Merlin Car Auctions Ireland

And The Winner Is…

Niamh McDonald and Michelle Massey went head to head in the final of The Apprentice last night.  Both candidates had been strong since the very start with 23 year old Niamh a firm favourite to take the €100,000 job with Bill Cullen. 

 We took the girls in separate cars to their final task briefing in the new Aviva Stadium in Lansdowne Road.  Here the girls were given three Irish businesses each to showcase at an experiential marketing event in the stadium.  We were delighted to see some of the unsuccessful apprentices back to help out on the final task. 

Michelle won first choice when picking teams and shocked us all by requesting Tara as her first choice!  Also on her team were Jamie, Dave and Panos (although for such good friends Michelle hesitated on her last choice between Panos and Niamh Humphreys).

Niamh was happy with her team that included Will, Barry, Kieran and Niamh Humphreys.

Each team visited their three designated businesses to get a background and find the unique selling points of each company.  Michelle had Senator Windows, Wellington Eye Clinic and Coral Leisure.  Niamh had Connaught Gold, Dublin Business School and Tile Style.  The teams then spent time brainstorming the most impressive and innovative ways to give a sensory display highlighting the best points about the products.

We were sure that Niamh would win as people enjoyed the interactive quiz for Dublin Business School and the caricature artist who used Tile Style tiles for portraits of guests.  The Connaught Gold display was not as successful as it was seen to be on the way into the event as opposed to a main section of the event.  Niamh also gave a fantastic presentation highlighting each company to her gathered guests.

Michelle had problems dressing her venue but had some good ideas.  To explain the daily difficulty of having bad sight, they hired a golf simulator and people were given glasses to blur their vision as they took a swing of the club on the course.  Jamie came up with the idea of using a thermal sensor to show how the Senator Windows keep the head in.  We felt the Coral Leisure idea using cardboard cut outs of fit looking people could have been stronger.

Bill was very impressed with both and found it very difficult to make a decision on which person to take on as his apprentice.  He told the girls that they were the two best candidates he had met since the programme began.  Finally Bill decided to make Michelle his apprentice for 2011.  Michelle will focus on ecommerce for the company.  Niamh was disappointed as she was driven away in our car for the last time but we are sure the job offers will be flooding following her great performance.  Well done Michelle!  Both Michelle and Niamh received brand new Renault Coupes as presents from Bill for their stellar performances.  Watch out for them on the roads and in business too!

And Then There Were Two

Four apprentices faced four tough interviews in the penultimate episode of The Apprentice last night.  Will, Panos, Niamh and Michelle took time to prepare for the interview making themselves look pretty before being taken in four separate Merlin cars to the interview venue.  We can tell you that those four cars were quite tense as each candidate spent their last few minutes of preparation before facing into the grilling of their lives.

Independent HR consultant Sheena Clohessy was asked to probe each candidate’s personalities.  Media mogul Gavin Duffy was asked to dig deep into their pasts and to grill them.  Mairead Fleming, Deputy Managing Director of Brightwater was asked to evaluate their CVs while David Bloch, Managing Director of Brightwater gave his recruitment expertise.  Each candidate had a harrowing four hours of interviews with these guys and unlike regular interviews they were asked very personal questions.

Niamh was deemed “unflappable” but Gavin did his very best to flap her by berating her as “bland” and “boring”.  She was also seen not to be a risk taker.  Sheena did not like her interview answers leaving Niamh to insist she never prepares answers for interviews which Sheena refused to believe.  This really seemed to be nitpicking to the Merlin team!

Poor Will was given a difficult time on all sides.  He was told that he says “you know” too much by Gavin and went on to use it again not even realising that he was still saying it!  Mairead told him that his was one of the worst CVs she had seen in a very long time.  She then became frustrated when Will referred to what Bill would do in answer to her questions.  Will was also asked about his background.  He went out to work at the age of 17 to support his family and has worked hard ever since.  What a nice guy.

