It’s crazy, he should be better known.
He ushered in a new, sassier way of talking.
His work felt like it was written by a very smart lawyer with a wicked sense of humour.
He influenced a generation.
But there’s almost no evidence of his existence on the internet.
In a Stalinesque style purge, Lurzer’s Archive have retouched the Fallon McElligott work to read Fallon.
Even the publishers of Luke Sullivan’s great book ‘Hey Whipple’ seem not to know him:
I can’t find a lot of information on him out there, so it’s difficult to offer up too much. I certainly can’t vouch for the chronology of the work below, but I’ll have a first stab and update it if complaints come in.
So here’s what I know:
Minneapolis legend Ron Anderson hired Tom to work with him at Bozell’s.
They did some very good, very Fallon McElligott style work together:
Whilst at Bozell, Tom started taking on freelance projects with the young, Head of Media Research at another Minneapolis agency, Martin/Williams.
They called it Lunch Hour Ltd.
By 1981, they were getting so busy that they quit their day jobs, setting up an ad agency along with Art Director Nancy Rice.
This is their first ad. (August 3rd 1981, Minneapolis Star and Minneapolis Tribune.)
Bob MacDonald spotted the ad, he was the Marketing Director of ITT Insurance and
was having trouble finding an ad agency that could ‘make the big insurance companies look like shit’.
Fallon McElligott Rice were given the account and Tom started making the big insurance companies look like shit. 
They also start picking up local accounts, very local; hair salons, lumber yards, no account appear was too small.
Another way to look at it, and my guess is it’s nearer the truth; no opportunity to create, however small the budget, was turned away.
The first time I came across the name Fallon McElligott, it was underneath these ads in The One Show.
They’d be bold for a beer brand, but for a religion? (Also, who knew The Episcopal Church guys were such a fun bunch, maybe I should sign up?)
The name Fallon McElligott started to turn up more and more, especially in awards annuals.
People were taking notice of this agency in an odd location beginning with ‘M’.
One of them was Ed McCabe.
This ad for the Art Centre seemed to sum up the Fallon McElligott attitude.
I love this, it looks horrific, sad and disturbing…
…but it’s just an announcement card for the birth of an Art Director’s daughter.
This Hush Puppies campaign was incredibly influential at the time.
But they didn’t just do humour, they tackled difficult subjects head on.
I remember drooling over this Penn croissant ad.
They made a convincing case for Advertising itself.
The Wall Street Journal came first, it must’ve influenced The Economist campaign.
Rolling Stone’s problem was that people thought it’s readers were hippies.
(It wasn’t true.)
Consequently media companies would rarely recommend it.
The solution was so simple, smart and unlike any other ads at the time.
A cool scratch and sniff version. (I’m guessing smelly v fresh?)
It felt new, neither headline or visual lead, it had its own structure.
As did the Jim Beam campaign.
I’d not seen a campaign like this before; just a list of dates and ephemera.
As much social commentary as advertising.
But it was great advertising, re-positioning Jim Beam as the classic.
Not only was it incredibly distinctive, it engaged and made you think.
It’s the kind of work that could give advertising a good name.
It wasn’t done by hucksters, it was done by smart guys having fun.
I presume this was the first one. It’s neat.
…but who’d have thought it would’ve lead to all these?
They also produced Christmas versions.
They subverted the whole campaign idea with this responsible drinking ad.
They tackled a different aspect of drinking with the campaign for Windsor Canadian,
perfectly capturing the emotion of that first drink of the evening.
As well as coming up with distinctive, own-able, visual devices for campaigns, they also did the same with words.
The way this Lee campaign is written looks familiar now, it wasn’t at the time.
They enlisted Stevie Wonder in the war against Drink Driving.
Very ballsy.
They went visual with Power Pack.
Their work started to get National attention.
The clients they attracted got bigger, but the way they treated them stayed the same; ‘We don’t research creative work.’
They won Penn tennis balls and produced this.
http://youtu.be/ZU375bFUHHg
They won Porsche, and with a few black letters and a pack shot, gave it attitude.
(If you’ve never tried writing three word headlines, try it, it’s really hard.)
