Quotes by Donny Deutsch

At the end of the day, great advertising is just like great moviemaking. No great research has ever made a movie; no great research has ever made a television show. You can tweak things, see if something is working a certain way, so yes, research can test "Is this communicating what I think it communicates?" You might think it does, but if 20 people say, "I don't get it," well, you've got to pay attention to that. But you can't listen if 20 people go, "I think it's this" or "You should do this" or "I like this." The best creative products—and this goes for television programming also, this goes for news organizations—use research appropriately and intelligently, but give me that great gut every time. And that's what separates the men from the boys.

A good ad is one simple idea, with humanity in it, that connects with consumers, that represents the value system of a company and then can connect it with the consumer. We always say a brand is set of shared values. So if you can simply demonstrate your value system as a brand, so that a consumer could say, "Ah, our values line up. I vote for you, brand!" that's a good ad.