Panos was asked by Mairead about a gap in his CV which was his time in the Greek Army where he was a sergeant commanding 250 troops.  We all know by now that Panos is an emotional guy and it didn’t take long for him to get upset thinking back on being a gay man in the army and how difficult it was to win respect from his troops.  Gavin spoke to him about his fear of tools and was highly amused by his “traumatic childhood incident” where his father almost, but did not, lose 2 fingers after using a power tool!  David saw red when he saw Panos’ response to what he would do if he could get away with it.  Panos had written that he would use someone else’s credit card for a month long holiday in the Maldives and didn’t seem to realise why David was disturbed by this answer.

Michelle had spelling errors in her CV and Mairead pointed out that she obviously did not have great attention to detail.  As she was grilled on her past Michelle divulged that she left home pretending to be going for a weekend away at the age of 15 and never went back.  When asked why, she revealed that her family were Jehova’s Witnesses which she didn’t agree with.  The worst came when Gavin told her that he had done some digging and was worried that her modelling and dancing in her past may affect Bill’s reputation if she were to get the job.  He repeatedly asked her for anything in her past that could damage Bill until she finally admitted that she had entered a competition to be a Playboy Bunny TV presenter. 

Will and Panos were both seen as very likeable people with some great strengths.  However, Panos’ “laziness” and lack of commitment in previous tasks coupled with his emotional side led the panel to rule him out as a valid candidate.  Will’s hardworking attitude and loyal personality were recognised but the team felt that this was not the job for him.. yet. 

Will seemed as loyal to Bill as ever when he took his last trip in a Merlin car bringing him back to see his family for the first time in 12 weeks.  He said that he hopes to meet Bill some other time and eventually to work for him.

Panos was upset at being fired but held no grudges as he admitted in the back of his car that the two remaining girls were the best candidates and deserved to win.

All will be revealed next week as we find out who will be hired!

Merlin Car Scene of Fusion Tension

It would seem a lot more went on, off screen rather than on screen in the latest task for the Apprentice applicants.  A large part of the drama supposedly took place in the back of our Merlin car from what we can gather from last night’s episode!

Following last week’s shocking double firing nobody seemed safe in the Apprentice this week, and the nerves were showing.  Bill decided to put Barry and Michelle together on Team Fusion to face the remaining candidates Niamh, Panos and Will on Team Elev8 in a website and social media challenge involving Carry Out Off Licence. 

 Barry and Michelle did not get on well as a team.  They decided not to appoint a Project Manager on the first day until Barry became PM on day two. Michelle seemed to hold her tongue and give in to Barry’s charge until he bought some gold tacky table cloths to use for the event in the team’s designated off licence.  The event was a wine tasting evening launching a website and members club with a particular focus on women.  Michelle put her foot down on the tablecloths and insisted on getting new cloths so as not to bring down the tone of the event.

 Although Michelle won on the tablecloth argument, neither did well in the presentation to the gathered wine enthusiasts.  Barry flitted back and forth through the presentation and repeatedly talked over Michelle.  The crowd were less than impressed.

Team Elev8 won the task hands down for their website and logo design as well as the presentation.  Michelle and Barry were left to fight for their remaining place on the show.  This is when our Merlin car took on the off screen role!  Michelle reported that Barry had been angry at her for bringing up the tablecloths in front of the camera and that she had embarrassed him.  He told her to stop playing up for the cameras.  Barry denied this but Bill seemed certain it had happened.

Ultimately Bill felt that Barry was not a team player as he did not trust anyone else in his tasks.  Also Barry’s political incorrectness came to the fore as he called every female housemate ‘babes’ .  Not very professional Barry!

Next week we will chauffer the remaining 4 candidates to be grilled for a full day by Bill’s advisors.  Good luck guys.

The Apprentice

There are almost as many Merlin SUVs as there are apprentices left, as this week saw the Magnificent 7 sharing four cars between them.

It was more than the coffee that was brewing in this week’s Apprentice and what an end as Bill dramatically delivered a double eviction! The task was an exciting but challenging one, to create a 30 second cinema commercial to launch the new Phillips coffee machine.

Once again Team Elev8 worked well together, particularly after Bill appointed Panos as PM and Barry putting his creative skills to good use, generating great ideas for the task. Fellow team mates Niamh and Will supported really well and worked hard to bringing it all together, and particularly during the presentation stage. Although the commercial had a James Bond theme, which the panel didn’t think very original, it was good enough for them to be chosen as winners.