INTERLUDE: Fallon were absolutely dominating the creative awards at this time, One Show annuals of the period look like house brochures.
Here’s a mailer for a talk Tom gave around this time:
They needed to hire to deal with all their new business. Having exhausted the local supply of talented ad folk they’d have to attract talented people from the East and West Coast too. But why would they go to Minneapolis ?
It’s possible that Tom had just left by the time these ads ran, but they seem very him.
An awards show ran this ad when it was announced that Tom was leaving Fallon McElligott.
In 1987, this ad ran. Cheeky, but relatively harmless right?
WRONG! It was shown at a lecture on P.R. given by Fallon McElligott’s design arm, Duffy & Partners, a member of the audience was offended, Dr. Neala Schleuning, so she sent Duffy & Partners a letter expressing her outrage.
In return, she received the letter and photo below.
It’s signed by Duffy & Partners’ Charles S. Anderson, but its widely believed to be the work of Tom McElligott.
Dr. Schleuning started showing the letter around to friends, then to the women’s consortium and they had contacts.
It snowballed, getting more and more exposure.
It became known as the “Dinka incident.”
First, US WEST, a client with a big and active women’s union pulled their account.
The Wall Street Journal followed, then FedEx.
It was a very expensive mistake, colleagues say it affected Tom very deeply.
He started to spend more time away from the agency and miss meetings.
Within a couple of years he quit.
UPDATE: Since writing this post I’ve tracked Tom down and recorded a two and a half hour podcast with him, I posted it in January 2017.
n.b. A bit more reading:
1. Tom & Ron Anderson get quizzed by Communication Arts back in ’76.
2. An interview with Inc. magazine from 1986: http://www.inc.com/magazine/19860701/1527.
3. Introducing Tom and his gang to us Brits. (Direction magazine.)
4. Catching up after he left Fallon McElligott. (Also Direction magazine.)
5. A profile of Fallon McElligott Art Director Dean Hanson.
Dean worked very closely with Tom in the early years and created a lot of the great work in this post.
Old enough to remember him! Time you did a course for students
Hey Kate,
a) Why is the Fallon McElligott work now credited as Fallon?
b) Is it the same reason Campbell Doyle Dye work is now credited Shop?
c) Name the guilty.
Best,
Dx
The first time I realised what real writing was all about was looking through those old One Show annuals and seeing his work. They were so much better than the equivalent D&AD tomes. As you say, it’s an absolute travesty how his name has seemingly been expunged from history.
Hey Mark,
Glad to know I’m not alone.
What were your favourites and, if they aren’t here, do you have copies?
Best,
Dave
I remember seeing every single one of those above in the annuals. But I actually photocopied two and they hung on my walls for years. “Getaway cars” and “Airline food” for Porsche. So simple, so perfect.
I think Getaway Cars was done at Chiat?
Yes, Bill Stenton (@Chiat Day) was the writer of “In Germany, there are no getaway cars”, the visual being a Porsche cop car in Germany. I always loved that outdoor board, too.
I had the pleasure of working with Tom back in 1991. He was working on a pitch for US Sprint out of our Chiat/Day London office. Tom didn’t just “get” irony and nuance, he knew how to deliver it to US audiences. A quiet, almost reclusive man he projected an academic air. That is until he started writing – then he turned into an impish teenager. He sits at the top tier in the pantheon of Great Copywriters. No doubt about that.
Thanks Andy,
I don’t suppose you have any of the work?
Or any other work, finished or rough I could post?
Best,
D.
mmmmm. Don’t think I do. Will scour the files and see what turns up.
From memory. The headline:
‘One ride and you’ll understand why most rocket scientists are German.’
The last line of copy, again from memory:
‘It’s true there may be vehicles capable of more prodigious performance that the Porsche 944 Turbo. But you won’t find them on this planet.’
On the fora, Porsche drivers still remember it with affection and many would swap their eye-teeth for a copy.
Brilliant, thanks Tony.
That ad is now included in the post.
Best,
D.
I confess. I’m a hoarder. My attic, basement and garage are filled with boxes of advertising ephemera. This post has inspired me to break open a few of them this weekend. When I find my McElligott file, I’ll scan and share contents with you, Dave.
