Press Release

NEW YORK, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Philip H. Geier, Chairman and CEO of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG - news) today announced that the Company has acquired Deutsch, Inc., a U.S. advertising and marketing communications agency highly regarded as a creative, new business and overall growth leader. Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

Deutsch, with 1999 reported billings of $1.2 billion, is America's largest independent agency and by far the fastest growing among the top 25. By more than quadrupling its size over the last three years, it rose in 1999 to become the 19th largest agency overall within the U.S. Both Adweek and Advertising Age magazines named it ''Agency of the Year'' in 1998 and Adweek repeated that recognition in 1999 as well.

''Deutsch is the model in our industry of how excellence in creativity and business solutions can drive continuing expansion,'' said Interpublic President John Dooner. ''But what makes Deutsch stand out is not just its creative awards and overall growth, but Donny Deutsch's and his management team's vision and drive that has transformed his company from a leading creative ad agency into a leading creative marketing communications firm as well. We share the same strategic goal of offering a broad range of the highest-quality marketing communications capabilities while also providing top-level strategic and creative services.''

Deutsch will operate as an autonomous Interpublic unit and continue to be headed by CEO Donny Deutsch. ''The nature of agency and marketer partnerships is being dramatically redefined in our business,'' said Donny Deutsch. ''The reason I'm enthusiastic about our joining up with Interpublic is because John Dooner and I share the same values about the importance of meeting each client's needs for growth with the right total integrated solution. Our goal at Deutsch, Inc. is to build a new type of creative global communications agency, one with doorways into selected markets around the world. This is how we can maximize our clients' opportunities with their customers. John and IPG, because of their worldwide perspective, understand what it takes to do something different in today's world on a global scale.''

Deutsch, which is headquartered in New York, also has offices in Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. In addition to its advertising agencies, it includes operations in sales promotion, direct marketing (DirectDeutsch), public relations and event marketing (Deutsch PR/Promotions), online communications (iDeutsch) and urban youth-marketing (dRush). Its accounts include Bank One, DirecTV, Domino's, Lenscrafters, Microsoft's Expedia.com, Mitsubishi Motors, Pfizer, Snapple, SunAmerica and Tommy Hilfiger.

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. is one of the largest organizations of marketing communications and marketing service companies. Its major worldwide company brands include McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, The Lowe Group, DraftWorldwide, Initiative Media Worldwide, Octagon, NFO Worldwide and The Allied Communications Group. The shares of The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (IPG). For further information visit: http://www.interpublic.com.