Some thoughts on Integrated Marketing – Donald Trump’s The Apprentice Show.

 

Reflective Journal #3

Prepared by:    Neil Shreedhar

Due Date:        Jun 02, 2007

 

Instructor:       Professor Mark Burgess

 

Course:            GBA 602 ­­       Marketing Management  

 

Session 3         For this week’s entry, read the article under Syllabus/Materials regarding The Apprentice TV show.  Perhaps you may have seen the episode referred to on Microsoft Office Live Meeting.  Use this article as background on the subject of “integrated marketing”.  There are many definitions of “integrated marketing” as you will read in the text.  The definition I want you to consider is the integration of content (brands, products, etc) into this TV show’s format.  Many large consumer brands have participated on The Apprentice over the past two years including: Home Depot, Staples, Yahoo, Microsoft and the Pontiac Division of General Motors, etc.   We don’t know the fees involved to participate so don’t worry about a cost/benefit analysis type of response.

 

Question to address:  do you think that The Apprentice provides a good forum for companies to showcase their brand/products to effectively reach and impact their respective target audiences? 

 

Apprentice, which is one of televisions highest rated shows, has embraced this advertiser/content mix illustrating the power of a content integrated marketing strategy (Webpronews, 2005, p.1).

Undoubtedly. There are three main reasons for this: at the time that the advertisements were running, The Apprentice was one of the highest rated shows, it required a professional, not a simplistic approach to the use of the ‘toys’ used on it, and the host, despite his flaws, generally commanded a great deal of credibility and respect in the business community. For the balance of this paper, I will use the present tense in regards to this show as it appears that it may be picked up again by one of the networks.

 The Apprentice provides a fantastic medium for companies to showcase their ‘goods.’ What better way for a company to capitalize on wide public reach (according to the article, itis one of the highest rated shows), and achieve credibility in the potential buyers eyes because the product is both being endorsed AND showcased by well-known, knowledgeable business tycoons such as Mr. Trump himself?

To quote Webpronewso on the presentation created using one of these products (it seems that it has become very ‘cool’ these days to critique products in the manner in which Trump does) Webpronews (or it could be Trump himself being voiced) rates their usage of the product in this show as follows:

Their video was very simplistic … very much like a Power Point presentation instead of a polished promotional video. The statement voiced over in the beginning of the video, “Simply use your name and password to log in” gives you a clear picture where this promotion was headed. Not good.[1]

In essence, Trump’s integrated marketing approach isn’t that different from the following relevant example described in the text about interactive marketing:

The newest channels for direct marketing are electronic. The Internet provides marketers and consumers with opportunities for much greater interaction and individualization….Today…companies can send individualized content and consumers themselves can further individualize the content.

The exchange process in the age of information,…,has become increasingly customer-initiated and customer-controlled.[2]

Donald Trump likes, and associates himself with “winners” so he should know about the companies he is showcasing on his show. Mark Burnett, the producer of the show also has a great reputation for winning shows and great general business acumen.

Another obvious example of a successful integration of content marketing staring us right in the face lately: YouTube and Google[3]. Google is renowned for its tremendous search capabilities, to which video has now been paired through YouTube – what a dynamically integrated combination!

 

Conclusion

 

In sum, both The Apprentice and the companies that it associates with, such as Microsoft and other companies that we think of as “winners” have come upon a very innovative idea by successfully implementing the integrated marketing concept. It opens up a whole world of “tied-selling” opportunities in which more than one product can be successfully marketed at one time. From a marketing perspective, the concept allows the student a chance to see novel ways of how marketing surreptitiously creeps into every day living, almost subliminally, as the products are so much in use already and we hardly seem to notice them as they are already so eagerly accepted by us.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Beal, Andy. YouTube’s Integration With Google Search Leading to “NSFW”Content? Retrieved on May 14, 2007 at 7:15 pm from

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/02/youtube-cussing-on-google.html

 

Kotler, P., & Keller, K.L. (2006). Marketing Management (12^th ed.).  New Delhi:  Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited.

 

Webpronews. (2005). Electronic source provided in course GBA 602 – Marketing Management. Instructor: Professor Mark Burgess. Centenary College, NJ, U.S.A.

 

[1]Webpronews. (2005). Electronic source provided in course GBA 602 – Marketing Management. Instructor: Professor Mark Burgess. Centenary College, NJ, U.S.A.

[2]Kotler, P., & Keller, K.L. (2006). Marketing Management (12^th ed., p.612).  New Delhi:  Prentice-Hall of India Private Limited.

[3]Beal, Andy. YouTube’s Integration With Google Search Leading to “NSFW”Content? Retrieved on May 14, 2007 at 7:15 pm from

http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/02/youtube-cussing-on-google.html