Much as I hate to give Donny Deutsch and Donald Trump more publicity, last night’s episode of “The Apprentice” was the advertising agency episode, in which the two teams, Magna and Net Worth, produced spec commercials for Dove body wash. See the results here. One looks like a badly edited iMovie, and the other looks like a porno minus the “bow-chikka-bow-bow” music.
“They both sucked,” Deutsch tells Trump. And in an unprecedented move (apparently, since I truly don’t watch this crappy show), both teams got called into the boardroom for a talk with The Donald.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: These wanna-be “businesspeople” may not know anything about making ads or marketing Dove body wash, but that won’t stop them: They’re the ad industry’s future clients.
Too true. As anyone who saw the “world premiere” of the actual Dove commercial when it ran later in the program can attest. Created at a real ad agency by real ad pros and approved by real ad clients, the spot was as conceptually vapid as either team’s spot and as cliche-ridden as anything you’ll see on TV. I’ll bet it cost least $250K, too, not counting the “testing” that cost another $50-100K and probably resulted in the agency removing the only part of the spot that was ever slightly interesting or made sense.
Large package-goods advertisers always go by the numbers, which is why creative package goods advertising is rare. As far as the “business people” wannabes on the Apprentice, I wouldn’t hire any of them to wash my car. Their lack of ability in management, innovation, creativity and overall effectiveness is remarkable, considering these dopes are all supposedly the best and brightest of America’s colleges and universities. Maybe this says something about the quality of their education, or something about the casting done for the Apprentice. Maybe both.