Thanks David,
Being a bit a geek, that’s avery exciting prospect.
Best,
Dave
You’re welcome. Another headline for Porsche was ‘Compromise is for politicians’. Breaks the rule of three, but not by much.
Thanks for this! Elated every time I’d see the “…have I got a car for you!” ad
Brilliant post, and totally agreed.
It always seemed so wrong that the man who created the reputation ended up losing it in the divorce settlement.
I remember all those ads from my early days. They almost (almost) even got me interested in church.
Sorry I can’t contribute any more to your collection. Can anyone at Fallon’s help???
Tom never divorced. He’s been married to the same lovely woman forever. She’s his rock.
I think he’s referring to the Fallon breakup.
McElligott’s willingness to respect the reader’s intelligence while challenging the conventions of the time (remember, this was the 80s) really set his work apart.
Keep in mind he also managed to attract talent when he served as Fallon McElligott’s CD. Hiring writers like Luke Sullivan certainly help any CD look good.
McElligott was also a critic of a somewhat hidebound ad industry, and I have to wonder what he’d think of the current situation, where big ideas are considered passe.
A little distressing to hear that work is being rebranded to reflect new agency names instead of the originals. I could see why the agency might want it that way, but it does a disservice to those who actually crafted the work.
Great to see this work, thanks Dave. I agree TCWriter – intelligent, thoughtful, sassy – it treats the consumer with respect.
One of the big worries I have about where the ad industry is going is that it seems to be reverting back to treating the punter like empty-headed morons.
We’ve been through that already – then we had the creative revolution and people like Tom above, Bernbach, Koenig, Ally & Gargano which changed advertising for the better – we treated the consumer like they had a brain, with respect.
Now advertising seems to have gone back to the brainless days again – all execution and no substance – with its dancing animals, cute kittens and brainless, twee emotional appeals begging to be ‘liked’ and ‘shared’ – this time with planners throwing around pop-phycology findings as justification.
Sadly, I couldn’t agree more. I thought the availability of affordable special effects would open up print and broadcast visuals, making it possible to create even better creative.
Instead, we get talking animals.
And copy — the stuff that delivers useful, actionable information to consumers — is now considered an impediment to global effectiveness and virality.
Everything moves in cycles, and ad creative is no exception. But it’s sad to see that creative like Tom McElligott’s — which truly engaged the reader by making them implicit in the “aha” moment of the ad — is disappearing from our industry.
I was editor of Design and Art Direction magazine, which ran the profile of Tom. He did seem quite studious and academic. But the spikiness of his writing reminded me of Tim Delaney at his best. The son of a Presbyterian minister, Tom was, as I recall, and he had an interesting take on the close connection between between advertising techniques and Christian prosyletising.
As for thought-provoking copy disappearing from advertising…well it’s true, but that’s driven by the technology isn’t it? The kind of ads Tom made were wonderful, but looking at them now feels to me a bit like looking at a daguerrotype. Beautiful, but we’ve moved on.
Yes, we have moved on, but I think it’s fair to ask what exactly have we moved on to?
Technology has surely forced changes, but work like McElligott’s was never about Futura XBold headline type. It was about big ideas and speaking directly to the reader. I think the rise of new technology — and an ad industry chasing trends instead of results — have made it just a little bit too convenient to stop chasing big ideas, subbing 140-character drek instead.
I agree tcwriter, for me it’s not so much about what platform it’s delivered on, rather that it seems the industry is moving away from communicating with people towards something else that isn’t necessarily more powerful. I look at some of these ads, and if you overlook the stylistic elements that date them, I’m pretty sure they would stop people in their tracks today.
Hey Paul,
Good to hear from you.
I have to disagree with the view that we’ve moved on beyond Tom.
Whatever the delivery system, it’s still just one human being trying to sell something to another.
Take remarketing, technologically it’s amazing; ads for things you’re in the market for turn up in and around your searches.
It’s like a salesman magically turning up on your doorstep only minutes after you’ve been discussing his product.
But he still has to sell it, the coincidence is not enough to make most people part with their money.
But most remarketing salesmen merely shout the name of their product and tell you it’s price.
They don’t close the deal.
