Donald Trump has been synonymous with New York real estate and 
beautiful women for years. He was well known for his very public 
divorces, bad hair, egotistical personality, and most of all for 
making billions of dollars. But master marketer?

20 million viewers a week watched for 3 months while a brand 
name was created. The Apprentice however, was much more than a 
TV show. It was a lesson on marketing. The Trump name has been 
printed in every major newspaper in North America over this time 
period. He has been showing up on every news and entertainment 
program on TV. Business schools across the United States are 
studying the show. He used the Apprentice as a vehicle to 
promote his favourite product, himself.

Trump released a new book titled: How To Get Rich during the
run of the show, which is on every display table or window in
any bookstore across North America. He introduced his new venture
into the water business and smartly had the teams compete to see
which team could sell the most water. Brilliant marketing!
I can’t help but wonder about the next time you walk into your
favourite convenience store to buy a bottle of water and come
across that bottle with his picture and the Trump brand stamped
on the label, do you buy it?

The merits of the Apprentice itself has been and will be
debated for sometime, most notably by Yale School of Management
associate dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld who wrote a scathing editorial
in the Wall Street Journal about Trump and the Apprentice for
unethical acts that go unchecked. Such as contestants pushing
"celebrity" autographs from one of their team to make money;
female contestants' reliance on sex appeal; Trump's firing of
one contestant who chose candour over loyalty. "It's really 
showing the inside of wicked corporate life," Sonnenfeld said. 
"Each episode ends with the wrong answer, misconduct and a 
celebration of misconduct" by Trump. This may all be true, but 
one thing is for certain if you did not know who or what a 
Donald Trump was 13 weeks ago, you certainly do now. 

The Apprentice also showcased lessons every entrepreneur should
know. Buy-low-sell-high (flea market), sell products you like 
(art), the entrepreneurial mindset of thinking outside the box
(selling ad space on the back of a bike). These are all lessons
internet marketers should use as well.

Love him or hate him, Donald Trump has softened his image with
the popularity of the Apprentice, and created brand recognition.
But master marketer? You bet!