Who Jeff Hayzlett Would Have Hired From 'The Celebrity Apprentice'
Considering that Forbes called Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO for Kodak, a "Celebrity CMO," it's not surprising that Hayzlett appeared on this spring's "The Celebrity Apprentice" for a challenge where Bret Michaels, Holly Robinson Peete, Sharon Osbourne and other celebrity contestants had to put together a storefront experience to promote the Kodak brand and products. The season boiled down to Michaels, who survived a brain hemmohrage during the show's run that placed him in critical condition, and actress Peete, with Donald Trump picking Michaels as the winner of the show.
But if Hayzlett was in Trump's place, he said he would have picked Peete to win it all.
"I thought Holly did an unbelievable job," he told me in a recent interview. "From a business perspective, I would have given the edge to Holly."
Not that Michaels was totally undeserving, Hayzlett says.
"Bret did a nice job. He had a lot of good things going for him," Hayzlett says. "Obviously he used his illness as an advantage, and there's nothing wrong with that. ... Look at what he's done to raise awareness for the American Diabetes Association," the charity that Michaels, a diabetic, represented on the show.
Either way, Hayzlett turned out to be a big winner thanks to his association with the show (this spring's appearance was his fourth in two years). Hayzlett was able to get Trump and the show's super producer Mark Burnett to offer quotes of praise used to promote his new book, "The Mirror Test."
To learn Hayzlett's reasons for leaving Kodak and his plans for the future, read the next edition of Marketing News Exclusives, Marketing News' e-newsletter product, which you'll be able to access beginning June 17.