Whether you are writing an ad or running a market stall, the best way to sell things is to make them attractive, desirable or useful.
Tom McElligott was brilliant at that.
Regardless or fashion, technology or media, he created ideas that made products desirable.
That’s very rare in our business.
Name the last piece of Porsche marketing that made you want one as much as those ads?
Tom was an admirer and acquaintance of Tim Delaney, they shared a love of early Ally/Scali work. I recall he especially liked Tim’s long copy Timberland ads.
Hey Dean,
Great to hear from you.
You were one of those guys whose name was splattered all over that early, great Fallon McElligott work, so I know you must have tonnes of good stuff that isn’t included in this post, even great stuff that didn’t make it out of FM Towers.
Can I have it? I’ll insert it into the post as though it was always there.
For a start, didn’t you do that great Penn Paris Open ‘Croissant’ ad?
Best,
Dave
Hi Dave – great blog
We worked together for a short time when you were at DHM, on the Land Securities account? I worked with Jorian mostly but the memory of your (slightly shambolic) pitch presentation with endless roll of paper with ideas on, still makes me chuckle.
If I remember rightly I said you guys reminded me of Dudley Moore in Crazy People…we ended up doing some great work on the retail ads but the corporate ads didn’t finish so happily (too much meddling by the CEO and the board).
Anyways I think there’s another Porsche 911 ad I remember (I was doing the below the line work with Porsche UK at the time) with the line – ‘A razor blade is not the best a man can get’…brilliant and pretty sure it was the same era.
Great (amazing) blog btw
Tom
Reblogged this on Between the Briefs.
One other campaign: the Timex ‘It takes a licking and still keeps ticking’. It featured people who’d survived amazing falls and weather conditions, modelling the watches. I think there are examples of the print out there.
Also, didn’t they do the Penn tennis balls TV spot set on top of a skyscraper with the endline: ‘You’ve seen one you’ve seen them all’.
Allow me to clear up a couple of items: The “Getaway Cars” outdoor board for Porsche was actually done by Chiat Day. If I’m not mistaken, by Dick Sittig and Andy DiJack. The “Small Penis” Porsche ad was done at DDB as a spoof ad to sell Joe Sciarrotta’s Porsche. Tom did not suffer a divorce.
Excellent.
Thanks George, I’ll erase them from the post.
Do you have any suggestions of work to go in?
Or any of the stuff you did there that I could insert?
Best,
Dave
Do you want work that Tom wrote exclusively, or work that was done at FM while Tom was Creative Director?
Both really George,
also if you have any related memories, ie ‘He suggested…’., ‘He hated…’
or roughs, stuff he approved or liked that didn’t end up running?
Best,
Dave
How can I send them to you?
Great,
Could you them to dave@hellopeoplelondon.com
Please George.
Thanks,
D
BIll Stenton did Getaway Cars with Dijack
I’m aware of the Penn ‘Skyscraper’ ad, I just can’t find it.
I’ll have a look around for the Timex stuff.
Thanks Tony.
There’s one here, but it’s a bit grainy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU375bFUHHg
Great, I’ve added it.
D.
I have a fairly good collection of The Show books thanks to Mr. McElligott and all the talented ad folks from Minneapolis during my formative years as a copywriter. The work still holds up well today. And it’s still very funny. We all wanted to write with the same attitude.
Cool, thanks Mike,
is there any work not featured here that you think should be?
If there is could you send me scans to insert?
Best,
Dave
Mike Allen put me on to this link. I never worked at Fallon McElligott but Tom’s work (and the agency) was a great influence on me back then and still today. I also have a large collection of One Shows, CAs (that my wife wishes I would do something with) and Minneapolis Show books. I’ll look to see if there’s any more work that’s not already featured here. I do have a CA article on Tom in the early 80s while he was still at Bozell with Ron Anderson.
Hey Kevin,
Would love that article if it’s digitised, also any Fallon McElligott stuff from those annuals that isn’t here.
Abuse from my wife over the amount of work and books lead me to start blogging this stuff, so I feel your pain.
Best,
Dave
Dave, Let me dig around a bit. It’s in one of the many boxes in basement marked CA.
Cool, thanks Kevin.
