Business

On Brand with Donny Deutsch

Everything is a brand. In today’s world companies, public figures, countries, institutions, and movements are brands with their own unique values, marketing, and influence. Former CEO and Chairman of Deutsch Inc., innovative political analyst and veteran TV personality, Donny Deutsch, mastered the power of branding when he built the multibillion dollar ad agency. Now, in a hyper-saturated, over-marketed world, our media landscape too often presents one-dimensional figures who are globally seen, and yet not truly known. Where the notion “perception is reality” feels truer each day, join Donny as he peels back the layers of the images we see, to understand the depths of the people who are changing our world. You won’t want to miss Donny’s candid conversations with global experts and the biggest names across entertainment, business, media, politics and more to better understand the “brands” of the moment and examine where politics, current events, and pop culture converge.

Latest Episodes:

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan: Inside Trump's War Room, the Netanyahu Pitch & 'Regime Change Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times join Donny to discuss their bestselling book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

They reveal how they landed remarkable access to sources still serving inside the administration, and walk through two of the book's most stunning scenes: the bizarre Oval Office moment when Trump had an aide read out a list ranking him among history's most powerful figures (alongside Napoleon, Hitler, and Genghis Khan), and the extraordinary Situation Room meeting where Netanyahu personally pitched Trump on an Iran regime-change operation — only for the CIA director to call the plan "farcical" the next day.

They dig into how a gut-driven decision led to the U.S. bombing Iran, why Trump's inner circle now trusts his instincts over expert warnings, the administration's evolving stance on AI regulation, and rapid-fire one-line verdicts on JD Vance, Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth, and Stephen Miller.

🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Be sure to check out the On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brands of the Week: Bowling Alleys Go Broke, Landlines Come Back, and Gen Z Is Ditching Sex Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Donny and Lou run through the brands shaping the week — from private equity turning bowling night into a $284 splurge, to nostalgic parents buying their kids Wi-Fi landlines to dodge spam calls and screen time. They dig into a new survey showing one in four millennials admit to shoplifting (blaming inflation), debate whether baseball needs a salary cap as a work stoppage looms, and question a Mountain Dew Baja Blast hand sanitizer that might be the next Tide Pod challenge waiting to happen. Plus: Viagra's surprising potential cancer-fighting powers, Tom Holland doing his own Fred Astaire-style dancing for an upcoming biopic, shark cage diving becoming the world's fastest-growing bucket list experience, and a genuinely good stat to end on — U.S. homicide rates hitting an all-time low.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stephen A. Smith: Knicks Championship Glory, Political Homelessness & Trump's 'Big Lie Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Stephen A. Smith joins Donny to relive the New York Knicks' first championship since 1973 — the heartbreak of Ewing, Starks, and Reggie Miller's eight points in nine seconds, finally exorcised 39 days ago.

From there, the conversation turns to politics: Stephen A. explains why he won't run for president, calls out the Democratic Party's socialist drift, and names his picks for 2028 (Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore, Marco Rubio) while explaining his distrust of JD Vance.

He also digs into Netanyahu's role in fueling antisemitism, the complicated politics around Caitlin Clark and the WNBA, and closes with a blunt take on why Trump still won't let go of the "big lie."

🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Be sure to check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brands of the Week: Wingstop, Fake Diamonds & Olive Garden's Pasta Pass Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

Wingstop just crushed the fast-food race with 382 new locations, De Beers is getting gutted by lab-grown diamonds, and Olive Garden's $100 Never-Ending Pasta Pass is back after a six-year hiatus.

Donny Deutsch and his Executive producer Lou Pellegrino run through this week's biggest movers: a booming box office (Odyssey, the MJ biopic, Toy Story 5), Hasbro turning Monopoly into a movie, the Mickey Mouse Club reboot, a surprise CD sales boom, solo dining's 52% surge, Starbucks swapping "grande" for "medium," and Pringles' controversial hot dog buns in a can.

Plus, the debut of a new segment: Grand Brand of the Week.

Tune in Thursday for Donny's big sit-down with Stephen A. Smith.

Rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Batya Ungar-Sargon on Antisemitism, the DSA's Working-Class Lie & Why the Left Turned on Israel Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

Batya Ungar-Sargon — News Nation host of "Batya," Free Press writer, and author of The Jews and the Left — joins Donny for a wide-ranging conversation on why the Democratic Socialists of America keep losing working-class voters despite their "working class" branding, and why Israel has become a central distraction in progressive politics. Batya breaks down the real data on antisemitism (left vs. right) and how mainstream outlets manipulate the statistics, plus Trump's economic populism, immigration and wages, the Graham Platner controversy, and the historical break between Jews and the Democratic Party going back to the 1967 Six-Day War.

