Archive for Apprentice Ireland
Is the Renault Ireland car service competition a task on Bill Cullen’s Apprentice?
Posted by: | Comments“Good morning.”
“Good morning, Bill.”
“Your task this week is to generate sales leads for the Renault Dealer network using the Internet. The winning team will be the one that generates the biggest number of leads. Good luck with the task.”
That could very well be a task that Bill Cullen might set for the new batch of candidates in this year’s Apprentice. As far as I know, it’s not an actual task, but it could very well be if the current competition being run by Renault is anything to go by.
Having seen it tweeted a couple of times, I shuffled on over to the site to enter the draw for one of 50 free car services.
A couple of things struck me about the page. First and foremost was the fact there were no terms and conditions governing the competition. This is (as far as I’m concerned) a basic minimum for any large company running a competition.
- I’d like to know such things as
- What location can I get my car serviced if I won
- What does a “service” actually mean. Is it a mini service, full service, parts excluded.
- Has the service to be completed before a certain date
- Can a service be pre-booked or is it limited to certain days of the week.
- When is the closing date for the competition
The second thing that struck me was the little tick box next to the submit button saying “Keep me updated with Renault News & Special Offers”. That’s fair enough on a competition website. Having it ticked already just screams “spammer” to me.
Not suggesting Renault Ireland WOULD spam people but I much prefer to tick the box myself to “opt in” to receive marketing material. This was the general consensus from others when I asked the question on Twitter recently. “Sneaky” was a word used to describe the practice. Web designer Irishstu made a very good point that by not having an opt-in, a company leaves itself open to spam accusations if people click submit and don’t realise the tick box was checked.
I tweeted Renault Ireland 3 times to ask about the terms and conditions and received no reply, which prompted me to write this blog post.
Whoever is running the competition for Renault needs a few basic lessons in operating a Twitter account and running a competition. If this were an Apprentice task & they were back in the boardroom with Bill Cullen, I definitely think they failed and should hear the words “You’re fired.”
Jackie Lavin is not scary, ok?
Posted by: | CommentsSome people think that Jackie Lavin is “scary”. I actually used to think that myself. The impression was formed during the first series of the Apprentice. I recall comments in the liveblogs of the show that I wasn’t the only one who had the same opinion.
The few episodes I’ve seen of the current series has changed my opinion. Jackie seems to be getting more screen time and there’s been a few shots of her smiling and she comes across very warm.
So this post is a public statement that I no longer think Jacke Lavin is scary. If I met Jackie, I’d even say sorry for even having thought it.
If anyone wants to know what a scary celebrity looks like, just see below.
Let there be no more talk of Jackie being scary from this point forward.
I thank you.
Apprentice Ireland 2009
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There is, literally, only one place to go for everything related to the Apprentice Ireland 2009. That place is Culch.ie. There’s news, reviews, previews, debate and of course the liveblog. Basically, way more than you can point a finger at and say “You’re Fired” (stop groaning at the back).
The first show of the new series is on screen tomorrow (Monday 21st September) at 9pm on TV3 followed by the You’re Fired studio discussion. It promises to be a great series. I’m hoping to see Bill being a lot tougher this time round with a bit more time spent showing the tasks and not as much of the boardroom.
You still here? Did I not say to go to Culch.ie for all Irish Apprentice stuff ? Go, go on now. Be off with you.
Winner of the Irish Apprentice
Posted by: | Comments… will be revealed tomorrow night on TV3 after the final episode airs. Here’s the preview of the show.
UPDATE : Delighted that Brenda won. Said it a few weeks back that she is who I would hire for her direct, no nonsense approach.
Brenda and Nicky have to run a charity event and “present their charity in a novel and interesting way”.
Bill speaks of the great journey the candidates have been on. It’s one of the most overused phrases on reality tv and really grinds my gears. I suppose for some of them, it was a journey.
It was also a journey for the live blog too. Major hat tip to Anthony, Darragh, Darren, Deborah, Gavan and Ciara and Lottie (best blog name ever) who all hosted a live blog over the weeks and kept it going. And a big hat tip to Ian as well for doing the reviews when he could too.
I’m still rooting for Brenda to win. All will be revealed tomorrow at 9pm on TV3.
Apprentice bits ahead of Week 9
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The last 8 weeks have all gone by in such a blur. Everyone has their favourite to win at this stage. I don’t have a favourite per se, but if a gun was put to my head and I had to pick a winner I’d say Brenda. That’s who I would employ anyway. She’s a level headed, practically minded, straight talking kind of woman. She has run her own business and anyone who has done that is a grafter and knows what it means to earn money and turn a profit.
The best candidate won’t necessarily win, we all know that. It boils down to the “performance” in the boardroom. Who’s got the bullshit bingo lingo down pat? Who has the longest knife and is willing to dig it in deep? Ultimately though, who really truly wants to don the warpaint and become a warrior for Bill Cullen?
Live blog this week is happening at Every day is election day. So get on over there at 10PM tomorrow (an hour later) and share your thoughts as the drama unfolds.
The Apprentices favourite printer is up for 3 industry awards. Can’t be for price anyway.
Orla has new fella. She’s (wisely) not saying who it is, but “he would be quite well known”. Lucky chap whoever he is.
Ireland is Apprentice crazy. Despite being up against the nine o clock news and the Bertie documentary, last weeks episode had the highest viewership figures of the series.
Paddy hopes Brenda or Shane wins the prize, and is happy to be out of the bitchfest.
David McWilliams reckons an Apprentice style programme is needed to decide who the government should appoint as directors to the banks.
“If you think about it, a candidate chosen by Bill Cullen and the people in a public ‘Apprentice’-style process, has at least as good a chance of sorting out the financial institutions as a hopeful anointed behind closed doors by the cozy cartel of bankers who conspired to blow the boom. More to the point, it would be compulsive television. Just the type of thing we’d tune into on these winter nights.”
Great idea for a TV show David. Personally I’d much prefer an “I’m a banker get me out of here” style programme. Send the lot of them off to Australia to live on a diet of witchetty grubs and kangaroo testicles washed down with warm rat piss. For dessert, I’d set the Anaconda loose for a bit of post dinner squeezing.
