Next week marks the live finale of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’. This season we’ve seen twelve sports, music, food, political and acting stars with the likes of Sharon Osbourne, Cindy Lauper, Rod Blagojevich and Darryl Strawberry. Each episode brings a challenge that involves the celebrities combining their business and creative chops to planning an event or ad campaign for recognizable brands like Kodak and Snapple.
What my husband Matt and I love about the show is that it’s a great combination of charity and business, competition and cooperation, and creativity and precise planning. Overall, the show is extremely well orchestrated as a true Branded Entertainment vehicle. It does a great job not selling anything short, including the duration of the show which is done in a two-hour weekly block (almost unheard of in this day and age of TV programming). It also does an amazing job elevating all of the brands in an immersive and entertaining way. The brands are numerous yet each has a compelling role to play in the overall story: the celebrity contestants, the corporations involved in the challenges, the non-profits the celebrities play for, as well as the Trump brand itself.
What’s been also so good to see is that everyone involved-from contestant to represented corporation-really seem invested in the show emotionally. There have been many passionate fights and tears from the contestants seemingly driven by their desire to win for their causes. And even members of the Trump family show a few moments of true compassion in the board room.
In today’s business environment, one of the true advancements marketing has made is to being more open to showing the real faces behind the big brands through social media and the like. It been refreshing to see a broadcast TV show hosted and produced by one of the most successful businessmen in the United States also make an effort to represent brands in more authentic ways.
Matt and I will probably be watching the ‘Lost’ finale and DVRing the live ‘Celebrity Apprentice’-only because after six years, we’re just more invested emotionally in the ‘Lost’ story. But you can bet that we will be watching ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ soon afterwards. We won’t be able to wait long to see Bret Michaels back from the brink of death in the board room with the very competitive Holly Robinson Peete. And yes, we’ll certainly be picking up a couple of bottles of the winning Snapple flavor. Job well done, ‘Celebrity Apprentice’!
