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ACN founders and independent representatives have always known that the communications company has the stuff for stardom, bright lights and the red carpet. But now it’s official. “The Donald” himself has certified that the company is ready for prime time. He believes it so strongly that he has put his reality show behind it.
ACN, the world’s largest direct selling telecommunications company, will be featured during a two-hour episode of NBC’s reality show The Celebrity Apprentice on March 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central. The star of the show: the ACN IRIS 3000™ Video Phone.
The program is a direct seller’s dream. The participating celebrities will be divided into two teams, who will compete to showcase ACN’s latest video phone. Each team will develop their own product launch and opportunity presentation, which the show will present—in prime time—to a studio audience of 450 of the company’s top leaders. These ACN leaders will choose the winning celebrity team. The losing team will be required to select a player to eliminate in the infamous boardroom scene with Mr. Trump.
ACN President and Co-Founder Greg Provenzano and Vice President and Co-Founder Tony Cupisz will introduce the task to the teams.
“We were charged with giving the task to the celebrities,” Provenzano says. “Even though we’ve been marketing the video phone to the general public, we want to see how well the celebrities would do in unveiling the product in front of 450 of our top people in New York. Each team will showcase the ACN video phone in a way that conveys the highest energy, the greatest excitement and the strongest emotional appeal for this revolutionary technology.”
Provenzano believes that the episode will be the first time a direct selling company has been featured on a prime-time television program in such a detailed manner. “Not only will The Celebrity Apprentice benefit ACN directly, but it will also have a positive effect on the industry as a whole,” he says.
The episode was the brainchild of business mogul and Celebrity Apprentice Host/Executive Producer Donald J. Trump, who has endorsed ACN since 2006. Backstage after a speaking engagement to the company’s representatives at one of the largest ACN events in history, Trump suggested to Provenzano that the program feature the video phone. Provenzano immediately recognized the stellar opportunity. Provenzano—along with the other three ACN co-founders, Robert Stevanovski, Tony Cupisz and Mike Cupisz—took it from there, providing feedback to the show producers.
“Through his affiliation with us, Donald Trump has become very impressed with us and likes what we do,” Provenzano says. “When he saw our ACN IRIS 3000 Video Phone, he recognized the impact the video phone will have on revolutionizing the way we communicate. Certainly, exposure on The Celebrity Apprentice will help get the word out about the ACN video phone and how the way we communicate with each other will never be the same.”
Trump, in choosing ACN to be showcased on the long-running prime-time TV show, says, “ACN’s video phones will hopefully be in everyone’s home in the future, and The Celebrity Apprentice teams are helping to launch it to everyone in the world.” The Celebrity Apprentice will feature 16 celebrities, who will use their business knowledge to compete and earn money for various charities.
During the show, celebrity contestants will focus on the features and benefits of ACN’s video phone. The video phone lets users actually see the person they’re talking to—not just hear their voice on the line. The revolutionary technology is virtually plug-and-play. Anyone with a high-speed Internet connection can use the phone. In addition to offering the typical calling features of regular telephone service, the video phone lets users leave a video message for people who also have a video phone, and it offers the ability to project the video image to a large-screen TV. When it isn’t being used as a communications device, the video phone doubles as a digital photo frame. ACN service typically costs less per month than people are accustomed to paying for traditional phone service, and it includes unlimited calling within the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and unlimited video phone-to-video phone calling anywhere in the world.
ACN’s co-founders announced the unique opportunity at the company’s international conference in late 2008 and have used every medium available to keep their representatives up to date. On the night of the show, thousands of representatives across the country plan to have private business receptions—meetings typically of 10 to 15 people who hear about ACN’s business opportunity—throughout their organizations. Many of the thousands of ACN representatives are hosting large events for 1,000 or more people, so they can have representatives and their guests watch the show in a large setting and be part of creating ACN history, as the launch of this exciting new technology unfolds.
Provenzano says The Celebrity Apprentice offers much more than a product placement with the video phone in the background or used in a scene. Instead, the entire two-hour show will be devoted to the exciting unveiling of the ACN video phone.
“There’s great anticipation within the organization because of the expected exposure from the show,” Provenzano says. “Combine the great exposure with the fact that people are more open than ever to our business opportunity, given our economy, and this has resulted in ACN setting and breaking new records. Just the anticipation alone is building momentum. People who are already part of ACN are positioning themselves to take full advantage of this exposure by getting as many representatives as possible in place now.”
ACN’s co-founders believe that the prime-time program will catapult the company’s growth to an all-time high.
“With the advent of the video phone, we’ve literally reinvented ourselves as a company,” Provenzano says. “And we have a successful 17-year track record as a foundation to build upon.”
ACN is taking every step necessary to ensure every aspect of its infrastructure is ready in anticipation of the positive effect of The Celebrity Apprentice. “The ancillary benefit of anticipating all this volume is that we’re becoming even better internally,” Provenzano says. “We’re solidifying and making operations more robust with the expectation that our business will skyrocket. But even aside from this exciting exposure, we’re always looking to advance things. We’re never finished. We’re always seeking ways to better ourselves in everything we do.”
ACN unknowingly laid the foundation for exposure on The Celebrity Apprentice when it developed a relationship with Donald J. Trump. The company had approached the Trump organization in hopes that “The Donald” would endorse the organization.
“ACN’s video phones will hopefully be in everyone’s home in the future, and The Celebrity Apprentice teams are helping to launch it to everyone in the world.” —Donald J. Trump
“We knew that having Donald Trump endorse our organization would be the epitome of endorsement. He’s a world-renowned business icon,” Provenzano says.
“If his organization did their due diligence—and we knew they would—we never had any doubts that we could secure his endorsement. Then every time we went to the marketplace to talk about the ACN opportunity, people would ask, ‘If it’s good enough for the Trump organization, why wouldn’t it be good enough for me?’ Questions that people have on direct selling in general go away with his endorsement.”
ACN knew that Trump’s backing would carry worldwide credibility, even though at that time he wasn’t directly involved with direct selling. His background, record of business success, ability to recognize talented professionals and understanding of business models and technology are a plus for the entire industry, and especially for ACN.
With Trump’s endorsement, the introduction of the video phone and consumer interest in the direct selling business due to the weak economy, “ACN expects to do more business during the next three years than we’ve done in the last decade,” Provenzano says. The company plans to stoke excitement and momentum during the eight major events it will hold during 2009 where as many as 15,000 people attend.
In addition to video phones, ACN markets digital phone service, local and long distance services, Internet, wireless, satellite TV (United States only) and home security systems. It operates in 20 countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific and has annual revenues of approximately $500 million. Residual income is the focus of ACN, where millions of customers are acquired through the direct selling model, resulting in residual income for thousands of representatives.
After The Celebrity Apprentice, ACN expects the number of independent representatives and customers to skyrocket. And once customers have a video phone, they’re hooked. How can they go back to plain old voice service once they’ve been able to actually see friends and family on the other end of the line?
For ACN, that’s better than an Emmy.
When: March 22, 9 p.m. Eastern/8 p.m. Central
Featuring: ACN’s IRIS 3000™ Video Phone
Introduction: ACN Co-Founders Greg Provenzano and Tony Cupisz
Host: Donald J. Trump
Studio Audience: 450 ACN Leaders
Representative Actions: Thousands of private business receptions throughout North America
Celebrity Apprentice Participants
