Fallon is a full-service advertising agency headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with affiliate offices in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, and
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. It is a subsidiary of
Publicis
Publicis Groupe S.A. is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. As of 2024, the company is the largest advertising company in the world by revenue. Based in Paris, it is one of the 'Big Four' advertising commpanies, al ...
.
History
Fallon was founded in 1981 as Fallon McElligott Rice in 1981 by Patrick Fallon, Tom McElligott, Nancy Rice, Fred Senn and Irv Fish. Fallon printed a full-page agency manifesto in the ''Minneapolis Star'' and ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1981, seeking “companies that would rather outsmart the competition than outspend them”—a cold call for national advertising work that ran only in the local papers, and a “provocative message pitching scientific thinking and a condemnation of the prevailing strategies of the industry.”
Fallon McElligott Rice's first national client was an insurance agency, ITT Life. In 1981, the agency added several more national accounts to its roster, including ''The Wall Street Journal'', US West, and the Episcopal Church. The agency was named Ad Age's Agency of the Year in 1983,
1995, 1997 and, was the Comeback Agency of the Year in 2015.
Notable campaigns
* ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' – ''Perception/Reality,'' increased Rolling Stone's ad pages by 81% in just four years
*
Jim Beam
Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced primarily at James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont, Kentucky by Suntory Global Spirits.
It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohi ...
– Back to the Basics
*
Lee Jeans
Lee is an American brand of denim jeans, first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas. The company is owned by Kontoor Brands, a spin-off of VF Corporation's Jeanswear Division. Since 2019 its headquarters has been in Greensboro, North Carolina, r ...
– ''
Buddy Lee
Buddy Lee was an advertising mascot for Lee Jeans. The doll, a promotional item for the company from 1920 to 1962, was brought back as the star of television advertising for the company's Lee Dungarees line from 1998 until the mid-2000s.
Early ...
'', increased Rolling Stone's ad pages by 81% in just four years
*
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
–
Arch Deluxe, one of the largest ad campaign failures ever
*
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
– ''
The Hire
The BMW film series ''The Hire'' consists of eight short films (averaging about ten minutes each) produced for the Internet in 2001 and 2002. A form of branded content, the shorts were directed by popular filmmakers from around the globe and sta ...
''
*
Cadbury Dairy Milk
Cadbury Dairy Milk is a British brand of milk chocolate manufactured by Cadbury. First introduced in the United Kingdom in June 1905 and now consists of a number of products. Every product in the Dairy Milk line is made exclusively with milk choc ...
– ''
Gorilla
Gorillas are primarily herbivorous, terrestrial great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or five su ...
''
Key people
Source:
* Pat Fallon – co-founder
* Tom McElligott – co-founder, creative director
* Mike Buchner – chairman
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Marketing companies established in 1981
American companies established in 1981
1981 establishments in Minnesota
Advertising agencies of the United States
Companies based in Minneapolis
Publicis Groupe
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