Don’t forget to buy a ‘Luv’ Bear!
Posted in Latest News, Nicky's Blog by Nicky on October 27th, 2009
Bingo! All my Christmas pressie dilemma’s are over. “Luv” Bears all round for my household. Innovative or not I will be buying one because not only are they cute but the 3 T’s charity is an amazing cause that I hold very close to my heart. Anyone reading this please consider a trip to your local Spar to buy “Luv” Bear, many families across Ireland will benefit from your €2.99 purchase and you can put a smile on a loved one’s face.
Back to business. Ok so neither product was hugely innovative and there was so much they could have done but it was a big task with a lot of aspects. The problem with a task like this is, there is barely enough time to get through the logistics. The motions of building a creative idea can get lost. Panic sets in to finish on time and I think this is where both teams fell down, they took the safe option but I know from experience that this task is harder than it looked to us watching at home. Bill was not a happy camper!! He was especially annoyed with Brendan and his team for the jelly beans. The important thing to do at the beginning of these tasks is take your time to go through concept, idea’s and pro’s or con’s to each, making sure to eliminate any stumbling blocks from the onset. They chose a brand which already existed; the first thing would have been to check brand guidelines before designing your product and then checking? At least with Shelton’s store there was so much range and teams allowed re – design as they wished. The cracker could have been really good had Brendan researched properly as Bill did, I feel he was really cautious of doing well in this task that he didn’t want to take the risk but this could have won it for them. Very surprised he brought Aoiffe into the boardroom; I wonder if this was a tactic? Thought she would back him up against Breffny compared to other team members and help save his place? Bill’s intuition gave the boy with 9 lives another shot and what is interesting is I think we all underestimate Breffny’s potential. I agree he does not always contribute a huge amount to a task but he can have the winning idea and in the boardroom makes total sense. “Delegating job’s correctly, knowing people’s strengths and pushing his intuition and gut instinct more” This being the number one piece of advice from Richard Branson, Donald Trump and our own Bill Cullen. Brendan obviously has talents as he is an experienced entrepreneur but I don’t think the apprentice was for him.
“Luv” Bear wasn’t overly innovative either but I thought Steve’s team did a good job of building the product concept and marketing proposal. They seemed to work well together as a team and Steve is acting like a true apprentice already by listening to Bill and changing his management tactics. For me a little too extreme, seemed to allow Sam do whatever she wanted with fear of being called a “bully” again. Note to both teams, PLEASE do NOT allow Sam to present again. I have to admit I felt truly uncomfortable on my couch watching her present, which seemed to be targeted at 4 year old children as opposed to professional clients. Stephen seemed like a background character in this task but I admire his ability to always speak up. Lucinda did very well again. She seems to have the ability to work with all the characters in the house.
One aspect that got lost for me and Spar on the product, Point of Sale material and in store theatrics was the focus on the charity and client which is so important when pitching for a campaign. The 3 T’s cause would be a major selling point for folk to choose one product over another in Spar but high insight is 20/20 as Brendan’s says.
For me Ruth has to go next, she would have been my choice this week to be honest. My gut says there is something contrived about her and she seems to constantly work directly with PM avoiding boardroom but not really contributing positively as she has led PM to think. Time will tell!
Nicky