Advertising Age - March 5, 2012

VIEWPOINT

Edited by
Ken Wheaton,
kwheaton@adage.com
Do you have something to say? Send letters and corrections to viewpoint@adage.com
or to Advertising Age, Viewpoint, 711 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Please limit letters to
250 words.

RANCE CRAIN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

RANCE CRAIN Editorinchief
DAVID S. KLEIN Publishing/editorialdirector
ALLISON P. ARDEN Vicepresident,publisher
JACKIE GHEDINE Associatepublisher
rcrain@crain.com
dklein@crain.com
aarden@adage.com
jghedine@adage.com

Even at 86, Myra Janco Daniels is still
making a difference in her community

aklaassen@adage.com 212-210-0243 jpollack@adage.com 212-210-0458 kwheaton@adage.com 212-210-0761 sdougherty@adage.com 212-210-0783

that he had others. Question after
question, until it began to feel more like an
interrogation than a business meeting.”
A few days later, he wrote a check for
two and a half times’ the agency’s face
value. He was CEO; she was chief
operating officer and president. At the
press conference the next day, he
introduced his new partner as “Myrna
Junko.” She later learned that his favorite
bird was the dark-eyed junk and his
favorite actress was Myrna Loy.

“I learned a lot from Draper Daniels”
Myra says in her book. “He wasn’t a great
businessman, but he was a brilliant
wordsmith who taught me to state my
ideas clearly and concisely, as if I was
talking to one person. … Dan never
stopped being a copywriter. That was his
true passion.”
TRISTAN SPINSKI/NAPLES DAILY NEWS
And he knew how to have fun,
sometimes a little too much. During his
second week on the job, Dan didn’t show
up for a meeting and Myra went to his
office to get him. Dan was sitting in his
chair with his head back, his mouth open,
snoring. He’d had a business lunch and
drunk four martinis. Myra went down the
hall and found a camera. She snapped a
picture of Dan snoozing and asked the
production director to blow up the photo
and paste it on the cover of Time
Magazine. Then she wrote the headline
“Dynamic Daniels snores through the
day!” They put the magazine on his desk
the next day. “I will not work for a lush,”
Myra told him. She said he never again
drank during the day.

In 1967, Myra and Draper Daniels got married. He told her he wanted to stop off at the courthouse. She had not wanted to marry for at least another year, but he suggested they get a license anyway. There was an office across the hall where marriages were performed, and Draper Daniels said, “Myra, let’s go ahead and do it.” And they did.

They retired to Marco Island several years later, and he contracted cancer soon after. He had five operations over the next four years but couldn’t beat it.

After Draper Daniels died, Myra started working with people who wanted to form a chamber-music ensemble on Marco Island. From there it grew to a symphony orchestra, then a home for the orchestra, then an art facility.

Myra led the charge. “I used the same
principles I learned in advertising to sell
this community on the arts,” she said.
“You have to believe, and then you have
to get the community to believe. You have
to get them involved to the point that
they feel it’s theirs. That’s what we did.”
They sure know how to show their
appreciation for a job well done down in
Naples, Fla.

Abbey Klaassen Editor

Judann Pollack Executiveeditor

Ken Wheaton Managingeditor

Sheila Dougherty Assistantmanagingeditor

DATACENTER

Bradley Johnson Dir.ofdataanalytics, LosAngeles

Kevin Brown Directorofdatamanagement,Chicago

Matt Carmichael Dir.ofinformationprojects,Chicago

Keri Lynch Researcheditor,Chicago

Catherine Wolf Researcheditor,Chicago

AD AGE INSIGHTS

Ann Marie Kerwin Editor akerwin@adage.com EDITORS AT LARGE Bob Garfield Columnist Jack Neff Personalproducts/research,Batavia,OH Simon Dumenco Mediaguy Matthew Creamer THE BEAT SHEET AlexandraBruell Media,PR,directagencies abruell@adage.com 212-210-0229 BethSnyderBulik Consumerelectronics/tech, York,PA bbulik@adage.com 717-848-6950 Ann-ChristineDiaz Creativityeditor adiaz@creativity-online.com 212-210-0403 Cotton Delo Socialmedia/startups cdelo@adage.com 212-210-0219 Jason Del Rey Digitalmedia/startups jdelrey@adage.com 212-210-0493 Emma Hall Editor,London ehall@adage.com 44-794-123-7761 Nat Ives Mediaeditor nives@adage.com 212-210-0146 Michael Learmonth Digitaleditor mlearmonth@adage.com 212-850-0283 Maureen Morrison Agencies,fastfood,Chicago mcmorrison@adage.com 312649-5348 Rupal Parekh Agencyeditor rparekh@adage.com 212-210-0770 Kunur Patel Agencies kpatel@adage.com 212-210-0204 Shareen Pathak Creativityreporter spathak@adage.com 212-210-0190 Jeanine Poggi Mediareporter jpoggi@adage.com 212-210-0455 E.J. Schultz Alcoholicbeverages/food,Chicago eschultz@adage.com 312-397-7582 Brian Steinberg TVeditor bsteinberg@adage.com 212-210-0169 Laurel Wentz Globaleditor lwentz@adage.com 212-210-0175 Stephen Williams Autosandconsumerelectronics sawilliams@adage.com 212-210-0269 Natalie Zmuda Retail,nonalcoholicbeverages nzmuda@adage.com 212-210-0419 ART Jesper Goransson Artdirector Jennifer Chiu Deputyartdirector Thomas Pardee Editorial/productioncoordinator WEB Charlie Moran Webproducer/editor Michelle Koueiter Juniorwebproducer COPY Anna Baskin Copy/People&Playerseditor 212-850-7613 Zharmer Hardimon Copyeditor 212-210-0131 Michele Arboit Copyeditor 212-210-0191 EVENTS DavidTeicher Socialmedia&eventcontentmanager dteicher@adage.com 212-210-0108

bjohnson@adage.com 310-860-6420 kbrown@adage.com 312-649-5272 mcarmichael@adage.com 312-649-7846 klynch@adage.com 312-649-5413 cwolf@adage.com 312-280-3104

