How did Lord Sugar’s apprentice pronounce Qype?
- Qoy Poy
- Ky Pi
- QeePi
- Qwoy Powai
Qype being one of the most well known user-generated local reviews site in Europe was featured on BBC’s Apprentice show. I have heard many people mispronouncing the word but not like Lord Sugar’s Apprentice. I found it really funny, particularly because it was associated with pies!?
Was it a coincidence or was it a product placement?
If it was a coincidence then Qype must be really pleased with the publicity. I would love to see their analytics data in a couple of days. Being in competition with so many other UG review sites i.e. Yelp, they really needed this exposure.
Qype’s marketing team should capitalize on this event by coming up with a engaging linkbait campaign. Preliminary ideas could include:
- Running a webcam competition asking users to record themselves pronouncing “Qype” in a variety of ways.
- Sponsoring a Youtube Apprentice parody contest.
Product placement in films and international programmes (such as US drama series) has been allowed on UK television for many years. From 28 February 2011 TV programmes made for UK audiences can contain product placement as long as they comply with Ofcom’s rules.
My instinct tells me Qype on Apprentice was a rather cheeky product placement. Let’s face it, fast food chains and review sites fit perfectly in a product placement campaign. There is one issue though, under the terms of the BBC Agreement product placement is not allowed in programmes made for BBC licence fee funded services.
Hello. I am the head of marketing for Qype. Did we contact the show weeks ago and set this up? Or was it just a lovely surprise? Feel free to try to find out…
Thanks for the reply Richard. It looks like your colleague, Sarah, answered this for you. But who knows?
Hi Yousaf, I’m Sarah, Qype’s UK community manager and I can assure you we didn’t place the coverage at all. It was a lovely surprise and we’ll definitely be making the most of it – guess that’s the benefit of having a memorable name!
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for your comment. Given that the show is watched by millions of people I think it was more than just a pleasant surprise.
Lord Sugar just tweeted
“Another great APPRENTICE viewing audience last night 9m peak . Well done to all involved”
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