The tension was building in Team Fusion and when Ciara was placed in charge as the project manager, Jamie was not too happy. Together with Michelle they created what task sponsor Harvey Norman described as ‘ taste of 70’s …’.  A totally unimpressed Bill Cullen was very decisive as he fired Ciara, who for the fourth time was in the final three line up.  Then without warning Bill went for the double and also fired Jamie with the words ‘You are not for me’.  Then there were 5 !

Elephant in the Car

We are half way through the series now with 8 failed candidates and 8 remaining hopefuls.  Things have been heating up with arguments, personality clashes and rivalries.

Following last week’s spat between Panos and Jamie we were sure that Bill would split them to two separate teams.  The candidates woke early and had to be ready to drive away from their luxury digs in our Merlin cars within half an hour.  As they sat in the back of our car in transit to Croke Park, Jamie and Panos decided to acknowledge the elephant in the car, so to speak, and  eased the tension a little by joking that Bill would keep them on the same team because they “work so well together” and “make a good team”!

They really did seem shocked when Bill not only kept them together but moved both of them to Fusion to join Michelle and Ciara while Barry, Niamh and Dave joined Will on Team Elev8.  Perhaps Bill wanted to see more sparks fly but PM Michelle made sure to split the two just in case further friction caused them to lose the task.

This week, the teams were asked to meet entrepreneurs and to pick an innovative food product that they would approach Spar about stocking and selling nationwide.

Barry and Niamh both nominated themselves as PM for Team Elev8 but Barry won backing from Will and Dave.  Meanwhile Niamh became PM for Fusion with Panos insisting he could not manage the task as they had to find an Irish product and he was not in tune with Irishness as he is Greek!

Barry and Will had 60 minutes to meet 10 different entrepreneurs to decide which product to pick.  Barry did not use his time well as he spent too long with the first few entrepreneurs leaving himself too short on time to discover the last product.  Jamie and Ciara met the entrepreneurs on behalf of Fusion in a very organised time schedule but failed to impress the business men and women as they came across as cold and clinical.

When it comes to innovation Elev8 chose the best product with a self heating dinner costing €5.  Fusion on the other hand went for Irish cakes and biscuits from a team of brothers.  It seemed that Elev8 would be clear winners for their product alone but things went downhill from there.  Niamh and Dave fell down when it came to redesigning the packaging.  They did not really change the prototype black and yellow packaging at all.  They also came up with Irish flag footprints to highlight the point of sale to customers.  Not the brightest idea ever..

Both presentations had faults with serious questioning of the point of sale for the Fusion confectionary and a fairy awful presentation from start to finish from Barry and his team.  Neither team really conveyed what each product was and how they worked.

Barry was fairly economical with the truth when it came to question time.  For one he kept calling it a Michelin star meal.  The creator of the range told Barry that he had worked at one or two Michelin star restaurants but Barry decided to go one further and call this meal Michelin star quality cooked by a Michelin chef.

Bill was disappointed in Elev8 as they had a fantastic unique product but did not work on its packaging or marketing and that the presentation was very unimpressive for the judges.  Although Niamh worked on the ‘rebranding’ of the packaging and the marketing Barry did not take her back to the boardroom when they lost their task.

Will, Barry and Dave were quite gentlemanly as they tried to save themselves from getting canned.  It looked to us like Will might go as he didn’t seem to do much on this task but Dave was chosen by Bill as this week’s firee.  This is probably more to do with his track record and the fact that Bill felt he was not passionate enough about the role of Apprentice.

It looks to us that Will needs to pull his socks up or he’ll be out next week!

Vinyl or is it Viral!?

We found ourselves cringing from behind our hands last night as we watched the car crash that was episode 8 of The Apprentice.  How could it have gone so wrong and how was it so difficult for team Elev8 to understand the concept of a viral??

This week our cars arrived at the Apprentice house to take the candidates to the National Museum for their briefing on their 8^th task.  In order to create publicity and drive consumers to the new Appleby website, both teams were challenged with creating a short viral.  If successful and quirky enough the viral would be circulated by web users by email to friends, family and colleagues.

