Maxwell "Mac" Dane (June 7, 1906 – August 8, 2004) was an American

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

executive and co-founder of the

Doyle Dane Bernbach DDB Worldwide Communications Group LLC, known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies. The international advertising networks ...

agency, known as DDB, that was established in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

in 1949. For advertising against U.S. presidential candidate

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

in 1964, he became one of the original twenty people mentioned on

Nixon's Enemies List "Nixon's Enemies List" is the informal name of what started as a list of President of the United States Richard Nixon's major political opponents compiled by Charles Colson, written by George T. Bell (assistant to Colson, special counsel to th ...

Biography

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

familyInterview with: Maxwell Dane at - DDB in the '60s
retrieved June 2, 2017 in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He spoke

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

in his home. Dane began his advertising career in his mid-teens, working as a secretary to the manager of advertising at Stern Brothers in

, and later, as retail promotion manager at the ''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost.com; PageSix.com, a gossip site; and Decider.com, an entertainm ...

''. Subsequently, he worked as advertising and promotion manager at '' Look magazine'', where he met James "Ned" Doyle. In 1941, Dane began work as advertising promotion manager for the New York radio station, WMCA. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he arranged for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' to air news bulletins at the top of each hour, an innovative idea for radio at the time. In 1944, Dane opened a small advertising agency bearing his name, ''Maxwell Dane, Inc.'' His short-lived agency was closed in 1949 when Dane co-founded

(DDB) with James Doyle, and Doyle's friend,

William Bernbach William Bernbach (August 13, 1911 – October 2, 1982) was an American advertising creative director. He was one of the three founders in 1949 of the international advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). He directed many of the firm's breakt ...

. When DDB, then considered a firm handling predominantly Democratic candidates during political campaigns, produced the 1964 television commercial ''Daisy'' in support of

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

's Presidential campaign, Dane was added to

with the remark:

The top Democratic advertising firm—they destroyed Goldwater in 1964. They should be hit hard starting with Dane.

At DDB, Dane oversaw finance and public relations functions, later becoming the chairman of the executive committee, secretary, and treasurer of the corporation. He retired from DDB in 1971. His obituary noted, that "after a brief illness, Dane died in his New York home on August 8, 2004. Dane is survived by his wife Esther, his son Henry Dane, four grandchildren; Abraham, Michael, Marion and Samuel, and seven great grandchildren."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dane, Maxwell 1906 births 2004 deaths Businesspeople from Cincinnati American advertising executives Nixon's Enemies List 20th-century American Jews Businesspeople from New York City