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| Deutsch |
Critics say Donny Deutsch is blunt, arrogant and obnoxious. Fans call him creative, driven and a maverick. The passion of both camps shows how the Deutsch Inc. chairman and CEO's aggressive style and performance-based philosophy have made him one of the most polarizing figures in the ad industry. Deutsch helped turn the agency, started by his father in 1969, into a $2.4 billion marketing communications company. The 10th-largest agency in the United States, the firm was the world's largest privately held advertising company before becoming part of Interpublic in 2000. Notable clients include Coors, Bank of America, Mitsubishi, Revlon, Snapple, DirecTV and the recently signed Monster.The Sports Business Daily's assistant managing editor, Schuyler Baehman, spoke with Deutsch recently, uncovering the ad executive's passion for the NBA, thoughts on the efficacy of Super Bowl ads and interest in joining the ranks of team ownership.
Did you watch any of the MLB All-Star Game?
Deutsch: Not an inning. It's interesting that you ask, because I thought about that afterwards. Looking at the ratings, neither did a lot of other people.
What is your opinion of making the game count for home-field advantage in the World Series?
Deutsch: I actually think it is a good idea. It gives the game a little intrigue
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| At All-Star Games of yesteryear, "every player was a future hall of famer." |
and gets the players to be a little bit more serious because people want to see a competitive game. But if I go back to the All-Star Games that I watched as a kid, you would never miss them. There were two reasons: No. 1, there was less dilution in the league. Every player was a Pete Rose, or a Harmon Killebrew, a Frank Robinson or Carl Yastrzemski. Every player was a future hall of famer in these games, a Lou Brock. ... I'm a pretty avid sports fan, and I looked at the All-Star rosters [this year] and some of those guys I had never heard of. Secondly, on any given day, there are so many exciting sports things to watch. ... When I was growing up, there was the "Game Of The Week," you had your local sports teams and you had the All-Star Game. ... It's just less of a spectacle.
What brand, other than your own, do you most admire?
Deutsch: I admire Nike. That's probably a pat answer, but they have been able to become the ultimate mass brand, but yet keep a niche cachet of a rebellious upstart, and that is an incredible trick. I also think Madonna is a brilliant brand. Madonna came on the scene in the early 1980s standing for cutting-edge sexuality and she's never strayed from her brand, but she keeps redefining it and making it relevant to the times and that is what a great brand does.
I hear you are an NBA fan. What is the first thing you would do as commissioner of the NBA?
Deutsch: Somehow get Tim Duncan to the Celtics. That's tongue-in-cheek, of course. ... I would have to re-look at the whole salary cap thing. Sports need dynasties. Sports need teams to love and teams to hate. The great thing about the Yankees is that people love to root against them. Unfortunately, the current NBA system sets up that some of the strong can't get stronger. You need those storylines. You need the giants to hate. ...
The NBA needs some work at this point, whether they want to admit it or not. They basically go back to 1979, when you had Magic and Larry, right into Michael. But if you look at the crop of stars now, a lot of the front guys, I don't know if they are marquee guys to pull it in. People are pointing a lot at LeBron, but I think the NBA product and the NBA frontline players are struggling and they will continue to struggle and the numbers prove it. I actually don't think ABC did a very good job at all with the playoffs. I always thought NBC did a great job ... it had a nice spectacle about it. ABC's coverage had a real blandness about it.
So if you were the head of ABC Sports, you would make some radical changes.
Deutsch: The NBA is sexy, and I don't know if their coverage was sexy.
What product or company would LeBron James align with next?
Deutsch: I would, as much as possible, try to get him involved with a non-sports gravitas company:
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| Advice to LeBron James: "Try and go beyond the obvious." |
a credit card company, a car. Try and go beyond the obvious — yeah, he's going to do video games and he'll do a soft drink. If you can, get him hooked up with a financial services company — an unexpected thing where he stands for youth going forward.
Does an athlete endorsement have the same impact on the public it once did?
Deutsch: It does when there is editorial relevance. Particularly when they are tied to a product. You think about when Tiger comes out with a line of clubs, or Michael comes out with a line of shoes, it makes a lot of sense. When you just stick an athlete in a deodorant ad for no reason [it is less effective].
Are Super Bowl ads an effective way of spending advertising and marketing money?
Deutsch: When you really look at a pure [cost per thousand] dollars-and-cents analysis, it never makes sense. Where it does make sense is where marketers get a lot more bang for their buck — they take their sales forces there, they take key clients there. From a pure $2.3 million per 30 seconds perspective, it usually doesn't make sense, particularly as you go later into the game. If you just watch the way people watch the Super Bowl, and the ads, in the first quarter they are all over it. By the third quarter, half the people are drunk. So I tend to steer clients, for the most part, away from the Super Bowl. ... A lot of advertisers put silly ads on that aren't even their typical brand ads, because they've got to stand out so much, and they end up shooting themselves in the foot.
Does TiVo scare the ad industry as much as has been reported?
Deutsch: No. It's interesting, if you look
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| TiVo will "keep advertisers on their toes." |
at the tracking of TiVo, it's still very early adopter and not accelerating at a pace that people would expect. I think it is just going to keep advertisers on their toes. The reality is, somebody is going to pay for television. And whether advertisers become much more ingrained in the content of shows or what's been proven is that, even in TiVo, the ads that people are not zapping out are pharmaceutical ads, people want to know about drugs, or some more entertaining ads. It is going to force advertisers and brands to make sure there is something really important in their message for consumers or consumers are going to knock it out.
Do you have any interest in owning a professional sports team?
Deutsch: I absolutely do. I would not in any way rule that out for the future. It is something I am definitely starting to look at, frankly.
So any of our readers looking to sell a team should contact you?
Deutsch: Absolutely.
Starting with this week’s issue, SportsBusiness Journal will regularly feature “One-on-One,” an interview profile started last September by our sister publication, The Sports Business Daily. Separate excerpts from our discussions with some of the top executives in our industry will be highlighted in both publications.
