Episode Nine: A tough cookie for Zoe…
Project Manager Zoe started her reign by stating that, ‘I strongly, strongly believe if you’ve got a good product it sells itself’, so it was a little confusing when she decided to stay on the branding side and not head to the biscuit development factory to make the product. After the first round of ideas was rejected, Zoe agreed on the concept of sharing, but not to Melody’s insistence that the biscuits should be a heart shape. This resulted in a tussle between Melody and Zoe that saw Zoe shaking her fist down the phone and declaring Melody as, ‘A nightmare to work with’.
Even though Susan hadn’t been exactly complimentary when describing Zoe’s personality traits, the two got on quite well, selecting the concept, slogan and name for their product as ‘Bix Mix, Snap and Share’. However, the relationship between Melody and Zoe wasn’t quite as fluffy, with the two seeing who could scream the phrase ‘target market’ the loudest at each other in the fresh flower aisle of the supermarket where they were about to pitch.
None of the major retailers placed an order for Zoe’s ‘Bix Mix’, so when it was revealed that Zoe’s team had lost the task, she decided the blame lay at the door of the ‘Product Team’. Melody and Tom were brought back into the boardroom and Zoe set about mobilizing her argument. Zoe defended her cause with an army of raised eyebrows, scoffs and shrugs, but Lord Sugar summed up with, ‘If someone can’t actually perform in the business that they are in, then they will be fired’. She was. Dough!
Episode Eight: Sell Phone
When faced with the universal phone grip, Susan announced, ‘I love the product’. Zoe backed her up with, ‘I love the margin’ and when the child’s booster seat was pitched, Zoe recognised a great opportunity and staked her claim by saying, ‘I really want that product’.
Zoe and Susan secured both of their products and went off to meet their sub-team in Paris. Teamed up with Jim, they attended their appointments, but worried that their sales were low when Jim described the day to Susan as, ‘Pushing treacle up a hill’. When asked by Susan to find the ‘right shops’ to pitch their products to, Zoe told Jim, ‘I like the way she teaches grandma to suck eggs’. Zoe then frantically ran around the streets of Paris looking for mobile phone shops and shouted, ‘Keep looking, keep looking for the shops’. When they couldn’t find any and time had run out, Zoe played a great game with Jim called ‘Look, there’s an independent phone shop’ and pointed out to him all the ones they had missed.
Although Zoe and Jim had worried that their individual contributions hadn’t made the grade they still managed, as a team, to clock up €14,699 worth of sales. This, paired with a massive order from the major online retailer, gave Team Venture a clear win. Zoe went off to enjoy her flying lessons and to wonder how many mobile phone shops she could spot at 100,000 feet.
Episode Seven: A hip blip…
Zoe seemed pleased to be paired up with Project Manager Jim, giggling and shaking his hand she gushed, ‘I’ve never worked with you Jim’. The pleasantries were short lived, however. Zoe voiced her concern about creating a magazine for the over 60s by saying, ‘What do any of us know about being over 60?’ and by suggesting the title of the magazine should be, ‘Coffin Dodger’ or ‘Hip Replacement’, she appeared to have accidently proved herself right.
Zoe’s idea was that the team’s magazine, ‘Hip Replacement’ would be ironic, satirical and hip in content with the tag line, ‘Out with the old, in with the new’. However, when designing the cover, Jim and Zoe came were in opposite camps over style, font and a picture of an over 60s couple cuddling in a cardigan. Zoe felt Jim was being old fashioned and taking ‘All the irony out of it’. She also voiced her concern that they were heading down the wrong path by saying, ‘There is a danger we could stray off the concept’.
Although Team Venture started well, they failed to sell any advertisement space at all to one of the media buyers, who ‘loathed’ their ‘Hip Replacement’ concept. The name of the magazine seemed to be the main ‘bone’ of contention, but despite this Jim decided not to bring Zoe back into the boardroom, choosing Glenn and Susan instead. Zoe lives on to take on another task but will not be adding orthopaedic surgery to her list of strong points.
Episode Six: On the trash weep…
Zoe was adamant that she should become Project Manager. Shrouded in martyrdom, she told the others, ‘I’ll be PM because we’re wasting a lot of time’. Zoe split her team in two and headed off to the commercial pitch. Susan confronted Zoe on her decision to charge for removal of the waste items, saying, ‘If that was me I’d do it for free’, to which Zoe asked if she were trying to ‘sabotage’ the task.
During the second pitch, when Susan suggested that they should pay money for the furniture, Zoe’s eyebrows raised so much that she nearly fell over. She quoted £80 to take the office furniture away and left. It was later revealed that her team had lost the pitches by not offering any money for the furniture, or moving it for free. Zoe realized her mistake and mopped up her tears around the kitchen table.
The next day Zoe started positively, by saying, ‘Bit of a disastrous day yesterday, to say the least, but we can pull it out right?’ Zoe’s team didn’t quite ‘pull it out’ and lost the task by £6. Zoe admitted her mistake to Lord Sugar by saying, ‘I got it wrong. Sorry’. Zoe wasn’t fired but fully admitted that this is the ‘last chance saloon’..
