The 12th December marked the end of yet another series of The Young Apprentice. The twelve young, enthusiastic teenagers have been on an educational journey where they were required to work as a team but shine as individuals; some more successful than others. They were set various tasks to test their business knowledge, skills and teamwork. Team names were Atomic and Kinetic and remained Boys Vs. Girls for the first two weeks until Lord Sugar mixed up for the remainder of the series. Below is an overview of the series outlining the task, happenings during the task and the results.
Week 1: Frozen Treats
Task: Produce own range of frozen treats to sell to public
Teams: Boys (Atomic) Vs Girls (Kinetic)
Managers: Harry H (Atomic), Hayley (Kinetic)
Products:
Atomic: Cookie and marshmallow ice cream and apple and watermelon sorbet (‘Shiverrrr me Timbers’ pirate theme), very low prices
Kinetic: Healthy ‘Treat and Trim’ theme with strawberry and marshmallow, chocolate and banana and mango and vanilla flavours, very high prices
Results:
Atomic: Costs £117.92, Sales £677.17 = £559.25 profit
Kinetic: Costs £131.00, Sales £839.34 = £708.34 profit
Fired: Mahamad (only sold £62’s worth)
Week 2: Parent & baby
Task: Create a new and exciting product for the parent and baby market and pitch to 3 retailers (same teams as last week)
Managers: Lewis (Atomic), Gbemi (Kinetic)
Products:
Atomic: ‘Harris the Hippo’ toy bottle warmer
Kinetic: ‘Comfy Curve’ cradling cushion armstrap
Results:
Atomic 1,200 units from JoJo Maman Bébé, 0 orders from John Lewis and 4,000 units from Mothercare = 5,200 units
Kinetic: 0 from JoJo Maman Bébé or John Lewis, but 7,000 units from Mothercare = 7,000 units
Fired: Ben (no inspirational ideas and failed to put himself forward)
Week 3: Floristry business
Task: Make arrangements within 2 days to sell to the public and pitch to three pre-arranged corporate clients who would then choose either Atomic or Kinetic (5 star hotel, West End theatre and an exclusive hair salon)
Managers: Hannah (Atomic), Lizzie (Kinetic)
Clients:
Atomic: 4 bouquets for Theatre and 4 window displays for Hair Salon
Kinetic: 5 posies and mantelpiece display for Hotel
Selling:
Atomic: Bouquets at £3,£6 and £10 (depending on size)
Kinetic: Triple pricing strategy (put forward by Hayley)
Results:
Atomic: Sales £858.25, Costs £407.29 = £450.96 profit
Kinetic: Sales £912.10, Costs £448.58 = £463.52 profit
Fired: Hannah (brought the wrong people into the Boardroom)
Week 4: Over 50’s market
Task: Choose 2 products from 8 suppliers to sell at Kensington Olympia’s over 50’s show
Managers: Haya (Atomic), James (Kinetic)
Products: Atomic chose pie maker and bird box whilst Kinetic chose shopping trolley and mini vacuum
Results:
Atomic: Pie maker £347.42, Bird box £500.00 = £847.42
Kinetic: Shopping Trolley = £329.98, Mini Vacuum = 808.79 = £1138.77
Fired: Lewis (Lord Sugar admired his enthusiasm but told to talk less)
Week 5 - Deodorant
Task: Design, package, brand and create an advert for an anti-perspirant deodorant for teenagers then pitch infront of industry experts
Managers: Zara (Atomic), Harry M (Kinetic)
Products:
Atomic: RAW, male market, filmed street dancer doing routine in sports hall for advert. Harry H pitched
Kinetic: Vanity, female market, filmed teenagers and geek in basement club, Lizzie pitched
Results:
Atomic: Very good advert, one of the best in the boardroom
Kinetic: Good concept but their execution failed and the product wasn’t associated with the advert
Fired: Gbemi (poor product design despite this being her main hobby)
Week 6 – Discount buying
Task: 10 hours to find and buy 10 items on the list for Madame Tussauds (items ranged from a Justin Bieber 34” sized suit to a Dashiki for Nelson Mandela). Teams told they would receive penalties for not getting items (£50 plus guiding price) or not negotiating lower price.