Twenty four year old property surveyor Tara Lee put herself forward as team leader for Team Elev8. Thirty-three year old Panos Zametakis also put himself forward due to his extensive experience in the online world as Senior Online Advertising Manager at Google.  Although Panos obviously had the best skills to lead the task he was outvoted by Will and Jamie.  The lads said that they felt Tara would be more organised and would bring structure to the team.  What a mistake!!

On Team Fusion, 23 year old Marketing Coordinator Niamh McDonald was unanimously voted as PM.  The team quickly came up with an idea for the viral and got to work.  Barry and Michelle worked on making the viral while Niamh and Dave looked after the event.  All ran very smoothly while on Team Elev8 things were not going so well.

Firstly it took an entire day for Will, Jamie and Tara to understand exactly what a viral was.  Panos seemed blue in the face trying to explain the concept to them but nobody seemed to want to listen to him.  Will spent much of the day calling it a ‘vinyl’!!  Eventually with 10 minutes to go on their first day, Will seemed to grasp the idea.  Tara later admitted that she never fully understood what it was…

Will and Jamie came up with the concept for the viral overnight but kept changing the idea until they only had less than 3 hours to film the piece.  Panos and Tara were ferried around town in a Merlin car as they grabbed a sexy nurses outfit (the significance of which was never quite explained in the piece), talked to buskers on Grafton Street and organised the event.

Tara chose to have live music at her event but did not have much luck with this.  The busker she approached on the street had to pull out as he did not have a work permit so she was sent into a panic as she tried to source other musicians at the last minute.  When she finally secured a duo she could not afford to pay the musicians.  What is wrong with the apprentices this year?  It seems that managing their budgets is proving difficult for some!

Fusion outshone Elev8 in every aspect with a funny viral and a slick event with a champagne breakfast in a nicely branded room.  The 25 Appleby members of staff then moved on to Elev8’s event where they were greeted by a far less glamorous event. Tara insisted on doing the presentation but seemed to lose her nerve as she began.

It was not difficult to bet on a winner in this task.  It was no surprise when Bill told the teams that Elev8 lost.  Bill told Tara that her presentation was the worst that he had seen in the history of the show.

Tara battled until the end as she insisted that Panos was to blame.  She claimed that she, Will and Jamie were not stupid so the fault lay on Panos’s side for not explaining things properly.  This did not wash with Bill who fired Tara without much hesitation.

It would seem that Panos has made a few enemies over the last few weeks which was plain to see from this episode. We will see what happens next week but it might be wise for Bill to mix up the teams again to avoid major confrontation between Panos and Jamie!

And the prize goes to…

Merlin Car Auctions were delighted to welcome this week’s task winners as guest auctioneers at our Naas auction house.  The show started off with a mix up of the teams.  Bill asked Michelle and Dave to move to Fusion, while Jamie and Will moved to Elev8.  Neither Will or Michelle had acted as PM yet so Bill appointed them both to lead the teams in a challenge that involved organising a free Cadburys community event in two towns.

Michelle had put herself forward twice before to act as PM but was outvoted each time.  This was her time to shine and her effort ensured a win for Team Fusion.  The win was not just down to Michelle however as Barry really put everything into the task this week and went hell for leather in an effort to create a large footfall at the community event.

Panos supplied comic relief once again as he was seen picking up dog poo while wincing, had to abandon his difficult role of holding a stick in a place due to paint on his face and also for his attempt to describe how baa baa trap sheep was played.  Even stern faced Bill could not help but laugh at this.

Will proved to be a very nervous PM with almost all of his team referring to him as “panicky”.  Panos and Nagaite were the final two he chose to take back into the board room to face Bill.  It seemed that Nagaite ran out of steam and passion as she could only say that she didn’t know who should be fired when asked.  Will and Panos fought like dogs to retain their places in the competition which left Bill deciding to fire Nagaite.

