Not so long ago, it was possible to get through life never having heard of Donny Deutsch. Back then, the voluble 46-year-old from the New York City borough of Queens was simply the chief executive of an advertising agency, albeit a rather large one - Deutsch Inc., with around 1,000 employees and clients like Ikea and Mitsubishi Motors.

While President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry are both flooding Ohio with television advertisements, a new study shows that the Republican incumbent has reached viewers more often in the rural markets of Zanesville and Lima, while the Democratic challenger and his allies have rolled up an edge in industrial Toledo, Columbus, Dayton and Cleveland.

After years of resistance by lawmakers from tobacco states and the cigarette industry, the Senate overwhelmingly approved new federal regulation of tobacco products and advertising on Thursday as part of a deal to buy out the nation's tobacco growers and end price supports that date from the Depression.

A change in voting rules aimed at adding spice to the Emmys resulted in a nominations mix of TV's mainstream and cult favorites.

Staples today said it selected McCann Erickson Worldwide, New York, to handle its TV creative account after a review.

Heads are rolling on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

As dieters, celebrity-watchers and aficionados of politics digest the news that Slim-Fast has dumped Whoopi Goldberg from its advertising for having crudely mocked President Bush at a political rally, marketers are left to ponder once again the risks of celebrity endorsements. There has been a rich run of endorser imbroglios, not all of which ended when the sponsor pulled the plug.

Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison and fined $30,000 Friday for lying to investigators about her sale of ImClone Systems stock in late 2001.

The WPP Group, the advertising agency company, is considering a possible bid for the Grey Global Group of New York, the last big independent agency company. WPP, based in London, has hired bankers who are scheduled to start due diligence on the company as soon as this week, an executive close to WPP said yesterday.

The Adelphia Communications Corporation, the country's fifth-largest cable provider, has chosen UBS Investment Bank and Allen & Company to be financial advisers as it prepares to accept bids to sell itself.