to a biscuit development lab in Swansea.

The teams have two days to get the baking done and packaging designed. In Wales there are sharp elbows in evidence in one team as two of the candidates vie to get their idea made, whilst the other team goes straight for an after-school treat.

The ultra-competitive team's focus group munches its way through lots of crunchy offers without a favourite emerging. No-one likes ideas suggested by fellow team members and in the end the decision is a compromise. On the other team, the branding for kids ends up losing precision and no-one can understand its selling point.

Hard work in the development lab produces professional looking biscuits. Packaging is equally impressive but the names and invented straplines make for confusing pitch rehearsals and plenty of backstabbing.

At the pitches one team tries to create a mini-drama, changing the script twice and still failing to communicate the idea. In the end both teams stumble through pitches that are as crumbly as their biscuits. The hard-nosed buyers from some of Britain's biggest supermarkets appear not to bite. They report back to Lord Sugar who reveals the outcome in the boardroom - the result is a shock to Lord Sugar and to both teams.

On the losing team the culprit is uncovered. After some spirited defence and a few regrets it's a close call...then - 'You're fired!'.

quote:

Op woensdag 29 juni 2011 23:02 schreef KrentebolHooft het volgende:
800.000 vs 0

Ik hoop dat Helen wint