Onto week four of The Apprentice 2026. Somehow, the editors for this series have managed to make some (if not all) of the contestants even more unlikeable than in previous series. Episode 4 started with some (definitely not staged) gossip groups talking about how ‘they would have been a much better project manager’ or ‘if they were in charge, so-and-so would have been fired already’. This is immediately followed by these people becoming project managers for the next task and doing an absolutely poor job!
If I were to ever apply for The Apprentice (unlikely, but maybe it is happening in some alternative universe), knowing the typical themes for the tasks, I would take a number of crash courses in topics such as branding, TV advert editing, cooking, etc, to make sure I didn’t embarrass myself on TV. But, each to their own.
The Fourth Task
The fourth task began, not with the contestants being called by Lord Sugar’s personal assistant, but instead by a man called Big Zuu, telling them what time and where to meet Lord Sugar. Some of the contestants were very excited that Big Zuu was on the phone; others (like me) were confused, having never heard of Big Zuu before. No offence to Big Zuu, I just don’t have a clue who you are.
After doing some research, I found out that Big Zuu is a man with a lot of fingers in a lot of pies[1]. He is a rapper, a DJ, a television presenter and also a businessman[2], having founded his own canned water company, Drip Water, to prove that “water isn’t boring”. It is because of this business pie that Big Zuu was involved in the fourth week’s episode.
In this fourth task, the contestants were instructed that they had to create a campaign for bottled water. They had to create a brand, TV advert and showcase the product on social media through the form of TikTok Live (I do not know what that is, and yes, I am a ‘young person’, but to me, TikTok is what a clock does). They then had to pitch their brand to a panel of experts, which included Big Zuu, although (as always) Lord Sugar had final say on who won.
Team Eclipse decided they wanted their target market to be sportspeople and gym goers. They wanted to create a vibrant brand to show that this water will help you reach your health goals. They created the brand name THRIVE. The TV advert was actually one of the best (if not the best) TV adverts ever created by a contestant on The Apprentice. The project manager of Eclipse had a vision of a boxer being knocked down, but after sipping THRIVE, powering back up. For some reason, rather than choosing a gym to film their ad in, they chose a fantasy forest, which got me worried for a second, but the end product was actually impressive. Unfortunately, their bottle design and branding were not. Rather than looking like bottled water, the design made it look like they were trying to sell a milk-themed beverage. This was picked up on by the panel (“it’s giving banana milkshake”).
Team Alpha debated targeting the same consumers as Team Eclipse, yet ultimately landed on the vast market of dehydrated commuters on their way to work. Alpha was successful in their social media campaign; the watchers of the live stream got to decide which teammate would get doused in water. The rest of the task did not go well for Team Alpha. They decided to go with the brand name NORTH, with one teammate pitching the idea on the basis that the brand message would be “water from up north tastes better”[3]. However, the other members of the branding sub-team were not keen to go down this route (they seemed to think it might start a civil war). The end result being the brand name was still NORTH, but the brand messaging was unrelated to the brand name. This caused a lot of confusion for the TV advert campaign as there was no clear message behind the brand. This lack of clarity was further compounded by the bottle design they went with. It looked like a carton of milk decorated with compasses and mountains. Not really something that I would associate with commuters.
In the end, it was this lack of cohesion behind the brand of Team Alpha’s water that cost them the cast.
Branding and IP
Creating a strong brand can be very important. It helps you stand out from your competitors and can generate a positive image for your company if your brand is clear and your messaging is strong.
The branding of your company can extend across many aspects, from your company name to product names to logos to the appearance of your products and beyond. If all these consumer-facing elements of your company are tied together through a singular message or theme, this creates a strong association for customers between certain words and images and your company.
Your brand can be protected through various forms of IP. For example, your company name or product names can be protected through trade mark registration. A trade mark is a sign or a combination of signs that is used to distinguish the goods and services you offer from those of another business that may offer similar goods and/or services. In order for a trade mark to be registerable, it must be 1) distinctive and 2) not descriptive. For this second requirement, this essentially means that you cannot register the word ‘apples’ for your business if you are selling fruit.
A registered trade mark can take the form of a word, a combination of words, letters, drawings, sounds, fragrances or colour shades, amongst other things[4]. For example, the robin egg blue shade associated with Tiffany & Co is trade marked[5],[6]. Once your trade mark has been successfully registered, protection lasts indefinitely upon payment of renewal fees. In the UK, renewal fees must be paid every 10 years. When registering your trade mark, you apply for registration under particular classes of goods and services which best match your company’s business undertakings. The UK (and most other jurisdictions) use the Nice classification system[7], which has 34 classes of goods and 11 classes of services.
Another way your brand can be protected through IP is through design rights. Design rights protect the appearance of an article or product, including the shape, colour or materials used. There are two main types of design rights: registered and unregistered.
Unregistered design rights arise automatically when the design is created[8]. However, if your design is essential or important to your brand, then it is recommended that you formally register the design. Unregistered design rights are harder to protect when it comes to infringement, as it only protects against direct copying, and you need to have proof that this copying took place.
To successfully register a design, your design must be both new and have “individual character”. This latter requirement is judged based on whether the design produces a different overall impression. Therefore, disclosure of your designs can affect your registrability. However, in the UK and other jurisdictions, there is a grace period to register your design if you disclose it publicly. In the UK, this grace period is 12 months. Once your design is registered, the protection can last up to 25 years (in the UK), provided the renewal fees are paid every 5 years[9].
If your product has a unique appearance that ties in closely with your brand and company name, then it is worth considering registering the design alongside trade mark protection to solidify your brand’s protection.
Next time
For task five, it looks like the contestants are tasked with selling flowers at a market stall. Unsure if I will be able to make an IP connection there, so potentially no Episode 5 IP-prentice post…
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Zuu
[2] https://www.instagram.com/itsdripwater/reels/?hl=en-gb
[3] As someone who has lived in Scotland for 7+ years but grew up down south, I can attest to the fact that water does, indeed, taste better up north.
[4] https://www.wipo.int/en/web/trademarks
[5] https://www.tiffany.co.uk/policy/trademarks-copyrights.html
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Blue
[7] https://www.wipo.int/en/web/classification-nice
[8] https://www.gov.uk/unregistered-designs
[9] https://www.gov.uk/register-a-design
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