212-210-0183

bgarfield@adage.com 301-340-2804 jneff@adage.com 513- 732-9001 sdumenco@adage.com mattcreamer@gmail.com jgoransson@adage.com 212-210-0474 jchiu@adage.com 212-210-0795 tpardee@adage.com 212-210-0431

cmoran@adage.com 201-667-2649 mkoueiter@adage.com 212-210-0162

abaskin@adage.com zhardimon@adage.com marboit@adage.com

a magnificent symphony hall and black-box theater. The mission was to combine all the arts—performing and visual—in a single complex under the same management. It’s a $100 million-plus nonprofit corporation, debt-free.

Ms. Daniels “has taught us the
importance of building a sustainable
business plan in advance,” The Naples
paper said. “She taught us the
importance of quality. She taught us the
importance of never resting on laurels
and always planning the next move.”
It seems Myra Janco, from her earliest
days growing up in Terre Haute, Ind.,
always had a plan. She started her first
business, Janco Party Favors, with the
encouragement of her grandmother. Her
grandmother not only backed her
financially (lending her rolls of pennies on
which she charged interest of two
pennies per hundred), but gave her some
advice Myra never forgot: “Create
something that people want and need,
and you’ll be successful.”
She worked her way through college
by holding down two jobs, editing the
Indiana State University weekly

MYRAJANCODANIELS:

“You have to believe, and then you have to get the community to believe.”

and bought a house on Michigan Avenue in Evanston (a block down from where I was raised). Along the way, she met Draper Daniels.

They met because he wanted to buy her agency. By then, it had been absorbed by Roche, Rickerd, Henri, Hurst, and Myra wasexec VP. Draper(shesaid heliked tobe called Dan) had made his name creating the Marlboro Man for Leo Burnett. He left to take a job in the Commerce Department in the Kennedy administration. When he returned to Chicago he joined Compton Advertising, but word got around that he wanted his own company.

A friend of hers told Myra that Draper
Daniels might be interested in her agency,
and when they first met in her office he said:
“Miss Janco, I’m so glad to meet you. Now
tell me, what do you think is the best
advertising in America right now and why?”
In her book, “Secrets of a Rut Buster,”
Myra recalls that she “reluctantly
answered his questions, only to find out

ADVERTISING, SPONSORSHIP & INSIGH TS SALES

MEDIA

Jason Asch Sr.accountmanager

Ellen Mazen Sr.accountmanager,westcoast

Brent Rupp Sr.accountmanager

Georgia Gardner Accountexecutive

DIGITAL, CREATIVITY & TECHNOLOGY

Jim Whelan Sr.Director,Digital

Alex McGrath Sr.accountexecutive

Becky Gibson Sr.salesexecutive

INSIGHTS

Lisa Scotto Director,strategicpartnerships lscotto@adage.com 212-210-0104 SALES MARKETING

Kerri Ross Director,salesmarketing

Emily Chiang Salesmarketingmanager

Danielle DeLuca Sales&marketingassistant

CUSTOM

Karen Egolf Editorialdirector,customprograms kegolf@adage.com 847-577-9032 Richard K. Skews Associateeditor,customprograms rskews@adage.com 312-280-3136 MARKETING & EVENTS

Angela Carola Sr.director,newbusinessventures acarola@adage.com 212-210-0407 Tina Marchisello Director,events&conferences tmarchisello adage.com 212-210-0235 Matt Kinsey Eventsmanager mattkinsey@adage.com 212-210-0202 Hannah Wall Digitalmarketinganalyst hwall@adage.com 212-210-0727 Candace Hanson Eventsmanager chanson@adage.com 212-210-0159 ADVERTISING PRODUCTION

Michael Corsi Pre-press/productiondirector

Kate Nelson Productionmanager

Meilyn A. Castillo Assistanttopublisher
jasch@adage.com
emazen@adage.com
brupp@adage.com
ggardner@adage.com

212-210-0164

310-426-2484

212-850-7614

212-210-0475

jwhelan@adage.com amcgrath@adage.com bgibson@adage.com

212-210-0158

212-210-0456

212-210-0173

kross@adage.com echiang@adage.com ddeluca@adage.com

212-210-0160

212-210-0246

212-210-0171

mcorsi@adage.com knelson@adage.com mcastillo@adage.com

212-210-0214

212-210-0230

212-210-0248

Rahmin Pavlovic Generalmanagerofonline
Kevin Meltzer Seniorapplicationssamurai
Garon Benner Interactivedesigner
Owen Duffy Campaignandadoppsmanager
rpavlovic@adage.com
kmeltzer@adage.com
gbenner@adage.com
oduffy@adage.com

212-210-0166

212-210-0708 212- 210-0753

You can reach Rance at rcrain@crain.com

Subscriber services: 1-877-320-1721, fax (212) 210-0465, outside U.S.: 1-313-446-0450, e-mail: customerservice@adage.com PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

KEITHE.CRAIN Chairman RANCECRAIN President MARYKAYCRAINTreasurer GLORIASCOBYSeniorVP-grp.publisher MERRILEEP.CRAINSecretary ROBERTC.ADAMSGrp.VP-tech.,circ.,mfg. WILLIAMA.MORROWExecVP-operations DAVIDKAMISVP-prod.andmfg.