Managers: Lizzie (Atomic), Haya (Kinetic)
What happened:
Atomic: Spent hours making phone calls locating some items, didn’t find them all, items more expensive than Kinetic’s
Kinetic: Set off straight away (no strategy), used Haya’s knowledge of London, constantly looking out for possible locations
Results:
Atomic: 6 items bought, Costs: £963 Fines: £517.87 = £1480.87 total costs
Kinetic: 7 times bought, Costs: £721 Fines: £248.10 = £969.10 total costs
Fired: Hayley (very polite and enthusiastic but often stays in the shadows)
Week 7 - Popcorn
Task: Develop some unique flavours of popcorn to pitch to 3 retailers (Jet2, Odeon and Morrisons)
Managers: Harry H (Atomic), James (Kinetic)
Products:
Atomic: Mediterranean themed (La Popcorn) – Chorizo and tomato, feta cheese and olive
Kinetic: American themed (Empire State) – BBQ chicken, maple syrup and pancakes
Results:
Atomic: 10,000 from Odeon, 50,000 from Jet2 and 30,000 from Morrisons = 90,000 units
Kinetic: 15,000 from Odeon, 0 from Jet2, 100,000 from Morrisons = 115,000 units
Fired:
Team Atomic (Harry M, Harry H and Lizzie)
Haya from Kinetic (not seen any creativity but told she shouldn’t give up because she has great attributes)
Week 8 – Video Game (The Final)
Task: Create a new online video came with a viral Internet advert and pitch to professionals in gaming and online (ranging from Facebook to Disney) and Lord Sugar himself. Previous candidates from the series returned; Lewis, Harry H, Hayley, Lizzie and Hannah join James while Ben, Mahamed, Harry M, Gbemi and Haya lend their support to Zara.
Products:
Zara: After many ideas were developed, Zara decided on ‘Piggy Panic’ – players are required to help Porky Pete from the butcher
James: Market research showed that the public would prefer their puzzle game but James took a risk and decided on ‘Crazy Cabinet’ – a time management game whereby the player plays the role of Prime Minister
Pitches:
James: Game relates to current affairs; concerns about running the country and everyone says they can do a better job. His spoof advert amused the audience and was seen as a great concept and “witty” game with clear scope to expand to keep the game current. He clearly understood the target market with a comical advert that was offensive to some degree; suited to its audience.
Zara: Clearly very passionate and enthusiastic about her product and also managed to amuse the audience with her game demo and viral ad. A game with “lots of potential”.
The Boardroom:
James: Told his advert didn’t correlate with the game
Zara: Informed her pitch was impressive, game not got the migration of James’ but clear development of characters in books, for example, and her advert engaged more with the game
The £25,000 prize:
Zara explained she would invest in professional filming equipment and sell productions. James, on the other hand, wishes to study Economics further before producing, developing and selling an idea that he develops. The winner receives the prize to build their future but once when Lord Sugar approves its use.
Hired: Zara
Conclusion
Overall, it was clear to study the group dynamics and the effect this has on motivation, creativity and innovation. All tasks were designed to test candidates’ abilities in many business areas including creativity and the ability to be resourceful. During Week 5’s deodorant task, members in Kinetic explained they found Harry a very difficult individual to work with and wasn’t creative enough which was critical because creativity in this area was essential to succeed; hence why this team lost the task. Also during this task, conflicts arose in Atomic whereby Zara’s dominant leadership style led to her disregarding Hayley’s thoughts and ideas. This can cause high demotivation in the business world and discourage future co-operation.
Meeting at Madame Tussaud’s for the task of Week 6 illustrated the importance of keeping up to date. This business has been in existence for over 200 years creating waxworks of famous people making it essential to keep up to date to ensure every detail is correct and accurate. This means that items need to be constantly replaced.
Throughout the series, it was apparent that candidates take credit for others’ decisions when they are successful. For example, in Week 6, Zara took credit for Harry M’s idea to contact a library to look up ‘Dashiki’ in a dictionary because Internet usage was forbidden throughout the task. The series also highlighted the importance of communication and the impact this has on motivation and the ability to be creative within a group. Harry M, for example, has consistently been told he is good at selling and negotiating but rarely listens to others and pursues his own ideas.
Each week, Lord Sugar provided feedback to the candidates; highlighting any strengths and weaknesses they may have. This enabled the individuals to learn from their mistakes; a concept relevant to innovation whereby businesses can learn from their own and competitors’ errors when bringing innovations into the market.
In Week 7, it was clear to the candidates that they had to work as a team to have a chance of winning both as a group and individually as the losing team were all fired in addition to one member from the winning team. Communication and teamwork was essential. Haya was one of the four fired from this episode but reflected on the importance that it’s ok to take risks; a critical aspect in innovation.
During the final series, Zara expressed she was a “naturally creative person” and is a highly determined individual who is always willing to put ideas forward, take risks and experiment; trying out lots of different ideas. However, this means that she doesn’t always consider the views, opinions and ideas expressed by others; wanting to steer from the back when not the leader. James also developed the ability to become a risk taker, put his neck on the line and pursue ideas but listen to others managing to understand how to work within a team and get the best out of each member.
References:
The Young Apprentice (2011) [TV Broadcast] BBC1, Every Monday, Week commencing 24th October. 21:00 hrs
