Innovate Design feature on 'cereal' episode of The Apprentice

Innovate Product Design, in Endless Street, made an appearance on the BBC TV show after helping the teams bring their cereal box characters to life.

Contestants were tasked with designing and creating a new breakfast cereal aimed at six-to-eight-year-olds in the episode which aired on Thursday, March 7. The product had to include a form of augmented reality to engage children.

Innovate employees Adam Davies, 30, and Ben Shutler, 26, took a trip to London in May 2023 to film the episode.

The pair explained how a process of creating a character and placing it into an augmented reality world, which would usually take six weeks, was crammed into just 16 hours.

Ben Shutler and Adam Davies worked with teams competing on The Apprentice. (Image: Newsquest)

Mr Davies, who drew the Power Hoops 'Mega Bella', said: "It took less than a day to turn everything around, I think that was what people didn't see.

"We didn't know anything about the characters they were going to pick until we started filming."

On the other side of the fence, Mr Shutler drew a Polar Crunch bear for the losing team.

What was supposed to be 45 minutes to draw the characters turned into around 10 minutes as contestants were taken out to be interviewed and plans were scrapped at a moment's notice.

"The more pressure they are under, the more funny it looks on screen," added Mr Davies, who described the experience as "wicked".

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The limited amount of time made it "quite hard" to showcase everything the company can offer but Mr Davies said: "We're always looking to put ourselves out there and showcase the services that we can offer."

"It's a really exciting way to branch out into other fields," added Mr Shutler.

The duo weren't allowed to give any creative input into the designs and said they would have done things slightly differently had it been their own characters, such as picking models with more interesting skeletons.

'Mega Bella', drawn by Adam Davies, featured on the winning team's product. (Image: Innovate Product Design)

Mr Davies drew the winners' "generic woman" character and explained how the team spent 20 minutes deciding on her hair colour.

"Even though it was a bit bland it did get them through the task," he said.

Innovate Design was involved with an episode of The Apprentice which aired in 2022 and Mr Shutler said it was good to be recognised as respected professionals in their field.

Mr Davies said: "It was a great experience. Being behind the scenes, I got a better idea of scheduling and meeting deadlines."