Donny Deutsch & Piers Morgan Go Head to Head in the Alfred Dunhill Debate

Business Wire, Sept 5, 2008

WSJ.'s Tina Gaudoin will moderate an evening of bold banter & discerning debate

NEW YORK & LONDON -- Is the US President more relevant than England's Queen? Does American dress down top British sartorial elegance? Is New York better than London? These are just some of the topics that will be fiercely debated on Friday, 19th September as Donny Deutsch & Piers Morgan battle out in front of an audience of notables during the inaugural Alfred Dunhill Debate. The winner will be awarded $10,000 for his chosen charity.

The battle will be moderated by Tina Gaudoin, the esteemed Editor In Chief of WSJ. - the new glossy magazine from The Wall Street Journal, which will debut Sept. 6 and will serve as the inside track on how to live well.

dunhill, the male luxury brand, has created a unique, witty forum designed to provoke discourse and inspire intelligent debate to celebrate the opening of the new dunhill flagship store on Madison Avenue, in the heart of midtown Manhattan. The first-ever Alfred Dunhill Debate will pit a leading American personality against a leading British one. Deutsch and Morgan will exchange smart banter and opine on a range of topics from respectively American and British points of view.

Deutsch and Morgan will debate on a number of topics, including:

* The Power of Advertising vs. The Power of Editorial

* The President vs. The Queen

* New York vs. London

* Football vs. Football

* American Dress Down vs. British Sartorial Elegance

In addition, the public is encouraged to vote on another topic that the two men will debate by e-mailing their choice to dunhilldebate@mcsaatchi.com. The two topics to choose from are:

* The NY Yellow Taxi vs. The London Black Cab

* Blondes vs. Brunettes

"Donny probably sees himself as favourite because it's his home turf but he underestimates me at his peril. I really admire him, and he's a very smart guy, but if he watched Celebrity Apprentice then he will know that I chewed up all the New Yorkers on the show for breakfast. We Brits may be a much smaller country than America, but Donny is about to find out that size isn't everything in life!" said Mr. Morgan, former British newspaper editor who won The US Celebrity Apprentice and serves as a judge on America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent.

"I'm looking forward to butting heads with the very talented Piers Morgan during the Alfred Dunhill Debate. Piers is a very versatile man whose wit, personality and opinion are very strong - all admirable traits. His sharp tongue and business savvy have gotten him a long way in this country, as evidenced by his winning Celebrity Apprentice. However, Piers should stick to riding shotgun with Knight Rider's David Hasselhoff and let me handle the 'big ideas'," said Mr. Deutsch, chairman of advertising agency Deutsch Inc., and host of CNBC's The Big Idea.

The debate will take place on Friday, 19th September at the new dunhill flagship store, 545 Madison Avenue. The topics to be debated will reflect dunhill's British DNA while underscoring its place in the American lifestyle and retail landscape.

"dunhill has always attracted an intelligent and discerning gentleman," said Christopher Colfer, CEO Alfred Dunhill. "The Alfred Dunhill debate has been created to celebrate the opening of our new flagship store in New York and reward our customers with an evening of lively, inspiring and no doubt entertaining debate."

dunhill, known internationally as the leader in connoisseur luxury- from apparel to leather goods to accessories, is committed to appealing to gentlemen who exemplify intelligence, innovation, style and substance.

Media interested in attending and covering the Alfred Dunhill debate should contact Sandra John at 646-274-1295 or sandra.carreonjohn@mcsaatchi.com.

About Mr. Deutsch

Donny Deutsch is the host of CNBC's The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. He is also chairman of one of the nation's top 10 agencies, Deutsch Inc., a $2.5 billion full-service agency whose prestigious clients include General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, DIRECTV, Novartis Worldwide and IKEA. In 2005, Harper Collins published Deutsch's business motivation book, Often Wrong, Never in Doubt, based on his career experiences. Deutsch is also a managing partner of Deutsch Open City, the independent production company that has produced a string of highly acclaimed independent films. He had a brief turn in politics as a lead member of the Bill Clinton/Al Gore communications team in 1992, and is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

About Mr. Morgan

Piers Morgan is a former editor of British tabloid newspapers the News of the World and the Daily Mirror (1995-2004). He is credited as author of eight books and is editorial director of First News, a national newspaper for children. Morgan branched into television mainly as a presenter, but has become best known as judge or contestant in reality television programmes. In the UK, he is a judge on Britain's Got Talent. He is known in the United States as a judge on the show America's Got Talent, and the winner of The Celebrity Apprentice.