Meanwhile, there was great excitement in the Merlin camp as winning team Fusion celebrated their win at our auction.  Michelle, Niamh, Barry, Dave and Ciara each had the opportunity to choose from a selection of prestige cars for auction. Barry chose a Volkswagen Touareg with Dave choosing a Ford Mustang.  The girls mixed it up with Niamh selecting a Range Rover Vogue, Ciara choosing a beautiful Mercedes S350 while Michelle chose to auction a stylish Audi A4 convertible.

The Apprentices learned from the best with Ireland’s most famous auctioneers Norman Colfer and David Kehoe putting them through their paces before the big event.  Ciara was up first and looked very confident with the gavel in her hand.  A natural at auctioneering, her Mercedes was literally gone in 60 seconds!  Niamh was super confident and sold her Range Rover Vogue to a flurry of excited bidders.  Michelle’s Audi A4 Coupe attracted a lot of interest from bidders and a frenzy ensued for the gorgeous car.

Unfortunately both Dave and Barry spotted friends and family in the crowd at the auction.  Regrettably the show’s producers were not able to let Barry or Dave auction their cars as their anonymity had to be protected. The lads were bitterly disappointed so Merlin has invited both Barry and Dave to return and have another go.

Following their super efforts on the rostrum, the apprentices were presented with a personalised bottle of champagne to congratulate them on their win and also for their stellar performances as guest auctioneers.  They were then whisked away in the Merlin cars to enjoy a lavish lunch at the Anglers Rest.

Merlin Unimpressed with Results from Motoring Task

We took a special interest in this week’s episode of the Apprentice to see how the remaining candidates handled the motoring task and were a little disappointed with the results.  Sarah O’Neill stepped up as project manager for Elev8 while popular Jamie Moran took the lead for Team Fusion.  Each team were asked to go to a music festival, take photographs and design a calendar for Ford Fiestaval.  The criteria of the calendar was to reflect the fun and vivacity of the brand and to communicate the details of the competition with a call to action for the Facebook campaign.

Sarah was faced with a difficult task as two members of her team turned ‘renegade’.  Telco Sales Consultant, Michelle Massey put herself forward as Project Manager for the second time and lost for the second time.  Perhaps this is why she turned on Sarah.  Sales and Retention Agent, Nagaite Farag seemed to go against all of the ideas while brainstorming saying they were not unique, however she failed to come up with any ideas herself!

As the team split with one half going to the festival and the other staying in the city to work on the design, tensions began.  Michelle, Nagaite and Tara took some good shots but none involved the car which was the main focus of the calendar!  We witnessed Sarah repeatedly asking over the phone for photos involving the car while the girls argued her down until finally taking a few snaps with the car at the very last minute.  Although Sarah received the images with 35 minutes to spare she refused to open the files to her detriment.

Team Fusion had their own difficulties as Jamie, Barry and Ciara set about organising the photographs while Will and Niamh looked after the design.  Jamie, Barry and Ciara seemed to be having a whale of a time setting up fun photographs while Niamh and Will bit their nails waiting for the photos to arrive in time for the calendar.  This proved disastrous with no photograph arriving in time for the month of December.

Panos provided comic relief once again as he was “injured” and therefore could not really assist on the task.  A crick in his neck led to our Greek ex-army man “feeling light” on painkillers!

Jamie proved himself by presenting a great pitch to the client and covering for the botch job by saying that the missing month of December would feature the winning photograph from the Facebook competition.  Marketing Director, Joanne Sheehan and her panel were won over by this pitch but also with the photographs for the remaining 11 months which seemed to reflect the characteristics of the car more than Elev8’s calendar.

Sarah never thought to add the logos to the calendar which meant that Elev8 lost to Fusion’s 11 month calendar!

Merlin O’Reilly, Managing Director of Merlin Motor Group appeared on the panel of You’re Fired as a motor industry spokesperson.  Merlin felt it had been slightly unfair to sack Sarah as her team were so unruly and refused to follow her direction with photographs.  When asked on who Merlin thought should win, he replied that his money was on Barry.  “He’s strong, he’s abrasive but yet he’s very good with people, particularly the customers.”  He went on to say “he’s got a great manner and a great way about him.”  Customer service is very important to Merlin.

