From Fallon in 98, where he worked on the coolest BMW work, creative and all around cool dude Chris Wiggins is heading back to Fallon Minneapolis (holla...MN, not Fallon)to work with ECD Al Kelly. There he'll return as creative director.

After leaving the frigidity, he went to San Fran to work at Zaaz, before returning to the Cities (that's Minneapolis/St. Paul for all you non-Minnesotans) and found a new home with Zeus Jones.

What's he working on? Apparently "everything" including all accounts and new business. Wow...just wow.

Update: Clients he'll be working on — Travelers, Nestle Purina,
TheLadders.com, New York Stock Exchange, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Crowne Plaza.

You'll recall that Fallon Minneapolis moved shop. Here's two of the most interesting pieces, that I still can't believe someone spent time posting on Craigslist (not walmart.com/classifieds, people; stay strong).

See Below.

Another bit of Fallon news, brought to you by Tribble. The Yooters reported the following:

"Fallon, the advertising agency behind the Cadbury gorilla, today has shown the world their new headquarters shaped by Universal Design Studio. The agency moves into its new rather large sized office on Great Titchfield Street, London W1, for the first time it’s TV, traffic and creative departments will operate from the same building. The agency’s 9,753 SqFt work space includes five floors and also has creative breakout areas, an editing suite, screening room, exhibition area and cafeteria."

The company's expansion and growth is a bit confounding. Anyone care to comment? Closing the Minneapolis shop to move into their old grounds while simultaneously opening the London digs...Details!

Well we all knew the Fallon Minneapolis move was coming. They're headed back to their haunt from days of yore. An enterprising tipster found a craigslist page rife with goods from the down-by-25%-this-year agency.

From an ad for a lamp:

"An ominous memento of the day a frustrated Fallon art director announced his resignation with the business end of a semi-automatic air pistol. Although plastic BB's had to be removed from the buttocks of 2 account exectuives charges were never filed, the lamps are being sold as we move to erase the memory. Fallon has just relocated to a new building. Our new address is: Fallon. 901 Marquette Ave, Suite 2400. Minneapolis, MN 55402. Phone numbers remain the same. (All items listed are things left behind during the move and are 100% Fallon-old-building-authentic.)"

And there you have it! Get your piece of history at Minneapolis dot craigslist dot org, query Fallon.

No, no. We're not talking about the agency losing big dollars and creatives in that headline. We're talking about Fallon melting down all of its awards to create one solid metal mural for a project called "You Are Fallon." (see video above)

The awards are all these people have to hold onto. Ah, the glory days, and hell, you can't be hater, they were GLORIOUS.

ECD Al Kelly, told Creativity that:

"Our new brand identity is "We are Fallon." It's about pride in who we are and what we do, so "You Are Fallon" was conceived as a way to honor the creative legacy of the agency and honor the people behind the work over the years."

The idea was conceived by creative who requested not to be named. Pat (who we love) along with Lubars, and Jamie Barrett all gave up their tokens to add to the pot. Great press gimmick and possibly a nice temporary morale booster, but what about the work? It's about the work kids. At least their old motto will bite the dust soon - "Outsmart Vs. Outspend." Fallon Minneapolis hasn't been out smarting anyone in some time.

Oh yeah, and they're moving, but we reported that long ago.

There's been fast and furious rumors regarding the pay of Fallon London's superstar creative, Juan Cabral. Apparently, the young buck takes home a million pounds. Heavens. Didn't know that anyone in the business who wasn't a Managing Director of a Death Star still made that kind of cash.

BBH blogger Scamp had this to say:

"We need Juan to be earning a million pounds a year, if we want to retain our status. You wouldn't want to work in a third-tier glamour profession, would you?"

I would have to agree. Bully to Juan for taking home the big bucks. How much has he made for Fallon or his clients for that matter? The old adage of paying for what you get still holds true.