Topics covered: the DSA and working-class politics, antisemitism on the left vs. the right, Israel and American Jewish identity, Trump's economic agenda, immigration policy, and the future of the Democratic Party.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brands of the Week: Twinkies Take an L, GLP-1s Fight Eating Disorders, and Sly Stallone Turns 80 Jul 14, 2026

Show notes

Donny Deutsch and his Executive Producer Lou Pellegrino run through this week's brand winners and losers — Hostess Twinkies' rough quarter, Reese's first new flavor in a decade, Kylie Jenner's Dunkin' collab, and a promising new use for GLP-1 drugs in treating eating disorders. Plus: a $8,000 Paris procedure to permanently change your eye color gets a hard pass, a new study pours cold water on fish oil's brain benefits, ESPN Jeopardy! is coming to Hulu with Joe Buck and John Hamm, and Michael J. Fox notches another Emmy nomination. They also dig into a startling stat on the number of young adults still living at home, debate whether Matt Damon's "The Odyssey" can justify a three-hour runtime, and celebrate Sylvester Stallone's 80th birthday and his one-of-a-kind decades-spanning box office run. All that, plus a heated take on a Stanley Cup name-plate snub and the priciest piece of Knicks memorabilia ever sold.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

S.E. Cupp on the DSA, Trump's 2028 Plan & GOP Hypocrisy Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

SE Cupp — CNN contributor and host of the "Off the Cup" podcast — joins Donny for a no-holds-barred conversation on the political moment we're in.

They dig into a stunning new AP poll showing American Jews rate Zohran Mamdani far more favorably than Benjamin Netanyahu, and unpack whether that reflects anti-Zionism, progressive politics, or something closer to antisemitism in disguise. SE Cupp draws on her years covering the Syrian war to explain the double standard in who the world chooses to care about.

From there, the conversation moves through the Democratic Party's growing rift with DSA-aligned candidates, the hypocrisy on both sides of the aisle (Ken Paxton, Graham Platner, Mitch McConnell), what a winning 2026 Democratic message actually looks like, and why "affordability" — not ideology — may decide the next election.

They close with a wide-ranging look at 2028: Marco Rubio, Josh Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Rahm Emanuel's feistiness problem, whether Trump could anoint a successor, and SE Cupp's theory that Tucker Carlson is quietly building a third-party run.

🎙️ SE Cupp also talks about her July 13th live event, "Carnegie Connects," with Ron Brownstein and Aaron David Miller on Israel and American politics — and what her podcast "Off the Cup" is really about.

🔔 Subscribe for new episodes every week.

Be sure to check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

🎧 Also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and everywhere you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brands of the Week: AI Voices, Wonka Chocolate, and Cracker Barrel's Big Comeback Jul 08, 2026

Show notes

It's another edition of Brands of the Week! Donny runs through the brands rising, falling, and holding steady in the cultural conversation — starting with Netflix's controversial use of Gene Wilder's AI voice for a new Willy Wonka competition series, and Tom Hardy's much-debated return for Mobland Season 3. Plus: Sam's Club dethrones Costco's beloved rotisserie chicken, 7-Eleven turns the Slurpee into a "date destination" for its 60th birthday, and a new study links daily probiotics to improved mood. Donny also breaks down why brisk walking is lowering heart attack risk in women, why Ford brought back 350 veteran engineers after an AI experiment went sideways, and why in-office job seekers are getting hired faster. From an Aurora, Colorado mayor secretly sleeping in homeless shelters to understand his city better, to child-free millennials splurging on luxury dog travel, "bloom scrolling" as the antidote to doom scrolling, seniors embracing their inner Golden Girls, physical books outselling digital media, and Cracker Barrel's full-circle redemption arc — it's a packed week in brand news. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and tune in tomorrow for Donny's big interview with CNN's S.E. Cupp.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brands of the Week: Larry David's Lifetime Achievement, Apple's Price Hike, and the Repo Man Cometh Jul 01, 2026

Show notes

This week Donny runs down the brands shaping the culture — a lifetime brand-up for Larry David and his new HBO series, plus a brand-up for Jay-Z's upcoming Rick Rubin-directed HBO documentary. Apple raises prices across its Mac and iPad lineup, Hasbro faces backlash over AI voice cloning for child actors on Peppa Pig, and philosophy majors suddenly have the edge over computer science grads in the age of AI. Plus: fireworks are traumatizing dogs and veterans, America's $1.7 trillion auto loan debt has the repo man riding high, gray divorce rates are climbing, Dolly Parton opens a luxury truck stop, and Mr. Pibb makes its big comeback. All that and more in this week's Brands of the Week.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lessons From the 1960s: Doris Kearns Goodwin on Leadership, Civil Rights & Hope for America's Future Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

What can the turbulent 1960s teach us about navigating today's divided world? In this powerful episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin joins us to discuss her latest book, An Unfinished Love Story, a deeply personal memoir that weaves together her own life with the defining moments of one of America's most transformative decades.

Goodwin reflects on the leadership legacies of JFK and LBJ, the courage behind the Civil Rights Movement, and why collective action — not individual heroism — has always been the true engine of progress. She unpacks how social media is reshaping modern movements, what today's leaders can learn from the past, and why youth engagement may be our greatest hope for bridging societal divides.

We also explore the rise of AI and its implications for how history is written and remembered — and why Goodwin believes human moral reasoning will always be irreplaceable.

Whether you're a history buff, a political junkie, or simply someone looking for perspective and optimism in uncertain times, this conversation will leave you inspired.

Be sure to check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On Brand with Donny Deutsch YouTube page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

On Brand with Donny Deutsch

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected