A Lesson Learned from The Celebrity Apprentice

May 11, 2009 in Social Media with 1 Comment

Last night, my wife and I nestled down to watch the season finale of the Celebrity Apprentice. Little did I know I was about to get schooled by The Donald.

What I liked about this show was that it showcased human ingenuity and creativity in the entrepreneurial arts. I’m a sucker for a good entrepreneurial tale, Celebrity Apprentice delivered. (I could have done without the celebration of the “hatred” between Joan Rivers and Annie Duke, though. FWIW, I think that “rivalry” was nearly 100% fabrication.)

The finale was live, although we were told in the beginning of the show that “some portions were pre-recorded.” Part of the brilliance of the finale was that they announced that some of the contestants on the show would be twittering live during the finale:

Annie seemed to be the only one who kept up with regularity, but I thought it was a great way to make the whole experience interactive. It blended both “old” and “new” media and gave viewers who tuned in live an experience that people who DVR’d it wouldn’t get.

I don’t believe that long-established media like radio, TV, newspapers, etc. will vanish completely. They will have to incorporate the “new media” in order to thrive, even survive. Imagine:

  • Watching the season finale of your favorite show and reading the twitter feed of your favorite actor on the show, reading their thoughts as they watch along with you.
  • Getting a link to watch live “behind the scenes” footage of a radio show, streamed over UStream.tv, that’s only available to RSS feed subscribers of the show’s blog.
  • Gaining access to articles that the rest of the public doesn’t get to read because you joined your local newspaper’s Facebook page.

Reimagination is a non-negotiable. Industries will have to incorporate new methods of communication into what they are doing or they won’t make it. As far as I can tell, the Internet isn’t a “fad” that is going away.

So thanks, The Donald, for teaching me something about social media.

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One Response to “A Lesson Learned from The Celebrity Apprentice”

  1. Jim May 12, 2009 at 3:09 pm #

    that's cool…i'm learning by doing with my clients. there's so much stuff out there. Especially for event-driven stuff.