An Opportunity Wasted!

Last nights episode saw the candidates arriving in Merlin convoy at a WEEE recycling centre to be briefed on their newest task.  Bill immediately set about mixing up the teams by moving Tara and Nagaite to Elev8 and Niamh, Barry and Will to Fusion.  Tara begged for another chance in the boardroom last week saying that if she failed this week Bill could fire her.  Bill took her at her word and appointed Tara as PM for Elev8 while Barry was given his first chance as PM for Fusion.

The teams were asked to come up with an original idea for a national bus shelter campaign to encourage the public to take advantage of the free recycling service for electrical goods and batteries.  Elev8 got off to a good start with the idea of an old west “wanted” poster.  The team were so excited about their idea that they did not take their focus group’s criticism of the poster on board.  Fusion, on the other hand struggled to come up with a solid idea and so tried to get ideas from their focus group, instead of presenting ideas to them!

Barry proved to be a difficult PM to work for as he delegated members of the team to handle elements of the project and then came in at the last minute and changed everything.  Dave Cashin spent his time tracking down lights and a curtain from the Burlington Hotel for the presentation.  Neither of which were used for the final presentation in the Helix!  We wonder how much longer Dave can last in this competition!

Tara was delighted when Elev8 won the task.  Barry was exceptionally diplomatic and refused to say a bad thing about a single team member in round one of the boardroom.  When forced to take in two team-mates for the grilling he chose Caroline and Ciara.  This was Ciara’s fourth time in the boardroom but she fought to stay another day.

Following a heated debate, Caroline found herself climbing into the back of our Merlin car following a sacking from Bill.  It was however, the least venomous firing we have seen yet.  Bill said a lot of nice things but didn’t feel that this solicitor had what it took to be his apprentice.

Caroline held no prisoners as she gave her views on her team from the back of our car.  “On Elev8 there are a lot of stragglers.  They are due a loss just to get rid of some of the people on that team.  Tara has to go. Sarah -  wouldn’t work with her, couldn’t work with her, will never have to work with her.  Get rid of her!  Panos is a nice guy.  I like him but I still think he is coasting along.”  Well it’s nice to see Caroline is bearing no grudges as she is driven home from her last task!

Next week promises to be a great episode! Watch out for Merlin O’Reilly on the panel of You’re Fired next week.  Merlin and the panel will be giving an exit interview to Bill’s next casualty and taking a look at where they went wrong.  Don’t miss it.

Don’t be a Tool Kieran!

Oh dear, professional poker player Kieran Walsh took a high risk and sealed his own fate last night by choosing to stick to his alliance in the house and bluff his way to firing another of his team mates.

The latest challenge saw Elev8 and Fusion hammer it out in two separate hardware superstores in an effort to sell the most power tools.  The teams were brought in convoy in our Merlin cars to Wood Quay where the details of the task were explained.  They were then transported to separate venues to begin work on the task.

Michelle Massey and Dave Cashman locked horns on this task from the beginning.  Michelle confidently put herself forward as PM while Dave reluctantly became the chosen PM due to his experience in events.  Michelle stood her ground on the task by refusing to leave her sales post to give out fliers on the street.  Later it seemed (we’re just saying it “seemed”) that Dave got revenge as Michelle somehow lost a €20 note that ended up project leader Dave Cashman’s pocket… Suspicious.

Panos, entertaining as usual, divulged his secret childhood phobia of jigsaws but managed to sell two.  Well done Panos!

Despite the power struggle, phobias and arguments, team Elev8 won the sales task hands down.  The “cosy cartel” in team Fusion led Kieran Walsh to make a bad judgement call by choosing to shield his pal Caroline from getting booted and taking his best salesperson Ciara as well as a less impressive Tara back to the boardroom.  The girls were quick to point out Kieran’s strong friendship with Caroline to Bill.

Kieran went on the offensive with the girls, particularly focusing on Ciara despite her success on the task.  When it came to Kieran and Tara’s underhand plan to save seed money by fixing the raffle for a football shirt Bill saw red.  Bye bye Kieran.  It would seem that the tide is turning on Caroline and Jamie!