Inspiration meets innovation at Brandweek, the ultimate marketing experience. Join industry luminaries, rising talent and strategic experts in Phoenix, Arizona this September 23–26 to assess challenges, develop solutions and create new pathways for growth. Register early to save.
Office Will Become Third Full-Service Shop In Growing Agency’s Network; Miami Next
CHICAGO-Deutsch is planning to open a full-service office here in April, initially to service the agency’s newly won Mitsubishi dealers account.
“We are opening a Chicago office with our initial benchmark client being the entire Midwest region of Mitsubishi,” confirmed agency chairman and chief executive Donny Deutsch. He added that the office will provide field service support for its Baskin-Robbins client before gearing up to pitch new business.
The office is Deutsch’s third in the U.S. The agency expanded from its New York base to open a Los Angeles office in 1995. The Santa Monica, Calif., outpost initially served Ikea West and Mattel. The shop quickly became a local player, winning assignments from Walt Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures and Wolfgang Puck Food Co. before the year was out.
“We hope to match the success we’ve had in L.A.,” Deutsch said of his Chicago plans. He added that expansion plans call for an office in Miami by year-end.
For the first year or so, the new office will be staffed with middle managers from New York, along with a handful of new employees hired locally. After the first year, Deutsch said he expects to have a senior management team in place. As in Santa Monica, the office will be run by a general manager, a creative director and a head of planning.
Deutsch is coming off one of its best years, with a reported billings increase of 32 percent to $500 million. The agency recently won the majority of Mitsubishi’s 41 dealership regions. -with Michael McCarthy
