I simply wish to give props to Pat Fallon. It was reported in the August 6, 2007 Advertising Age that Pat, the legendary founder of his celebrated namesake agency, was “shifted into an emeritus role last week in a restructuring by parent Publicis Group.” This move essentially puts the shop under the oversight of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts and removes Mr. Fallon from a day-to-day role.
As a teenager in the 1980’s, I viewed first-hand the ad revolution Pat Fallon started. During my twenties, I followed Fallon’s meteoric rise. I would have to say that Fallon’s campaigns are one of the reasons I was attracted to the advertising industry. It was sad to hear that the Minneapolis agency is struggling and sadder still to hear about Pat’s role change at the agency.
With that said, I am not surprised by the news and here is a little exercise to demonstrate why. Type in Crispin Porter Bogusky into Wikipedia and the search returns 17 relevant results with the first five being:
Crispin Porter + Bogusky_Relevance: 100.0% - -
The Whopperettes_Relevance: 95.8% - -
Ugoff_Relevance: 91.5% - -
The Subservient Chicken_Relevance: 84.4% - -
VDub_Relevance: 84.3% - -
Now type in Fallon or Pat Fallon into Wikipedia, and you won’t see an entry for the agency, it’s leader or any of its campaigns until the second page of results. It just might be that the Fallon revolution so potent in the 80’s and 90’s, so reliant on traditional media has not evolved and embraced new media as readily or as successfully as it should have.
Even so, Mr. Fallon will always be a giant of the industry in my eyes. I agree with Chuck Porter, Pat’s lifelong friend and founder of Crispin Porter & Bogusky, when he told Advertising Age “Pat doesn’t report to anyone.” Pat, go tell Kevin where he can put a Lovemark.
