I don’t believe Lucinda was fired!

Posted in Latest News, Nicky's Blog by Nicky on December 1st, 2009

I don’t believe Lucinda was fired! She was the winner in my eyes and now I have to eat my words about boycotting the show! Obviously I could never do that and only bluffed because I never thought Bill would actually fire her. To be honest I don’t think he thought he would have to make the choice. When the teams were divided most people thought Lucinda and Steve were the stronger team and win hands down but Ger and Stephen pulled it out of the bag. Unfortunately bad luck the losing team was strong because Bill had to fire a great candidate, I am very sad to see her go but with the 3 stooges campaign they were lambs to the slaughter.

After repeated criticism for being creative fire blankets, this was the task to prove otherwise but what an extreme to go to. The moment they decided on 3 Wise Men theme I was hesitant but thought Lucinda is a clever marketer so this could end up quite cool, I am full to the brim from eating my words this week! As the white shirts and tacky party hats came out I had a slow motion run towards the tv “nooooooooooooooo…”but she had committed and there was no going back! The model pictures looked like mug shots or criminals in strait jackets at their Christmas party! “Americas Next Top Model” Lucinda? Lucinda? Lucinda? It was simple, they were so adamant about winning and impressing Bill with creativeness they totally lost sight of reality and the client. The radio ad was just as comical, Rhubarb and Custard eat your heart out! I found the boardroom quite difficult to watch, Steve acts like he is the nicest guy but has this façade in boardroom and I do think he is more cunning than people think. I have to admit something about Steve makes me uneasy but I can’t place my finger on it, Maria’s comment “there is more to Steve then we see” always resounds in my mind. He played a game in the boardroom; he focused more on tearing Lucinda down than his strengths. As a boardroom virgin I think she became slightly intimidated. Herself and Steve at parts were really “what you can do I can do better” and then with panic came a slight desperation for Lucinda claiming she would become a “cow” for Bill. Always stay true to yourself, she was a lady and absolutely was sharp, no such thing as being too nice and Lucinda was so competitive she would always do well.

Who would have thought Platinum would do so well especially considering the task began with “trust” issues and the word “petty” but fair play, they didn’t take it personally and got on with it. Geraldine pulled a blinder, she had no experience in recording studio’s or radio ads but got it bang on! She has an ability to extract the best out of people and really knew what she wanted. Her presentation has improved dramatically, you could see Appleby had connected with her and attracted to the warmth of her speech. She has grown the most in this process. Their campaign was very Appleby, actually very similar to current campaigns, both print and radio. They knew creative was important but in this case brand was more important. Appleby are a family business with very conservative views, Platinum knew this was not the task to take too much of a risk. Stephen has such a bad persona with people, he seemed really ignorant when meeting the models and as Jackie said it was embarrassing. You need to connect with people so they open up and give you what you need; they need to trust in your directions. I have to question this romantic side Bill referred to. Do we really think Stephen wrote it? I am pretty confident love poems were googled but in fairness the concept was romantic and looked well. Being a Christmas theme it would have been nice to have a couple standing by the Christmas tree exchanging presents and the decorations could have been Appleby jewellery, showcasing all their ranges.

It was disappointing to see Lucinda go and I felt for her in the car as you could see she was gutted! Bill needs to “Galvanize” Brian and Jackie (this seems to be this year’s Apprentice buzz word) and really consider who the best person for the job is now.

Nicky