Tag Archives: Nick Hewer

Well, last night we saw the first episode of the new series of Young Apprentice – and, we’re told, the last.  Although, Lord Sugar has gone on record saying that he regrets the BBC’s decision to cancel the show and would like to find a way of continuing it.  Whether his contract will allow him and the production company to sell a series to a rival channel, I don’t know. Ennui I have to confess to a certain feeling of...

So, the Final is over; the winner declared.  In the end, it was the business plans that were paramount, but the journey, over the  last twelve episodes, was also important. I want to use this final Apprentice 2012 blog to consider the reasons: why Lord Sugar was right. But first let’s review who the four finalists were:   Jade Nash Strong manager, strong salesperson, creative and forceful. Weak strategist with a background in direct marketing. Nick Holzherr Calm, assured, conciliatory...

In tonight’s Apprentice semi-final, Lord Sugar finally bowed to the inevitable.  And if it was inevitable, what can we possibly learn from it? The task was to create a range of “affordable luxury products”.  Excuse me, Lord Sugar… affordable to whom?  How much luxury?  On the face of it this is close to a tautology, yet it isn’t.  Because everything is affordable to someone.  But this simple line of reasoning evaded one team, and they failed to define their target...

Well, we’re down to the final five candidates. At the end of my last blog, on Episode 10, I asked of each of them, “who are you?” Last night, we were able to see a short documentary about each one, so are a little closer to knowing the answers (even though Karren Brady herself made the point that “we still don’t really know who Adam is”).  Because I will be away from home tonight and perhaps not able to post...

When will any of this year’s candidates show us something special?  For sure (to borrow a phrase from Stephen Brady), we have seen some good performances and some consistency.  We have also seen some of the usual appalling performances – but, I will grant you, fewer than usual.  But I have not detected any outstanding individuals among this year’s bunch. What am I missing? Or is there really nothing to miss? I have been pondering these questions, but it wasn’t...

Well, I said creativity would be central to this year’s Apprentice (in my 3 April blog post) and what could be more creative than this week’s task? That task was to: Come up with a new fitness programme that will start a trend Create a promotional video and branding, and Pitch it to three health and fitness chains to secure licensing deals Both teams could claim an “expert” as team leader. The Teams and their Ideas Phoenix Phoenix quickly chose...

There is plenty to argue about in tonight’s episode and it would be easy to find clear and simple business lessons, whichever team had one, that would account for their victory and the other team’s loss.  But I don’t think that was what today’s episode really taught us. Instead, I think the message is darker; perhaps the darkest yet, since I have been commenting on The Apprentice. The task was simple: to buy second hand goods and to sell them...

Two Roads Diverged… Once again, the cause of the losing team’s failure is absolutely clear … and once again, the same problem plagued both teams … and also, once again, Lord Sugar’s opening remarks presaged the key problem: it’s almost as if he knows what he’s talking about. Fancy that! But the response within each team could not have been more different and that, as Robert Frost said, “made all the difference”. The Task The two teams had to design,...

Last night’s first episode of the new series of The Apprentice gave us one simple, powerful business lesson. But, unusually, we had to wait to the very end to learn it.  Along the way, two new teams formed, with the names Phoenix (men) and Sterling (women) to add to the growing list of Apprentice team names.  The teams competed to choose unbranded goods, design a brand, over-print the goods, and sell them at two prime London locations each. Phoenix was...

  Last night’s Young Apprentice was truly exciting. As usual, we saw plenty of examples of poor, good and superb performance, but my overall assessment matches Lord Sugar’s: the six young people competing were all extraordinary examples of the talent that their generation can field.  I am afraid i will have to get just a little socio-political by the time I get to the end of this week’s assessment. But first, down to the business of recording the basics… The...