Naturally, people are going to be green with envy if this is 100% true. Juan and everyone else doing there thing should just put their head down, keep rolling and listen to Rihanna:

"They keep evil thoughts in their hearts (what you dont know)
You can't let them knock your hustle
Not letting them know how much you struggle
They turn green with envy when your on top
And dem heart is full with strife
Their by gonna try to take your life"

Cribbed from a press release from this afternoon:

"Chris Foster has been named CEO, Fallon North America. Mr. Foster will have operational responsibility for Fallon's headquarter operations based in Minneapolis. He begins the new gig on April 1.

Chris is joining Fallon from Saatchi & Saatchi NY where has been the Executive Vice President, Global Equity Director heading up the global business for P&G's laundry and home care business. Previously he was CEO for Saatchi & Saatchi's offices in Japan and Hong Kong. He is a Canadian and started is career in Toronto working for Bozell Worldwide, Leo Burnett, and FCB."

Now we all know that Fallon Minneapolis has had multiple issues in regard to a variety of problems over the past few months -- losing out on the Microsoft gig (that went to CP+B); the client departures -- including BMW of North America, Lee Jeans and Citi, representing more than $250 million in billings; the hirings (and quick firings) of ECDs Paul Silburn from TWBA London & Kerry Feuerman from Leo Burnett --both who lasted less than a year in the post each time.

The best/worst contrast is the growth and development of Fallon's London location -- which is kicking major ass these days with the Cadbury "Gorilla" ads, the Sony Bravia & Walkman campaigns and the Skoda "Cake" work. Billings are up 150% and they are on fire...

Seems Chris has a bit of work to live up to the other locations... good luck to him!

Crispin has won Microsoft. We repeat. Crispin has won Microsoft. Pick your jaw up off the floor. You better recognize. The $300M brand (Pretty. Fucking. Sweet.) has selected the upstart, the rebel, the defy the odds and take prisoners agency of the day. They took JWT and McCann - two agencies that have been around the block and back. Fallon, the runner-up, has got to be shocked.

This is where you must sit back and consider. You've seen the Mac vs. PCs ads. Microsoft is a stalwart. A heavy machine that is the pillar of the economy, of the American way. This is no little brand. This isn't a burger chain looking to be hip. This is Microsoft. The software titan has bypassed the death stars, the agencies with all the resources and international locations, hundreds of workers to select Crispin. The game has changed and permanently. The Rebel Alliance has won.

We hear, as do many an ad blog, that Fallon Minneapolis is looking good to take home the Microsoft win over Crispin. That would be huge and Fallon's bumpy road aside, the shop deserves it. You know they do.

We also like the new Holiday Inn Express spots from the agency. Fallon performed some research, which showed that nearly half of business travelers surveyed say they've been picked up or hit on in the morning. We vouch for this weird bit of humor behavior and maybe that's why we found the spots quite tickling.

The designated driver spot that has been running for a bit doesn't grab us, but this one above titled "Ladies Night" gives us a chuckle. Have you ever been hit on at the breakfast buffet? It's totally insane, hard to endure with a hangover and smeared mascara.

Awhile ago, we speculated that Juan Cabral and Fallon UK might have been inspired by The Mighty Boosh when creating that drumming Cadbury gorilla. No big deal. We forgot all about it. Recently, other folks have been saying he was way more than inspired from a commercial on YouTube (see the video above).

Scamp broke the story: "Jury gossip reveals he originally presented the idea in the form of a YouTube clip. Not only that, but he had previously presented it to Cinzano (in Argentina), who didn't bite."

First off - so, he sees this thing on YouTube and pitches it to one client who doesn't love it. He then recycles it and serves it up to Cadbury. And what? Everyone recycles.

Secondly, advertising is a very tricky business. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, but when does it become out and out theft? Fallon UK could of avoided this whole messy thing by contacting the original creative on the commercial, which was for a brand called West49, and hiring him as an assistant on the shoot. Small pay out and everyone (Juan/Fallon/Cadbury) comes out smelling like roses. They didn't do that. Yet, if we went on a witch hunt to find "inspired" broadcast spots, half of the business would be burned at the stake.

We can't believe this, but we're going to quote Lil' Kim on this one, because Juan should be stealing her lines right now:

"All that bullshit you kick, playa hatin from the sideline/

Get your own shit, why you ridin mine?/"