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As of this writing, the finale of season three of “The Apprentice” is less than a week away. Soon the world will know which candidate gets the honor of being The Donald's lackey…I mean right-hand man.

Or, more accurately, right-hand woman, since the two finalists are female for the first time ever in the reality series' history.

But that's not the really interesting contest. The important competition is among the branding exercises that have been going on during and between commercial breaks. The show has been a brand-placement-palooza, as companies lined up to have the apprentice-wannabes work on a project for their firm.

Did any of these resonate with viewers in the long term? As a service to you, my gentle readers, my better half and I watched the entire season and gauged our own retention of what we viewed.

Before writing this, I jotted down all the names of the brands I could remember from the show. Forget about being fired — I'm tired! While several names from the show immediately came to mind, I had to wrack my brain — and do a Web search — to come up with others.

I asked the husband what he recalled. “I remember them making the box for Home Depot, and the Staples thing, because you wanted to go to the store and see it,” he said. “And wasn't there a realtor thing? Oh, and Trump going off about how the Trump Tower had ‘the best buffet in the whole world.’ Sorry, that's it.”

Ah, so much for branding. Here's a quick review of how some of those brands and others fared.

• Dove

  This Unilever brand scores at the top of our list for being one of the few brands to add a DM component and collect names for future promotions. Dove used “The Apprentice” as a springboard to introduce a line of Cool Moisture cucumber-and-green-tea bath products. Contestants created commercials for the product, and then Dove premiered its own spot for the body wash immediately after. Viewers were invited to go online and register to receive a free sample and coupon. The sample arrived in a box branded with the show's logo to remind recipients why they were receiving the package.

  A few weeks later the message was reinforced when I received another sample, this time for a new line of Dove hair styling products. I'm not sure if this was a follow-up to the “Apprentice” mailing or from another offer I had registered for in the past, but it still worked to remind me of the Trump-sanctioned effort.

• Nescafé

  The Taster's Choice brand also used its air time to smartly collect names for its database, offering samples, coupons and recipes for hot and cold instant coffee drinks. The single servings were cutely packaged, and again, the show's logo figured prominently in the mailing piece to tie it together for consumers.

  One of my neighbors is probably thinking The Donald stiffed him on this one, though: When I finally got around to opening my mail piece to look at it for this article, I found that not only was my address card in there, but one for someone I don't know who lives several blocks away.

• Staples

  The aforementioned “thing” I felt compelled to look at was the “Desk Apprentice,” a clutter-solving caddy created by a team on the show. Staples smartly had the winning product available online and in stores the next morning. I was going to buy pens and paper there that day anyway and scoped out the product — interesting but not right for my office space. Still, it must have worked for some folks: Our sister publication Promo reported that 1,000 units were sold online in the first 15 minutes.

• Domino's

  Contestants created meatball pizzas for this task, but the chain decided to go with a cheeseburger pizza for its promotion, with Trump appearing in commercials to spread the news about what a revolutionary idea this was. This was the show where the global supremacy of Trump's buffet was declared, by the way.

• Hanes

  To celebrate the wonder that is the T-shirt, Hanes had each team design and sell a shirt for one day in New York. I assumed at least the winning design would be prominently featured on Hanes.com, but didn't find either. After a few searches, I found both shirts on Walmart.com for $9.96. For four cents more, shoppers on the site could purchase a talking Donald Trump doll instead.

• Burger King

  One of the earliest tasks was to create a new sandwich. The result was the Western Angus Steak Burger, which Promo reports sold more than 1.2 million units in a two-week promotion. Looked a little too greasy for my delicate constitution.

• Others

  Home Depot drew in DIY fans with a workshop designed on the show on how to build a storage chest. Sony PlayStation had contestants create a graffiti billboard for a new game. The Fuse music cable network let contestants run charity auctions, and American Eagle outfitters worked with the show to design clothing that would allow people to wear their technology (like cell phones or Game Boys). Curiously, none of the clothing was being sold on AE's Web site.

Then again, maybe it's not so curious judging by the looks of the apparel. But hey, my husband thought the pizza with hamburger and cheese on it that he'd been eating all these years was the same as cheeseburger pizza. So what do we know?

BETH NEGUS VIVEIROS (bethdirect@aol.com) is executive editor of Direct.