Dave, First, you owe me. I spent a good deal of time digging in my basement through boxes of CAs, One Shows, etc. for the article. My wife got all excited and thought I was planning to throw it all out. Then my scanner went down. I’ve got the article scanned and ready (I hope. I did PDFs not thinking about being in a blog.) Anyway, it’s Communication Arts, March/April 1978. Where should I send it? I also have a bunch of Show Annuals from Minneapolis that I pulled while I was in the dirt. kevin@TheInternationalOffices.com.
Whoa Kevin!
I can’t tell you how excited I am. and grateful, dave@hellopeoplelondon.com
I once got in contact with the Show and they sent me 4 annuals which are in storage, but come out within the next two weeks, so fingers crossed you have different years than me. (I can’t find The Show Annuals anywhere; Ebay, Abe or Amazon?)
I am under constant pressure to chuck this stuff away too, the blog has helped me stave off my wife’s requests a bit longer.
Thanks again,
Best,
Dave
Don’t forget all of the amazing work he continued to create after leaving Fallon McElligott, such as the work he did at McElligott Wright Morrison White. He continued to inspire, mentor young writers, and win many awards long after he left Fallon.
Hey Heidi,
I haven’t forgotten that McElligott Wright Morrison White work,
I’just never knew it, do you have any? Or who was it for?
Best,
Dave
This is a treasure. Thank you Dave!
Thanks so much for this. I never met Tom McElligott, but I learned more about writing from that man than just about anyone. In art school in the late 80s and early 90s, every ad that jumped out from the annuals just happened to be from Fallon/McElligott. After so many of the great shops got mediocre in the 80s, the business was saved by shops like them.
Such a pleasure reading all those ads, and thanks for showing some Jim Beam executions that I’d never seen before. Gold, all of them.
I remember seeing many of these ads and I am from India.
I remember one more in the ‘cruelty to animals’ series. loved it. it was something like, “It took them 20 years and $30m to discover that monkeys die when knocked on their heads.”
Got to work with Tom on one project, after he left MWMW. For an invite to the AD/CC going away party for Nancy Rice. So simple. “Tom McElligott and Ron Anderson are leaving their agencies to join Nancy Rice”
Great, do you a copy made of pixels?
Best,
Dave
Dave, I worked at Fallon briefly back in the day.
(Though sadly not the classic heyday.)
Dean Hanson and Bob Barrie were two of the early greats there.
They would probably know all there is to know about Tom McG.
Tim.
Thanks Tim,
Obviously I’m very aware of those two names and their work, I’m in touch with Dean but not Bob,
are you?
D.
Yes, I am.
He runs his own shop here in Minneapolis, Dave.
(Though he doesn’t give me nearly as much freelance as he should!)
bob.barrie@bdm.net
Thanks Tim, just mailed him.
D.
NEW STORY FROM PAT BURNHAM:
“Tom and I were working on a pitch for a work boots and clothing company. We were excited about TV ads that showed jeans being pulled apart by trucks and earth movers running over steel toed boots.
We got the account and somebody told us we had to do retail price/item newspaper ads. I was groaning as Tom spoke up and said “That’s like two racehorses pulling a plow.” After I realized he was referring to us, we worked out a plan for the ads to be done by a small design firm.
I had never been around thinking like that. For me, if a client wanted ads like that you did them.
You didn’t like it but you did it. Same with brochures. As the years went by, the little design firm didn’t stay little.
And we rocketed ahead without brochures and price/item ads. It was liberating.
Pat Burnham.
Sent from my iPad”
Cool.
Say Toodlepip to Mark Goodwin for me if you see him.
We went to the School of Communication Arts together many years ago.
He’ll remember me. I was always drunk.
Tim.
Hey Dave,
Thanx for this amazing collection. I grew up on the annuals and all the Fallon McElligott work. There are some superb in-house ads that are brilliantly written. One was for a weekend workshop ‘ Is Fallon McElligott destined to create history, or merely to repeat it ?’ . The other was ‘It’s a girl’. when Angela Dunkle { I think it was her) joined the all male creative department. Should get hold of some Murray’s stuff. A few were brilliantly written by Rod Kilpatrick.
