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Original Message
"Why all the marketing-based tasks?"

Posted by Hoobie on 03-29-06 at 01:17 PM
It seems that almost all of the tasks have a heavy marketing component. Even if it's a sales task, the marketing component is the crux.

I'm a financial analyst, and am not savvy in marketing - it seems very right-brained to me. Wouldn't it be more fair to have some left-brained activities thrown into the mix? Or some that are more balanced?


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Messages in this discussion
"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by Estee on 03-29-06 at 01:25 PM
Because of the shilling. Right now, this series is really about earning Donald a few million extra dollars by letting other companies run one-hour commercials in prime time. The best way to get those corporations extra exposure within the episode is with a marketing-centered task, so -- marketing it is. Given that the entire series has been a marketing-centered task since Season #2, the contestants have gotten used to it. (Okay, since Season #1, but that one was mostly about marketing Donald.)

I'm still waiting for the jobs offered to the Final Two to be marketing-related. Go with what you've been forced to know.


"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by LisaPles on 03-29-06 at 01:45 PM
I agree that all the tasks seem to be related to marketing. It would be nice for people who have concentrated their education in other fields to have an opportunity to show their skills.
I think that the concentration on marketing is due to the fact that so many companies have contacted the show wanting to have their products showcased. Obviously they pay money for the advertising within the show. It is probably getting increasingly hard for them to turn the $$$ down.
I agree with you that a better balance would make the tasks more challenging and the show much more interesting.
Have you given thought to what they could do for a good "finance" challenge? I think it would be great. The candidates would probably be freaking out!

"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by Hoobie on 03-29-06 at 02:21 PM
That's a good question. I haven't really thought about it, but it seems that they've exhausted all of the different mediums (media?) of marketing: commercials, print ads, billboards. I guess they could still do a radio spot.

I'm pursuing my MBA, and the courses are all very comprehensive - we also have to do a simulation where we build a budget, there is a computer generated barrage of scenarios to which we have to respond. That? Would be boring for a TV show though.

Maybe something where they have to analyze financial statements of the different public companies and present a review of how the operations can benefit if other items are manipulated (Accounts receivable, capital expenditures, etc.). It's pretty in-depth, so it might have to be for the finale. But again, it might not make for compelling television.


"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by tinkerer on 03-30-06 at 11:45 AM
LAST EDITED ON 03-30-06 AT 11:47 AM (EST)

I'm really glad you started this thread, because I was thinking of starting one just like it.

The show is supposed to be about the fitness of a candidate to take over a $500,000 job in a Manhattan real estate firm.

So what do we see? Do we see people contacting backers, or getting a financial or architectural team together?

No. We see candidates walking around a Sam's Club in New Jersey trying to talk customers into upping their membership status. The team with the most upped memberships wins. Hey-that's a minimum wage type job. What is going on here?


"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by AZ_Leo on 04-03-06 at 05:18 PM
Have you given thought to what they could do for a good "finance" challenge?

But wouldn't that involve the contestants being able to perform basic math skills such as counting to 10 without using their fingers? Possibly even being able to add 2 and 2 and come up with something around 4? I think that may be beyond the intellectual capacity of most of them.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying that those who do marketing are dumb or that successful marketing doesn't require great intelligence (I used to be in marketing myself so I know that it does ). I'm commenting on these candidates apparent IQ level and intellectual abilities.


"RE: Why all the marketing-based tasks?"
Posted by iltarion on 04-04-06 at 03:33 AM
Hilarious...
Why not have them go into some corporation and come up with a structural plan to improve their organization? That would be boring, I guess. But it would also have more relevance to the position they are "interviewing" for.