Deutsch, Kirshenbaum, in the 'Observer'

Haven't checked out The New York Observer much lately, but two stories this week caught my eye: one bemoaning the loss of glamour (and alcohol and cocaine) in the ad business titled "Why Have Admen Lost Their Mojo?" and another about Donny—"Can Former Adman Donny Deutsch Help CNBC Hold off Fox?" Of the two, the "Mojo" story is more apropos since Donny because, of course, Donny has departed for TV, where there's plenty of mojo to be had. Still, it neatly sums up "The Big Idea" having discovered a focus--on entrepreneurs--instead of being the amorphous talk-blob it once was. The "Mojo" story, which quotes Richard Kirshenbaum heavily and points out a factoid about him that even I didn't know--that he was recently named one of the 25 Most Stylish New Yorkers by US Weekly--does a better job than most stories written by outsiders at accurately reflecting the business. For instance--bravo!--it points out how the decline of the 15 percent commission has had a lot to do with the industry's decline. Too often, the industry's malaise is wracked up to other things, like those nasty clients actually demanding results. On the other hand, the story says that David Ogilvy--who, like, totally had mojo--retired to a castle in the South of France, but his chateau, Touffou, is actually about halfway up the country, and to the west (see map). I can elaborate in a story I'll tell at a later date, but let me just say for now that if he had been living in the south of France I wouldn't have missed my opportunity to drink wine with the man back in 1994.