10 Things The Apprentice Gets Wrong About Branding

1. Push past the warmup when brainstorming

When it comes to developing names or creative concepts in Whitenoise, we have a rule: ‘push past the warmup’.

The start of a brainstorming session is similar to limbering up before a run. You’re getting the muscles ready to work and shifting into the headspace to perform.

The first ideas are usually the most obvious—and that’s okay! Get them out of your system, build momentum and dig deeper. The gold tends to show up after you’ve laughed your way through a few duds. Never settle for the first idea that gets nodded through and a warm reaction - the best is often yet to come.

2. Research, research, research

‘I have no experience in this industry’

‘This isn’t really my area’

Apprentice candidates can be quick to flag and hide behind their knowledge gaps. As a creative agency, we regularly find ourselves supporting new clients in unfamiliar industries. Our solution? RESEARCH. You need to understand the competitors, spot the trends, find the gaps and understand your audience—don’t assume anything! What resonates with a Gen Z crowd today isn’t what worked five years ago. Do your homework, and you’ll have the rationale and the confidence to back your creative decisions. That’s what sells work in.

3. Find creative inspiration

Great branding doesn’t happen in a vacuum (or a boardroom): in real life, inspiration comes from the world around us—books, design sites, cultural references, that TV show we watched as kids… 

Branding is a reflection of the world and you need to take the time to seek out and absorb creative influences to guide your approach and ignite your thinking.

4. Often less is more

Great branding doesn’t always have to shout. In fact, it’s often the quiet confidence of restraint that stands out.

Apprentice contestants frequently fall into the trap of creating logos that try to say everything: product, story, USP, target audience. The result? Everything is competing for attention and the resulting work is amateur and ineffective.

Remember that your logo will very rarely sit in isolation, and will have supporting language and visuals to support it in telling your story, so an already fussy brand identity will create a distracting and confusing experience for your customers when it is placed into marketing materials. 

5. Stop and listen

Collaboration beats confrontation every time.

Too often, branding decisions on The Apprentice are shaped by whoever has the strongest opinion (or the loudest voice), but in the creative industry, building ideas objectively together leads to the strongest output.

Listen openly to the input of others, let those with the relevant expertise weigh in and try to avoid getting stuck on a thought or idea just because you ‘like’ it.

In Whitenoise, we try to ban the use of the words ‘I just like it’ when it comes to branding: because ultimately it’s not about what we like, or trying to get our own idea through - it’s about what works best to meet the brief and what will deliver the best results for our clients.

6. To tagline, or not to tagline

We’ve lost count of the times an Apprentice team has trotted out something like: “Empowering innovation for tomorrow’s potential.” What does that even mean?

A good brand tagline is specific, memorable and true to the brand. It doesn’t just fill space under a logo. It makes people feel something - or at the very least, understand the brand in the simplest way. 

Think of Toyota's "Let's go places" which is a fitting summary for a car manufacturer but also alludes to their longer term goals for sustainability and innovation. The Burger King mantra of "Have it your way" needs little explanation, and opens up the world of a compelling fast food menu. 

When we write taglines, we aim for clarity first, cleverness second. If it happens to be both? Ideal.

7. Let designers do what they do best

Ah, the dreaded “Can you just make this look good?” handoff -often featuring a napkin sketch and a looming deadline.

In Apprentice-world, designers are just a pair of hands to be directed in minute detail by the stressed contestants. In reality? Designers are the best placed to drive the creative process - they have the training, references and experience to produce a polished creative solution to meet the brief. They have trained for years, honed their craft and are great at their job and determined to produce a brand that works. When you find the right brand designer for you, trust them. 

8. Challenge your own work 

In every branding project, it’s essential to interrogate even the best ideas.

Test the name. Say it out loud. Google it. Check what it means in other languages. Make sure the logo doesn’t look like something weird when you squint, or look at it from a distance. If there’s any chance it could grab attention for all the wrong reasons, it’s not right.

Scrutiny isn’t the enemy—it’s a safeguard.

9. Take time to ‘live with it’

Ever worked on something, then come back to it the next day and wondered what you were thinking? Same - and it happens to the best of us.

Good branding often needs a moment. It settles in. You need to sit with it, see it mocked up on a product, feel it in context. First impressions can be deceptive— so let it work on you, and similarly, don’t throw out a concept just because it didn’t dazzle in the first five seconds. Some of our favourite brand ideas grew on us. And now we can’t imagine anything else.

10. Workshop ideas at the right time

So often on The Apprentice, feedback is an afterthought. They test a concept that’s already printed, packaged, and ready to pitch, hoping for a last-minute “Well done!” from the public.

Real testing happens throughout the process. You bring people in, get reactions and refine accordingly. It’s not a box-ticking exercise—it’s an essential part of getting the brand right for your audiences. A great design team will work with you to test your brand identity options on focus groups, or demonstrate how the concept handles on a range of placements and materials.