Guest post: Inside The Apprentice Australia
Tonight sees the launch of The Apprentice Australia. And the marketing industry has one of their own to cheer on in the shape of former Interbrand staffer Lynton Pipkorn. Here he reveals a little of what is to come
It’s already been pilloried to post by the skeptics but they probably haven’t as much as seen a frame on tape. Myself, I am a little more confident, but then again I should declare my interest. I have witnessed the casting and production unfolding as one of 12 candidates competing for the final prize of a six-figure business development position with Mark Bouris’ financial services firm Yellow Brick Road.
And what an intense and fascinating ride it was as far as the total TV production experience is concerned.
After a 15 page application process, two stage audition, a group casting challenge, screen test, panel interview by the EPs, work history assessment, academic performance check, work and character references and finally a psychological assessment later, I got the call to pack my bags to compete to be The Apprentice.
For something that started out as a laugh it all of sudden got a bit more serious…no work, no email, no phone, no Facebook, and no contact with friends or family for up to seven weeks. And because of some very clever alternate endings, nobody on the show knows who has won, and since I am contracted to Channel Nine on a watertight agreement, I couldn’t tell you even if I did.
What I can tell you is that Nine has high expectations of a ratings coup. Those of you who work in media don’t need me to tell you that Nine is desperate for a winner in their programming schedule, with Two and a Half Men being shown nine times per week at last count.
The all important casting, format and tone of The Apprentice Australia is different to its long running, Donald Trump fronted American predecessor. And for the night owls that watched the UK series fronted by Sir Alan Sugar earlier this year, it is perhaps more akin in style to that. Definitely less money hungry and much less over the top – though, it had to be.
The ego-centric Trump and an Americanised ostentatious style of production would never have worked with audiences here. Credit to Fremantle Media for reading that one, given the cultural differences and current tough economic climate.
But to generate wide appeal, perhaps it will prove a wise move to cast and focus the show on the performance of everyday Australians having a shot at the “opportunity of a lifetime”. For many, it truly was a chance to leap from job obscurity and be catapulted into the corporate executive world. A number of candidates had little business experience: a former Miss World Australia; a Centrelink customer service manager; a second year law student and an unemployed former engineer to name but a few.
Post GFC the world has changed, perhaps nobody wanted to see brash bankers, loaded lawyers and arrogant entrepreneurs showing off just how smart and rich they were. Hailing from Punchbowl and humble working class roots, Mark Bouris, like many Australians, has worked his way up from nothing and it was important that he could empathise with this bunch of aspirants.
An insight on the boss: Mark Bouris is understated, was a bit serious and nervous to begin with (as we all were), but he is also very affable, has a great bullshit detector, is self assured but humorous, and I have no doubt, will pull in the female viewers as planned!
Although The Apprentice Australia is perhaps a bit more real in terms of casting, I will leave it up to you to judge just how real this sort of reality TV is in terms of production. What I will say is that the challenges were indeed challenging, requiring real world decision making, project management, strategic thought, creative talent, strict time management, and most of all, keen people management skills. And the scandals, the boardroom bust ups, personality clashes and the job with Mark Bouris are legit.
The challenges are intense and varied, and for fans of The Apprentice, many will be familiar. And for those of you in agency land, there is one agency challenge and at least three big brand and communications challenges, with the finale featuring the best of the lot.
Time constraints and caveats on what you could and couldn’t do placed teams under enormous pressures that you would almost never face in the real world (with the exception of pitches!).
Amazingly, it was possible to perform miracles, but at other times, it could all fall apart very quickly as the pressure mounted, personality clashes reared up and the divide and conquer game began to emerge in the boardroom. With the threat of failure on TV omnipresent, and some very strong-minded and sleep-deprived heads butting on occasion, some team losses and individual firings (and stays of execution) were very arbitrary, and will prove very puzzling for the realists.
Masterchef, which in my view was much less involving, predictable and boring (Bring back Peter Russell-Clarke I say), The Apprentice Australia will hopefully be anything but.
To win you didn’t need to be a great business mind, well educated, a hardened entrepreneur, or indeed experienced in all facets of the corporate world. This competition was more about testing yourself, riding your luck, being creative, making intuitive decisions, being true to yourself, working hard and showing how you conducted yourself under pressure – with a healthy dose of what would make ‘TV magic’ certainly helping your progression. But at the end of the day it was all about who Mark Bouris thought he could best work with in his business.
Be prepared for a ride that is full of challenging tasks, unpredictable twists and surprising turns, clashing egos, public embarrassments, big personalities, creativity, some truly surprising work, and hopefully a very deserving winner.
- Lynton Pipkorn is a competitor in The Apprentice, which begins tonight on Nine at 9.30pm AEST. Previously he was associate director at Interbrand Melbourne. Before that he was group manager at brand experience agency BrandAdvantage. He is a director of My Property Partner.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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I loved the UK version of The Apprentice.
Most of all I liked the uber-arrogance and self-delusion of the British contestants, and the smarminess of the candidates in front of “Sir Alan, y’majesty'”
For me, the Australian version will be most interesting in terms of observing the effects of the different working cultures between Australia and Britain.
Tall Poppy Syndrome for example …
At times, the British version was a masterclass in cut-throat competition and dog-eat-dog behaviour. Exceptional individual performance was very much encouraged, and usually publicly rewarded. Tall Poppies welcome here!
But what about Australia?
Isn’t the working culture here in the major cities much more egalitarian, more about being a “quiet achiever” and trying not to stand out too much? So I look forward to watching the Australian candidates being “un-Australian”!
As for Mark Bouris, Sir Alan will be a hard act to follow. As the old geezer once said, “I’ve written books on advertising. Cheque books”.
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Wow,
This guy is sexy and his writing style is simply brilliant. I am in love with him already.
Pierre
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and the show has tanked after one episode…will they move it to GO
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Tanked is a understatement. All falls down to casting and the people from Femantle Media not getting it right.
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I agree with Rob, casting is everything. If you like the cast and characters, you like the show.
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Bit unfortunate really – timeslot-wise putting it in up against Flash Forward was always a poor move (bold but still poor).
On top of that I agree, casting is key – a few interesting ones and a lot of unfortunately very boring to watch people plus not enough happening in the first ep to really pull you in.
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Still think Lynton is hot though..
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“I have witnessed the casting and production unfolding as one of 12 candidates competing for the final prize of a six-figure business development position with Mark Bouris’ financial services firm Yellow Brick Road.”
Would that be the same Yellow Brick Road that “posted a net loss of $2.5 million in the year to the end of June 2008 and had a net asset deficiency of $1.17 million on March 31 this year.”
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/bu.....5777932997
Clue: the answer is “yes”.
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well thats an unfortunate failure…
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Huge apprentice fan but this series blows harder than the ghays posting in this thread. LOL how bad is Mark Bouris and his advisors. Especially the woman. The Apprentice is supposed to be full of Dynamic people not massive losers who are obviously failures in life. Dont bother airing anymore eps cos even the seasoned Apprentice fans are turning this off!
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Bill Posters will be Prosecuted
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I saw the re-run last night while I was in bed eating ice cream. My god Lynton is sexy
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Lynton didn’t last long did he!!
First bloke to go, and with him the hopes of the entire marketing and media community eh?!
He was leading a team that ended up losing a “brand” challenge … but didn’t this guy previously work for Interbrand?!
Sugarism of the day: “I was born in Hackney. When you’re born in Hackney and you do well in life, you move to Chigwell”
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