In many ways, Deutsch is like the ads he creates. Irrev-erent. Straight-talking. And, sometimes, just a little over the top. One of the creators of Bill Clinton’s ““For people. For change’’ commercials, he recently became the first mainstream agency head to use a gay couple in a television spot. His offbeat ““Mr. Jenkins’’ ads for Tanqueray Gin have become conversation pieces. This year, Advertising Age magazine named his firm ““Agency of the Year.’’ Now Deutsch is planning his most iconoclastic project yet: he wants to become the Aaron Spelling of the ad business, producing unscripted prime-time sitcoms and talk shows. ““He takes pride in being outrageous and out of control,’’ says Tony Gomes, a former Deutsch copywriter. ““But he knows how to get good ideas out of people and knows how to sell them.''
Deutsch has been a little out of control since he graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School 15 years ago. He distinguished himself at his first job, as a financial type at the giant agency Ogilvy & Mather, by cavalierly disappearing for several days to become a contestant on the ““Match Game’’ show. He won $5,000, dumped Ogilvy and spent his winnings on travel, selling Sasson blue jeans at flea markets to bring in more money. It wasn’t until his father gave him a job with the family agency, then called David Deutsch Associates, that the younger Deutsch turned to the creative side of the business. Five years ago he took the reins and has boosted billings from $60 million to $315 million.
Much of Deutsch’s work has more in common with home movies than with TV commercials. Actors talk casually to viewers about everything from making eyeglasses to delivering furniture. A few campaigns have missed the mark; last summer’s ““Hardee’s girls,’’ which featured fictitious old ladies describing the virtues of Hardee’s hamburgers, was a bomb. But others have scored by treading where some marketers are reluctant to go – into lifestyles outside the mainstream. One Ikea spot depicts a divorced mother who says she is buying furniture to replace ““some things that are gone.’’ Another shows two gay men launching into a discussion about commitment as they shop for a dining-room table. ““Ikea has something for everyone, and we needed a commercial that appeals to everyone,’’ says Ikea’s Peter Connolly. ““The agency helped us communicate our personality to the consumer.’’ The result: store traffic increased by more than 30 percent.
Deutsch’s campaigns are hatched in his downtown New York office, an expansive shop with blindingly white walls, hardwood floors and a cast of employees straight out of a ““thirtysomething’’ rerun. Strategy-planning sessions are egalitarian affairs, with junior account planners and senior executives tossing out opinions side by side. But former employees say the communalism extends only so far, that Deutsch is quick to foster good ideas but even quicker to claim them as his own. Says one: ““He’s like the Walt Disney of advertising. He breeds creativity and gets all the credit.''
Deutsch’s reputation for thunder-stealing has worked against him more than once. During the Clinton campaign he caught flak from his counterparts for hogging the spotlight. (Deutsch says he can’t help it if the media find his agency in-teresting.) He even had trouble sharing the stage with his former partner, Steve Dworin. When Deutsch added Dworin to the marquee, egos clashed. Dworin, now head of the NW Ayer agency, says the breakup was inevitable. ““Although we had a magical thing going for a while, a personal friendship began to deteriorate. To this day I still miss him.''
More often than not, Deutsch’s penchant for showmanship serves his company well. It may, in fact, be crucial in propelling his ambitious plan to enter TV programming. With video-production facilities already in-house, Deutsch figures, his shop could create TV programs for ““a quarter to a third less’’ than what big TV- production houses charge. So far, no customers are in hand, but Deutsch and his acolytes are bouncing around ideas like ““Joe Jrs.,’’ a real-life ““Seinfeld’’ set in a diner down the street from the agency, and a business-gossip talk show. There is, he says, no conflict between making TV shows and making ads. ““We’re going to do programming for programming’s sake. It won’t be fueled by advertising needs.''
Are Deutsch’s low-budget TV ambitions realistic? The insatiable demand for cable programming creates an opportunity – and those who’ve watched Deutsch build his ad fiefdom have no doubt that he can pull it off. ““He knows what his strengths are and capitalizes on them,’’ says Paul Goldman, a former Deutschite and now a director of Flat Iron Films. If the venture flies, one can already imagine the teasers. ““Next: the “Donny Deutsch Show’.''
