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Shania Twain: Wrap
Music
With
Clay out of the picture,
Rebecca and
Randal had a one-on-one meeting immediately
after returning to the suite. Randal felt Rebecca had
misrepresented his efforts on the XM task and
undermined him in the boardroom. For the sake of the future
success of Excel Corporation, Rebecca apologized. When the corporations
reported to the lobby of Trump Tower the next day,
Mr. Trump made mention of the newly formed
chink in Randal's armor: "Randal's stock went down a little bit."
For the next
task, Mr. Trump instructed the candidates
to promote Coty's new fragrance "Shania by Stetson" utilizing the
advertising technique of "wrapping" and register the greatest number of
1-800 calls for free samples. The corporation that received the most calls
requesting a free "Shania by Stetson" sample would win.
Randal, eager to increase the value of his stock in Trump's eye, nominated
himself as project manager for Excel, while
Alla felt she was best qualified to do the
job for Capital Edge.
Excel's
Mega-Good Megaphone Heist
In brainstorming ideas for Capital Edge,
Adam suggested
wrapping horse-drawn carriages with Shania posters.
PM
Alla responded positively to Adam's boyish
enthusiasm, but
Felisha felt
labor was more important than carriages. "I
know sales," Felisha said in an interview, "and I know people sell. Period."
But Alla only budgeted for 20 workers to walk the streets promoting Capital
Edge's 800-number for free samples. On the morning of the event, only 15
showed up, and
few of them spoke fluent English.
Meanwhile over at Excel,
Randal understood that the key to success
would be labor. He burned up the phone lines and secured an army of 60 foot
soldiers to promote Excel's 800-number throughout the streets of Manhattan.
After learning that Capital Edge had secured all the megaphones in
Manhattan, Randal and
Rebecca pulled a heist of sorts. Dubbing
their caper, "operation sabotage," the Excel duo impersonated their
competitors and
bought all the megaphones that Capital Edge had
reserved. When Capital Edge discovered the heist, Adam said, "I
can't blame them." But an angry Alla certainly could. She channeled her
anger into sales enthusiasm during the task and hoped it would be enough to
overcome the forces converging against them.
Pretty Horses and
7 Courses
In the end, when the number of calls for each side was tabulated, Excel
proved victorious by a mere five calls. While the victory was narrow,
Mr. Trump quickly pointed out that the
already shorthanded Excel Corporation had won even with
Rebecca on crutches. For their reward,
Randal and Rebecca would spend the day
horseback riding in Central Park
with country music superstar Shania Twain,
followed by an intimate dinner.
Dining in the exclusive wine cellar of Oceana, Shania offered: "Any real
success comes with nothing short of the hardest work and just when you think
you've had enough and you can't take anymore, you've gotta try even harder."
This hit home for Randal and Rebecca, who had agreed at the very beginning
of the task to push each other to the limit. The evening culminated with a
toast to Randal, for leading Excel to victory with honor and respect. The
civility and graciousness they shared was sure to be a far cry from what
awaited Capital Edge in the
boardroom.
A Fragrance
Promotion That Really Stinks
Despite the megaphone heist and
staffing problems, the task still was a
horserace, and Capital Edge lost by a nose.
Trump quickly determined that
Alla wasn't responsible for the loss, and
sent her back to the safety of the
suite.
As soon as Alla exited,
Felisha was grilled for
hiring only 15 temps to help promote
Capital Edge's toll-free number. But she tried to deflect criticism toward
Adam's carriages, which
soaked up $6,000 of their $10,000 budget.
Adam countered that Felisha hadn't been a tough enough negotiator in
securing the needed workforce.
Bill assailed both candidates for not
thinking big. "You didn't throw the net out far enough," he said, "while
your competitors canvassed the entire island of Manhattan."
Carolyn came down even harder on them:
"There are five people remaining. I think the two of
you are by far the weakest." Bill thought inexperienced Adam
should get the boot, while Carolyn favored losing Felisha. In the end, Trump
made the final call: "Adam, you spent over half your budget on carriages
that looked horrible and were ineffective. And therefore,
Adam, you're fired."
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