Pat Fallon's legacy: network's most high-profile ads
Pat Fallon, the renowned adman who co-founded Fallon Worldwide, died on Friday aged 70, leaving behind a network which has produced ads seen across the world.
Fallon created Fallon McElligott Rice in 1981 in Minneapolis, alongisde Tom McElligott, Nancy Rice, Fred Senn and Irv Fish. It opened its first overseas office in London in 1997, before the network was bought by Publicis Groupe and renamed as Fallon Worldwide in 2000.
Maurice Lévy, the chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe, said of Fallon: "Pat was one of the greats of our world with an incredible passion for remarkable work."
Campaign has picked out a selection of the network's most high-profile ads over the years.
1985: Rolling Stone "perception vs. reality"
A classic print ad for the iconic music magazine, this campaign was designed to change advertisers' perceptions of Rolling Stone readers as "poor, ageing, dope-smoking hippies". After it launched there were more than 60 executions created and, in the first year of the campaign, sales for the magazine went up by 47 per cent.
1996: McDonald's "Arch Deluxe"
The fast food giant reportedly spent $300 million on research and marketing to come up with the Arch Deluxe burger, a "grown up" option for adults. It was finally discontinued in 2000 in the US after it failed to gain popularity.
2001-2002: BMW "the hire"
The auto brand released a series of eight short films directed by popular filmmakers from around the world. Each film stars Clive Owen as a mysterious driver for hire.
2004: Virgin Mobile "Chrismahanukwanzakah"
Virgin Mobile invented a new all-inclusive holiday. The ad features a Bing Crosby-esque singer, two rabbis playing piano, an African musician, a caveman, a Buddhist monk, and an Indian Santa.
2004: United Airlines "it's time to fly"
This animated ad features Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin and is voiced over by Robert Redford. The first of the ads, called "interview", was created by Canadian filmmakers Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby.
2007: Cadbury "gorilla"
The simple spot promoting Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate shows a gorilla playing drums to Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight. It was recently voted Britain’s favourite TV ad ever.
2007: Skoda "cake"
Set to the soundtrack My Favorite Things by Julie Andrews, the ad depicts the steps taken by a group of white-uniformed bakers to prepare a cake – mixing batter, zesting oranges, kneading orange sugar paste, and pouring melted chocolate. At the end the bakers gather around their creation, which turns out to be a cake replica of the Skoda Fabia.
(This article first appeared on CampaignLive.co.uk)
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