Sampath
Thanks Sampath, I’ll have a look around.
D.
Hey, Dave, Check out my book, “How to Succeed in Advertising When All You Have Is Talent Second Edition,” (The Copy Workshop) — it has an entire chapter in it that details Tom’s story and provides his advice for success in the industry (and another one on Nancy Rice).
Sounds great Laurence, I’m off to Amazon now.
D.
Two stories just in from Pat Burnham:
“Dean mentioned how much Tom admired the Scali ads…One afternoon Tom told me had been out looking at new cars. He said he was sitting uncomfortably in a BMW. He didn’t fit in the car, and his head touched the ceiling but he kept telling himself it was “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”
(Their tagline at the time).
Bill Miller and I met with Rolling Stone Magazine for the first time to find out what they needed.
Later at a coffee shop, Bill was so excited. He grabbed a napkin and drew the layout for Perception Reality. I looked at it and said “That’s nice Bill but I don’t have time to work on it.”
What an idiot. Right?”
Keep ’em coming Pat.
This was great. Tom McElligot and his agency was inspirational. Sadly, many young people in advertising today have no idea about advertising history. They don’t even know who Bill Bernbach or Helmut Krone were.
This may well be ultimate ad nerd blog post of all time. Like happening upon King Tut’s tomb. Thanks so much for doing this.
Thanks Vinny,
NERD FACT: You judged The Economist Venn posters a few posts back for Campaign magazine.
Best,
D.
Dave,
Thanks for this. I also grew up as a young copywriter on Tom’s ads – especially the early porsche stuff. what’s amazing are all the writers and other creatives he influenced. Two key campaigns you’re missing are Continental Bank (Rod Kilpatrick CW – maybe Tom on the early ones) also the Time, Inc. campaign by Bob Barrie and Dean Buckhorn. You should definitely talk to those guys as they both spent years there soaking in the FM culture.
Thanks Ron,
I’ll try and dig up the Continental stuff, I thought the Timex stuff was post Tom?
Are you thinking of the ads that spotlighted an area of someones face?
Best,
D.
The Peta campaign work was written by Luke Sullivan and I believe it was art directed by Wayne Gibson when they were working at The Martin Agency. Luke did go on to work at Fallon later. Tom’s son Steven McElligott is a grad of the VCU Adcenter now Brandcenter. His dad traveled from Hawaii to visit with us and delivered a wonderful talk to our students.
Steven is every bit as talented as his dad and has never seemed like a guy who wants the limelight.
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising/tom-mcelligott-steve-mcelligott-84534
Interestingly, Wayne Gibson has been teaching visual storytelling and other visual courses at the Ad/Brandcenter for over five years.
Diane
Thanks Diane,
Someone told me that Tom was also teaching now, have you heard that?
(I’ll have to re-house those PETA ads if they are from the Martin agency.)
Best,
D.
Reblogged this on Newhouse Ad Creative.
I don’t know how true is the story that Tom McElligott initially rejected the perception/reality campaign . And then Bill Miller and Pat Burnham went through a 100 different ideas. Frustrated, they presented their original idea to Jan Wenner when Tom was out of town. Rest, as they say, is history.
Hey Sampath,
Hadn’t heard that, but I’m sure someone will confirm or deny it?
Best,
D.
Dave…
No question way too many people currently in the world’s second oldest profession know nothing about it’s founding revolutionaries. This also applies to your earlier post about Mary Wells. I have posted on this subject on AdScam on Monday. I have also pimped the shit out of your excellent blog… ‘Cos, as you know… I am a fucking prince.
Cheers/George
Hey Prince George,
Thanks for the pimping,
What other revolutionaries do you think deserve more airtime?
Best,
D.
G’morning Mr. Dave,
As for being a Pimp, Mr. George is so modest. As a historian of sorts I cannot say. What Mr. George is [ insert technical difficulties screen with tone ].
I’m glad he sent me over here, I am impressed Mr. Dave. I shall return with a fresh set of eyes and look around.
Take Care,
-df
You’re welcome DF.
D.
Helmut Krone (although he has that great book)
Carl Ally & Amil Gargano
George Lois
Howard Gossage
To name a few.
