Donny Deutsch - Loving the Thrill of Creating Big Ideas

quotWhy do I have that word attached to mequot demanded Donny Deutsch when I commented on his ego during our breakfast last week at Michael39s quotI don39t know why that39s always followed me There is a big difference between having a big ego and being a big personality who is not concerned about going against the grain What about someone like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg He obviously has a big ego but it doesn39t follow him like an accusation I39m not any different than others whose 39brands39 are visible Sense of self and selfconfidence get confused with a big ego It39s silly and inexplicablequot he laughed although acknowledging he is quotoften wrong but never in doubtquotThere are some who might offer Donny an explanation why ego follows him like an accusation but far be it for me to be critical of ego and there were certainly some quotbig egosquot at Michael39s that morning Vogue39s Anna Wintour departed early while colleague Tom Florio perched at table one with stunning supermodel Veronica Webb discussing this year39s Fragrance Industry FiFi Awards where Donny will be a firsttime presenter New York Social Diary39s David Patrick Cunningham engaged in lively conversation at table eightSince Donny tapes his 10 PM nightly quotThe Big Idea with Donny Deutschquot CNBC talk show at 1 PM we met for an early breakfast but the hour didn39t dim his enthusiasm and energy While I had been critical of some aspects of his weekly program which moved to weeknights earlier this year I39ve been impressed with the style and substance of his interviews He obviously does his homework listens and responds to his guests confronts their personal issues is unafraid of broaching controversial issues and engages in lively conversations that are unlike his closest comparable competitors PBS39 Charlie Rose and CNN39s Larry King Donny offers a far more youthful lively and interesting format than King and is more focused on uncovering his guests39 personalities and motivations than Rose who typically sticks to business issuesquotI39m a peer of many of my guests and they are more likely to open up to me What I do is try to figure out their mindsetsquot he explained He has especially enjoyed interviewing Yoko Ono Carmen Electra Jane39s Addiction39s David Navarro and Jon Bon Jovi quotI39ve found the bigger the stars are the more decent they arequot Bon Jovi he told me quotwas sick but showed up didn39t have any entourage and was greatquotThe guests he39s most eager to have on quotThe Big Ideaquot are Howard Stern Bill Clinton and Jerry Seinfeld quotHoward is a media pioneer and an interesting character especially now with his move to Siriusquot Donny is complimented that people compare his interviewing style to Stern quotWe ask questions you would also want to ask and we both cover pop culture which goes from the FCC to 39Desperate Housewives39 We39re beginning to percolatequot Donny says quotWe39re beating Dennis Miller39s ratings regularly and people think 39The Big Idea39 is a good showquotOf his 120 guests to date three have been porn stars he39s done a special on suburban wives having affairs and plans additional specials on gay parenting and free speech issues quotIt39s getting to the point if you don39t bleed red meat in everything you say it39s a problem We39re not going to be sensational but it39s important to confront relevant issuesquot He also says he would consider doing a joint special with fellow CNBC host Tina BrownDonny claims hosting a television talk show or running an ad agency were far from his mind when he began his career quotI thought I would be a lawyer I never really thought it through when I went to college University of Pennsylvania majoring in marketing I always saw in my Dad a guy who loved what he did but I never thought I39d be running his agency some day My Dad even fired me once when he was an assistant account executive I joined Ogilvy ampamp Mather39s training program but I didn39t like that I tried LA for sixmonths but moved back to New Yorkquot You can learn all you need about Donny39s life at httpwwwbigideadonnycommeethtmlUltimately Donny did join his father39s boutique ad agency eventually becoming CEO in 1984 changing its name from David Deutsch Associates to Deutsch Inc elevating it to one of the hottest full service agencies in the world and eventually selling it to Interpublic Group where it has become one of the most successful and profitable unitsDonny took me to task for publishing comments several weeks ago from an quotunnamed sourcequot suggesting recent account losses and his commitment to quotThe Big Ideaquot would force him to bring in a new management team quotYou were so glaringly wrongquot he scolded me quotMy advice is you have to be careful with 39unnamed critics39 It was obviously someone who is clueless and jealous We grew twenty percent and the IPG guys have been greatquotHe admits the recent business losses Mitsubishi and Bank of America and account reviews quothave been a bizarre and coincidental perfect stormquot but believes the agency will retain the Revlon account that was put into review last November and will have excellent growth and profitability in 2005 quotDoing the show keeps me fresh in the ad businessquot he suggests quotI39m still the spiritual leader and spend the majority of my time at the agency I39ve become more of a real chairman putting out fires setting the direction and being a part of high level meetingsquotBut he admits quotthe advertising business is challenging these days More and more clients are putting compensation pressure on agencies They look at agencies as suppliers and want transparency from ad agencies they don39t want from any other service business like lawyers or accountantsquotOn the core business of television advertising Donny says the quottraditional 30second spot is becoming a smaller piece of the pie but is still dominant The issue is what you do to buttress itquot Product integration in programs he suggests is often too blatant but he believes it is a legitimate part of the business Donny gained his most extensive national visibility as a judge of advertising campaigns developed by teams on quotThe Apprenticequot including this season39s controversial campaigns developed for Dove Skin Care that Donny advised Donald Trump quotboth suckquotThe agency holding company business is also challenging Donny suggests as the strategy of building multiple marketing and communications resources and trying to integrate them has not been as successful as expected quotIt sounds like a 39hot wow39 but it denigrates the individual brandsquot he saysDonny says he will continue to experiment with 39The Big Idea39 quotMost nights I watch my show to look for ways to improve it Celebrity will remain a significant focus The show is about everything pop culture and celebrity is driving pop culture I love what I do and love the thrill of creating something newquot

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