The Apprentices' Second Task - Design and Sell Pet Accessories!

The Apprentice candidates were handed a task that required them to design, prototype, and get orders for a pet accessory. The companies they were to pitch to were a large chain, Harrods, and a specialist high end pet boutique.

This is one of those tasks where you have to take five minutes to sit and think marketing strategy!

The girls did. Did the boys?

Nope. Nothing on strategy.

The obvious strategy was to design a product that would appeal to the large chain because if they ordered their order would likely be a nice big number. The other two would be chicken feed in comparison.

Katie Hopkins made some stupid management-speak statements as she began the task of leading the group. Rory Laing was unbelievable as the boys team leader.

So how did they do this week?

Here's a look at their second task.

Eclipse Team ("managed" by Rory)

Rory didn't work out where people's skills lay and just accepted a design team that didn't include Ifti (a product designer). He then spent most of the task telling them what to do, even down to telling the "design" team to take off their jackets and ties.

He let the design team work out some designs. He reviewed them. Rubbished all of them and then showed his own design — a sash that could contain water, biscuits, and pooh bags.

Sensibly he'd sent a team to look at the pet stores and also to a focus group to check their design idea. Simon Ambrose talked to one customer and found that he'd been searching high and low for a waterproof, pet hair-proof throw to protect his sofa.

When this team reached the focus group the group pooh-poohed Rory's design, one man saying he wouldn't feel right going around wearing a sash. When the throw/blanket was mentioned there was universal agreement — yes, a good idea.

In the meantime Rory and the rest of the team had gone to the design team and had decided they had to go with the sash — despite strong feedback from Simon about the blanket.