The Roundup: April 27, 2004 | ||||||||
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1. Editor's MusingsHi all. This week, Christian Csatari is Johnny-on-the-spot with a timely article about Donald Trump and the Apprentice. Incidentally, Amazon is selling Trump's new book, Trump: How to Get Rich at 40% off. 2. Trump: Master Marketer by Christian CsatariDonald Trump has been synonymous with New York real estate and beautiful women for years. He was well known for his very public divorces, bad hair, egotistical personality, and most of all for making billions of dollars. But master marketer? 20 million viewers a week watched for 3 months while a brand name was created. The Apprentice however, was much more than a TV show. It was a lesson on marketing. The Trump name has been printed in every major newspaper in North America over this time period. He has been showing up on every news and entertainment program on TV. Business schools across the United States are studying the show. He used the Apprentice as a vehicle to promote his favourite product, himself. Trump released a new book titled " How To Get Rich" during the run of the show, which is on every display table or window in any bookstore across North America. He introduced his new venture into the water business and smartly had the teams compete to see which team could sell the most water. Brilliant marketing. I can’t help but wonder about the next time you walk into your favorite convenience store to buy a bottle of water. When you come across that bottle with his picture and the Trump brand stamped on the label, do you buy it? The merits of the Apprentice has been and will be debated for some time, most notably by Yale School of Management Associate Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. He wrote a scathing editorial in the Wall Street Journal about Trump and the Apprentice, condemning unethical acts that go unchecked. Sonnenfeld points to acts such as contestants pushing "celebrity" autographs from one of their team to make money; female contestants' reliance on sex appeal and Trump's firing of one contestant who chose candour over loyalty. "It's really showing the inside of wicked corporate life," Sonnenfeld said. "Each episode ends with the wrong answer, misconduct and a celebration of misconduct" by Trump. This may all be true, but one thing is for certain. If you did not know who or what a Donald Trump was 13 weeks ago, you certainly do now. The Apprentice also showcased lessons every entrepreneur should know. Buy-low-sell-high (flea market), sell products you like (art), the entrepreneurial mindset of thinking outside the box (selling ad space on the back of a bike). These are all lessons internet marketers should use as well. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has softened his image with the popularity of the Apprentice, and created brand recognition. But master marketer? You bet! ================================================ 3. Product Recommendation: *** Propel Accelerator Make your dialup service 5 times faster!
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