Episode Five: Zoe’s fur gloat…
Totally supporting Leon’s idea of ‘Lucky Fish - The catch of the day’ as their brand of cat food, Zoe excitedly helped to pitch the idea to the focus group, who all agreed it was ‘a good name’. So, when the idea was thrown out by Project Manager Glenn, the claws were out.
The rejection spurred Zoe on to say she was feeling ‘very annoyed and deflated about the task’, and that the sub team ‘had wasted the whole morning’. When auditioning the cats for their commercial, the bone of contention was raised again after Glenn phoned to offer them the new brand, ‘Catsize’. There was much eye rolling and scoffing, but she agreed to the product.
Glenn decided that a ticking off was on the cards and phoned Zoe to tell her team that the idea for ‘Catsize’ should not be treated as a ‘joke’ and that he should have been shown more ‘respect’. Zoe bit back with a long speech about how her idea was rejected and that she’d wasted the morning and that you had to ‘earn respect’. When Glenn’s team won the task due to their strong brand identity, Zoe’s humble pie was served up in a cat dish.
Episode Four: Zoe nails it
Chosen by Lord Sugar to be Project Manager of team Venture, Zoe said she was ‘really pleased about being Project Manager’ and had an ‘excellent team to work with’. Excited about team member Susan’s beauty knowledge, she asked her to tell the manufacturers about her beauty product sales experience during the pitches; this helped win them the much coveted fake tanning treatment.
The excitement turned to caution however, when Susan tried to persuade Zoe to overbuy her tanning lotion products, claiming they could sell ‘three an hour’. Zoe claimed this was ‘really ambitious’ and decided to buy less. After perfecting what looked like the best foot rub in Birmingham, Zoe decided to do a stock take and when it was revealed that Susan hadn’t sold as many products as she’d promised, she dressed her down with a stern ‘you’ve made your bed and you’ve got to lie in it, I’m afraid Try and recall it back and try and get the sales’.
Despite her run-in with Susan, when everyone was asked if Zoe had been a good Project Manager, her team all agreed, apart from Leon, who said, ‘I could have done with enthusiasm and morale’. Zoe led her team to victory and when presented with the open-toe sandals that she was to take her dance lesson in, showcased her extremely pedicured toes.
Episode Three: Lead in the way…
Zoe found herself on team Logic and set to work identifying three of the team’s sales leads.
Set up on the sub-team and managed by Vincent, there was a fair amount of eye rolling and lip biting when Vincent bulldozed Natasha’s sales pitch and took the phone from Ellie mid conversation. Zoe showed concern when she realized that her team may not get to their next appointment in time because it was too far away. However, although she raised the alarm, she failed to push the point across.
Brought back into the boardroom by Gavin because ‘she was acting like a PA’, Zoe defended herself against Lord Sugar’s fears that she was present in an ‘observing capacity’ by saying, ‘How can it be an observing capacity when I came up with all the numbers that secured the products?’ Karren Brady threw Zoe a lifeline by telling her, ‘I think you’ve got a voice, but I don’t think you’ve found a way of getting it across’. Zoe was saved from the firing line and returned to the house to practice her shouting skills. .
Episode Two: Pitch and run
After it was decided that the girls were to create an annoying sounds application called ‘Ampi App’, Zoe helped the rest of her team with its design. She was then placed on the sales team along with Melody, Natasha and Ellie and pitched to three sets of online professionals.
During her pitch for the online technology magazine, the fact that the picture of the elephant was accompanied by the sound of a barking dog was brought into question. Zoe justified it by saying, ‘that’s the randomness and the quirkiness of it and what we are trying to achieve.’ And achieve they did. It would appear that the world likes the quirkiness of a barking elephant and in the boardroom it was announced that they had won the task.
Zoe was on winning team Venture.
App Downloads after 6 hours: just under 1000
Total downloads after 24 hrs: 10667
Episode One: Pasta la vista…
Zoe, the farmer’s daughter with a strong work ethic, had previously stated that early mornings didn’t ‘bother her at all’. Even so, a 3.30 am trip to the fruit and vegetable market, must have been a little bit of a shock.
After the girls had decided on their fruit pot and vegetable pasta combo, Zoe set about helping make the pasta to be sold at their static stand in Euston. Having promised to make sure the fruit team had extra stock for lunch-time, Zoe, Ellie and Edna failed to deliver.
The girls managed to win the task and despite only making a return of £37.28 from her pasta sales, Zoe was able to enjoy her champagne reception.
Zoe was on the winning team Venture. Their total profit was £592.
About Zoe
Born in Stoke on Trent, Zoe joined her family firm straight from university and played an integral role in the company’s development working in sales and marketing. Zoe bought a house with her sister at the age of just 12.
Zoe was awarded the ‘Rolls-Royce Manufacturing Technology Prize’ for the highest dissertation mark in the school of engineering.
Check back for weekly updates on Zoe during the series ...
