There's been fast and furious rumors about 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?/"

So, Pat Fallon left the building. Meanwhile, Saatchi is still doing that integration thing on the agency's behalf. Big name staffers have bailed. Juniors have moved up and a few new faces have littered the Fallon floor. See it all here.

And yet, we still have questions. While writing an entry about Brazilian offices, we realized that Fallon very recently closed their theirs, which was dedicated to handling the Citibank account. Of course, Fallon lost that business to Publicis. Publicis of course owns Saatchi and Fallon. As Fallon was failing, Publicis convinced the brand to stay in the family. Good save boys. However, WE HEAR... that another reason the shop closed is because Fallon couldn't pick up any new biz in Brazil. All of Brazil is talking about it. Now, we all know that the boys in charge would of most certainly been looking to keep that outpost open after the initial investment. They just couldn't get any clients and that was that.

So Brazil is closed. WE HEAR... that Shanghai is full of Saatchi staffers now. There's other murky rumors about Saatchi shaking up the Fallon network and as we get more details, we'll post 'em.

And yet, the flagship in Minneapolis continues to fly the proud brave flag. They just completed the work on their new account, Equinox. FM is also moving offices to some new digs, which are supposedly going to be lovely and provide better working environments for creatives. Part of the reason for that move is that renters Duffy & Partners and have also been "spun off." By the way, Pat Fallon and Joe Duffy remain close personal friends, but um... with the rightfully lauded Fallon out of the driver's seat, wouldn't you find some new digs and like fast?

The branding coming out of Fallon has strongly been - "We're back." And we really want it for them, but is it really going to happen or is Saatchi just going to swallow them whole? In five years, will Fallon even exist? We'd put our money on no.

COMMENTS? PLEASE GOD. WE MISS YOU.
Send them to us agencyspy at mediabistro dot com.

Fallon is moving office spaces. Fallon Minneapolis will return to the AT&T Tower (the shop moved out in 2001) from 50 S. 6th Street. Fallon will occupy about half the space it has been due to layoffs, the spin-off of Duffy Design and defectors. Plus, the reportedly hate the space, as well. Fallon is trying to get itself back into shape after a rough year beginning with the promoted some young talent and the hiring of some others. It'll be interesting to see whether 2008 is their year.

Meanwhile, The Star Tribune is reporting that Deloitte and Touche will move 900 employees into Fallon's vacated space.

In the video above, copywriter Roberto Lastra informs Fallon that's he taking them up on a recent job offer. Roberto previously worked at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and has freelanced at StrawberryFrog, JWT, Toy, Leo Burnett and Publicis. Some of the accounts Lastra has worked on include Hewlett-Packard, Saturn, Consumer Reports, and OfficeMax including this year's "Elf Yourself" campaign.

Um... So, did you know that Fallon employees are currently engaged in a mustache contest? We're not sure why and we're not sure what you win, but check out the images below including new hire, Lastra. See them all in Fallon's Mustache Gallery.

____________
COMMENTS:

Comment #1: From Anon:

We'll see if this new hire can turn the place around. But I didn't see any mention on the departure of ECD Todd Riddle to BBH. Have any BBH sources who can confirm?

Comment #2: From Agency Spy
Todd was only a creative director, NOT Executive
Creative Director when he left Fallon.
____________

Fallon Minneapolis recently advanced some young bucks to shake up their flagging shop. Here comes another new hire: John Nussbaum has left Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, to join the agency as a senior art director. Nussbaum was poached by ex-co-worker at Goodby and now ECD at Fallon, Al Kelly.

John has worked on campaigns for Emerald Nuts (RIP Goulet), HP, and Goodyear. Nussbaum has also spent time at TBWA\Chiat\Day and Foote, Cone & Belding. You can view his blog, Ad Hoc, here.

UPDATE: August 2nd, 2007 at 3:30 pm - More Bodies Fall At Fallon Including Pat's

We wrote a piece this AM about Fallon and Saatchi & Saatchi's new deal to create a new division together called the SSF Group, which is really a way to save Fallon's sinking profit margin. Read it here. A tipster has provided us with their thoughts about Fallon's downfall, which include some scathing details about The Buchner brothers. This is a MUST READ:

"Having worked at Fallon right up to the point that it all went wrong (no more Subway, Lubars leaving for BBDO and fat multi-million dollar payday, and the rest of the dominoes falling) when I jumped ship just in time, the reason this is all happening is clear:

The Buchner boys have too much power. When [David] Lubars left, there was a huge void in creative leadership. [Bob] Barrie and [Dean] Hanson wanted no management responsibility, [Bruce] Bildsten was only around beacuse of his connection to BMW (everyone else hated him) and Harvey Marco had already left for Saatchi. The great creative shop was taken by the unimaginative Buchner boys, whose influence has always been outsized (see: Shetty, Baba, brought in to save BMW...didn't turn out well. That guy is a corpo leech who takes others' ideas and has lived off of BMWFilms for too long - his only contribution was not f-ing them up).

Pat Fallon is disinterested these days and has trusted the Buchner charlatans with the keys to the agency. They are terrible at new business development, no clients have ever liked them (I am specifically recalling BMW and Subway's reaction to Mike Buchner) and they are pompous asses who wear shirts that show off too much chest
hair. More than that, they are directionless and it was clear as they moved up that the agency had lost its focus.

With them in charge, the agency is screwed. Just look - they have shed clients, lost their best people (Appleby, Sage, Bologna, Merkin, Barrie, Gunnerud, etc and so on), and are quickly flaming out.

They need to either reanimate Pat Fallon a la Orville or break free from Publicis and go gunning with creative in the lead like the old days.

Oh yeah, and without the Buchners.

This is more of a screed than an argument, but those muppets have ruined a great agency."

Oh boy.... Everyone bow down to this tipster who has the real deal goods.

UPDATE: We have more thoughts from a tipster about the problems plaguing the agency - Part Deux: Why Fallon Is In The Shitter or, if you're bored of this find out about McCann Erickson's Recent Very Very Dumb Mistake