Los Angeles agency Deutsch LA is rebranding as Deutsch, eight months after Interpublic Group sold its onetime sister agency Deutsch NY to Attivo Group.

Under terms of the Attivo sale, Deutsch NY agreed to sunset the Deutsch name (it’s since been calling itself DNY), allowing Deutsch LA to take control of it. The L.A. agency soon got to work on a full rebrand as Deutsch, which is being unveiled today.

The rebrand includes a scripted wordmark (replacing the old logo of the letters D, L and A shaped like a face); a refreshed color palette centered on a vivid orange; a new font; and AI-generated capital letter D’s personalized to each employee.

The decision to rebrand is as much a business choice as a creative one. The agency said there’s been a lack of clarity in the market over the years between Deutsch LA and Deutsch NY. This was true when they were two divisions of the same company—the New York agency, founded in 1969, opened in L.A. in 1997—but even more so after they spun off into separate organizations in 2020.

“The split in 2020 was a perfect business solution but an imperfect brand solution,” said Kim Getty, Deutsch’s CEO. “There was still a lot of brand confusion in the marketplace. A big part of this was, how can we create more clarity moving forward so that both agencies can succeed in their own ways?” 

The Deutsch LA name had its own unique equity, but moving forward as Deutsch is the better path for building a strong, singular brand, Getty said.

“The biggest gift we can give to the people of Deutsch is creating the most powerful system for their own individual success and our collective success,” she said. “This felt like the best way to do that.”

A mosaic of people, culture and capabilities

Creatively, the new brand identity was inspired by three key inputs: the visual culture of L.A., the diversity of the agency’s staff and the variety of its capabilities, Deutsch’s leaders said.

All three flow throughout the graphic elements. The scripted wordmark evokes waves and surfing, while also echoing the scripted marks of local sports teams such as the Dodgers, Lakers and Clippers. L.A.’s graffiti and tattoo artists were also inspirations.

The color palette likewise leans into nature, with hues including sunny yellow, sky blue and sand off-white.

The identity has modern interactive flourishes, too, including individual AI-generated images for every Deutsch employee. These images feature the letter D from the logo in various textures and settings. They were generated from written prompts supplied by staffers intended to capture their essence as people and creatives.

The images were produced by Deutsch client Adobe’s Firefly AI software.

“The cool thing about this is that we’re really grounded in our people,” said Karen Costello, Deutsch’s creative chair. “The face logo did a nice job of that before. This is the next chapter of how we do that. The prompts were really fun, and the diversity of the images is so cool.”

While the AI part of the project communicates a forward-thinking approach to creativity, it also works internally as a celebration of diversity—an embodiment not just of who the employees are, but what they can do.

“We have copywriters making images, producers working on social videos, designers making animations. We’re very much multi-hyphenate,” said Adhemas Batista, chief design officer, who led the rebrand. “AI allowed us to do more, to blend all these things into a tapestry of differences and the creativity that comes with it.”

A full-circle moment

While in many ways it represents a new beginning, adopting the Deutsch name is also the culmination of a decades-long journey for the agency. For the once-scrappy satellite office to take full ownership of the Deutsch brand is an achievement worth celebrating on its own.

Beginning today, the agency will do just that, with 72 hours of activations internally—basically, a three-day party. On top of the rebrand, the agency is also celebrating its current momentum, with 100 new people hired already this year and 54 open positions.

“We’re a place that loves to constantly reinvent,” said Costello. “People can feel the momentum we have. This felt like a great moment to acknowledge all of us together in this chapter, celebrating the culture of reinvention that we’re so good at.”