1996 Video Making Fun Of Pat Fallon’s New & Very Expensive Big-Ass Office.

Fallon was a fun place to work, partly because no one was safe from random acts of mean-spirited disrespectful treatment, including the CEO, Pat Fallon.

One year Fallon decided he needed a bigger office with a little more meeting room, and so he knocked down a wall and annexed the office next to him, making Account Supe Eric Block pretty much homeless.

The comic possibilities of this land-grab were not lost on the wise guys in the office and CD Bill Westbrook immediately commissioned a video to make fun of Fallon’s plush new real estate. Credit goes to Westbrook for the idea behind the film: a National Geographic-style exploration of the vast uncharted territory of Fallon’s new Big-Ass Office. In fact, the moniker Fallon’s Big-Ass Office stuck and the shorthand became, “3:00 meeting in Fallon’s BAO.” [Cont’d below video player.]

Eric Santiago and I were asked to do it and we had fun creating a really stupid video that had its one and only airing at a company meeting. The video kinda sucks, but it sucks a teeny bit less than the one I just cut it down from. When you get to that stupid part with Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’ll see we kinda ran out of ideas on how to end it. If you have any helpful remarks on how we might have given the film a better ending, please register your input at my special consumer feedback website: biteme.com.

8 Comments

  1. I like it… more to the point, I like that this was acceptable and encouraged at Fallon. That’s the part I find amazing.

    No wonder Fallon’s creative was (and still is) so great.

    Reply
  2. i do not care what anyone says, that video stands the test of time.
    i remember seeing it back in the day at our annual company meeting and practically peeing in my pants, and today i laughed just as hard.
    what an absolutely magical time we all shared together, i’ve never worked anywhere as fun or as smart since….

    Reply
    • Yo Becarren: Glad you liked the video. As I just told Kimberly, that really WAS a special time and place, wasn’t it?

      Reply
  3. Luke, such a great blast from the past to see this video. Becarren Shultz sent me the link…I’m sure this will have millions of hits in no time. This video does suck, in the most wonderful way. One drastic improvement would have been to feature Santiago in a shirtless monologue.

    Reply
    • Yo Santiago! Nice to hear from you old friend. Where are you hiding from the law these days? Pray tell.

      Reply
  4. Luke, this is pure, unadulterated fun. I laughed so loud I was shushhed by coworkers. That happens to me all the time, though. Never happened when I was at Fallon!!!

    Thank you so much for this amazing gem!!!

    Any chance you can dig up the video I did with the media department where we spoofed ER? It was shown during a holiday party, I’m guessing circa 1997, possibly 96. I remember I was wearing a skirt so short I should have been put in jail for it.

    You are one of my heroes, still, to this day!!! XOXOXOXO

    Reply
    • Hey Kimberly. Glad you liked it and thanks for the kind words. And YES…it really was a special place and time, not likely to be repeated. And no, I can’t help you get that old media video. I only had Fallon’s BAO because I took a video with me with I left. Sorry.

      Reply
  5. funny. i’m an old circus grad. you came and spoke once. didn’t want to watch the video (cause i’m supposed to be concepting myself) but it sucked me in. funny idea. like the peeing bit.

    Reply

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Luke Sullivan

Author, speaker, and ad veteran available to recharge, reinvigorate, and refocus marketing, advertising, and branding firms.

I give a hugely energetic series of presentations on innovation, creativity, branding, and marketing. I spent 32 years in the trenches of advertising (at agencies like Martin, GSD&M, and Fallon) and I’ve put everything I learned into my book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This. But for me nothing beats taking the message out and speaking to living breathing audiences at clients, agencies, and conferences. You can book me on the button below.

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