We’ve tried to fill in a few gaps on these guys in the past on the Sell! Sell! blog, but they deserve more recognition, and especially to the new generation of ad creative. Come to think of it, especially the writers – they need these great writers to look up to I think in an era where copy and writing has been largely undervalued.
Thanks Vic,
I know a lot about George Lois and Helmut Krone, I know a bit about Howard Gossage, he seems to be making a comeback.
I know very little about Carl Ally & Amil Gargano.
I nearly bought a book on them a few years ago, but didn’t want to speculate the $300 it cost at the time.
Might look into them.
Best,
D.
We have the Ally & Gargano book here if you’d like to borrow it Dave? I found it massively inspiring, a bloody great body of work, real fire-spitting creative, selling, advertising – and their approach seems the closest I’ve come across to what we’re trying to do at S!S! (for better or worse).
Thanks Vic, I’d love to borrow it.
Best,
D.
THAT is advertising.
Saw these some twenty years ago and still remember the headlines. Spectacular, evergreen stuff. You can still run them today.
Brilliant stuff. Is Sir Tom around?
I think so, but he’s very elusive.
Best,
D.
Dave, isn’t it about time you did another post, you’ve got us all used to two or three a week and now you’re holding out.
Ok.
Done one and you’re featured again, as usual.
D.
My first and perhaps most valuable lessons in advertising came from gaping at the fantastic work of Fallon McElligot in One Show Award Books that managed to reached the library of my agency in India back then. I still remember many of the ads you’ve managed to feature here. In fact, one of my favorites that isn’t was for Porsche that had the headline, “It’s like children. You can’t understand till you’ve had one.” Thanks Dave for this treasure chest.
Thanks Munish,
Your favourite is now included.
Thanks for the reminder.
Best,
D.
Thank you for this.
Sincerely, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
i’m surprised ‘who’s heard of tom mcelligott’ is a question but then i have a different, privileged perspective. when i was working at still price court mid-late eighties in london, we shared the virgin airlines account with ny agency levine huntley schmidt beaver. mr beaver was the chairman of the one club at the time, and came to visit our agency, carrying armloads of one club annuals. the other creatives didn’t care too much for the work (D&AD was the true bible) but I loved it. A piece for the Chicago TV station advertising a movie starring ‘a young clint eastwood’ with the headline ‘go ahead, make my lunch’ for some reason took me. Years later, on my first day at what was still Fallon McElligott, I looked up from my desk to see that very ad framed and hung outside my office door.
thanks for the geeky thread dave. it’s fun reading all the way through.
Thanks for adding to that geeky thread Dion.
I love the One Show too.
I haven’t got that ‘Eastwood’ ad, I’ll have a look around for it.
Best,
D.
Hey Dave a friend forward your blog onto me. And I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I always looked forward to when the One Show annuals came out to see how deep the index was going to be for Fallon, McElligott. After working with inspiring people like Helmut Krone and Lee Clow, a lot of us at DDB and Chiat always looked at Tom McElligot as always moving the bar higher. Which always meant we’re in for another late night trying to be better. He not only motivated his agency but every other agency around. Anyone who can’t raise their hand, should at least extend their hand thanking you for this wonderful post.
Wow, that’s weird Jerry, I was just trying to collate all the ABC posters for a post,
weren’t you creative director/writer on those? Do you have decent resolution files of them I could borrow?
(I’ve managed to find about 6-8 executions, how many am I missing.)
Thanks for your kind words.
Best,
Dave
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My hero and inspiration finally has one damned page on the infinite web.
Thank you.
You’re welcome Rich,
It’s been amazing how many people have sent similar emails, some here some direct to my email.
Great to know I’m not the only fanboy out there.
Best,
D.
Glad to see that Tom is finally getting recognition that he deserves. While most of the stuff posted here is work that Tom was the creative director on, in fairness Pat Burnham, who took over for some important years after Tom left, was the creative director on some of this work, at least he was on two of the campaigns of mine that I see here (Penn and Power Pack). Minor corrections aside, a nice article and wherever Tom is, I hope he’s happy.
Thanks to have reminded me these old, great ads. I saw some of them in old advertising annuals.