The York Apprentice Final 2011

In the space of five days, twenty teams have been whittled down to just three; each having been baptised in tasks of intellect and entrepreneurial skill.

Preceding rounds saw the groups having to sell items, provide a service and even design a toy.

The final hurdle was to create a marketing campaign around Envirovent’s ‘Black Mould Extraction Fan’.

Unlike on previous days, the remaining teams were given Friday and Saturday to complete their task, with the extra time ensuring would be a more difficult and expansive sales pitch.

Each competing group was expected to deliver a TV and radio advert for the product, as well as following up with the customary presentation, detailing marketing plans and the unique selling points of the product.

Remaining contestants The Three Marketeers, Ignite and Zenith were briefed on their task on Friday morning, which included a meeting with a spokesperson from Envirovent itself.

Radio recording sessions took place in the afternoon, with each group being given a sole hour in which to record, edit and put together a 30 second campaign.

The TV adverts were filmed at various locations around York on Saturday, again under a 90 minute curfew.

Although the teams were provided with a great deal of background information on USB, the task is said to have tested “ability to find the key market(s) for the ‘Black Mould Extraction Fan’.” in accordance with the organisers.

Their brief stated that “the product has been chosen to be difficult to advertise and will test creativity and market awareness.”

The Three Marketeers’ Rory Jones was confident before the event, telling The Yorker “We’re ready to kick some ass in the final.”

Final presentations began at 5pm, with each team presenting for ten minutes before fielding questions from panellists and guests alike.

Individual groups all used powerpoint based demonstrations, explaining in turn the way in which they believed the product should be marketed, the key demographics and the results of their research.

Radio and TV adverts were varied, with Ignite’s radio piece underlaid by catchy music while The Three Musketeers appealed to families with their TV visiting the home of a girl whose asthma is only aggravated further by the stale indoor air.

Particular favourite advert came from team Zenith, who added an invented Superhero character to their television campaign so as to have a figurehead of popularity akin to the meerkat of Compare The Market fame.

After some close judging and reviews from the judges (who reminded us that all events from the week were taken into consideration as signs of collaboration and progression), ‘The Three Marketeers’ were announced overall winners.

Speaking after the announcement, two members of ‘The Three Marketeers’, Rory Jones and Alex Phillips, expressed their happiness and thrill with the week’s experience: “We’ve all had a great time: we’ve learnt so much, about ourselves, about how to work and collaborate in a team, about the world of business” said Jones.

Phillips gave “100% credit to the other two teams: we learnt so much and were pushed by their own additions. The competition they provided was so good.”

Whilst they had fun they accepted it was “difficult to sell a product we had no prior knowledge of at all” and last night they only spent four hours apart, from 3am to 7am. Their dedication has certainly paid off.

The Three Marketeers walk away with £1,600 between them for successfully marketing the product. “We’ve all learnt a lot and we’ve certainly all had a lot of fun” concluded the team members.

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