It's the classic Cinderella story: through hard work and sheer gusto, small town upstarts rise to take on the big boys and beat them at their own game. If Fallon was anything other than an ad agency, there'd be at least one schlocky movie-of-the-week charting their unlikely journey from Midwestern obscurity to global innovators.

Instead, there are two books: The Work: 25 Years of Fallon, a glossy oversized coffee table affair highlighting most of Fallon's celebrated TV and print work of the last quarter century; and Juicing The Orange, a case-by-case account of some of the successes and failures the company has under its belt, written by co-founders Pat Fallon and Fred Senn, and published by Harvard Business School Press. While 25 Years is a visual feast of past achievements - and there are many - Juicing is destined to become the must-read book for anyone trying to get into the business or indeed anyone trying to stay alive in this changing and often brutal age of advertising.

Agency chairman Pat Fallon explains the company's longevity and success through many difficult changes in the industry since 1981 thusly: "Basically, we've always sold imagination," he says before employing a sports analogy. "Look at athletes: there are brilliant career hitters that have terrific slumps but they still keep going up to bat and swinging. There's a real difference between people who believe in creativity and people who will toss everything in."

For Fred Senn, their approach to talent has been key. "You don't develop talent, you create a culture in which it can bloom because everything is right. We believe in collaborative genius. We get the right people in the room aligned and motivated - then great things happen. It's fine tuning talent rather than talent creation."

In many instances, this philosophy has not only produced successful and memorable work but led to the Holy Grail of advertising: campaigns that resonate far beyond their intended target and stick to the culture of the moment. Think "Chrismahanukwanzakah" or "No, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night" or the BMWFilms so many logged onto in a pre-broadband era.

Fallon says the agency has been fortunate in that they've had many clients who were willing to go along with the risks. "We've never been babysitters or maintenance people. We're more aggressive," he explains over the phone from Minneapolis. "We're more about doing things that have never been done before." Which can be very intense. "You never know whether it will work. It's scary to insist on doing something new. When we sold the BMW films concept, the first thing we thought was, 'Shit, how are we going to do this'?" Senn, however, equates the experience to "getting the right cards in poker and pushing the chips in the middle knowing it's going to work." Years later, the logic of producing films for the Internet is obvious - a far cry from the initial meetings with BMW.

Sometimes, there isn't even time for a meeting, as was the case with United Airlines during 9/11. "We lost 42 employees and our airplanes were used as tools by the terrorists. We didn't know what we were going to say but as a company we needed to speak to our customers quickly," says Jerry Dow, who was in charge of United Airlines communications at the time. "There was no big meeting; just a phone call to Fallon saying we need to get back on the air, what do you suggest?"

Within days and without a script, Errol Morris was filming employees on how they felt about what had happened that Tuesday morning. "Even in the face of the worst crisis, they created world-class work," says Dow, adding the creative work after 9/11 is what he is proudest of in his decades-long career. "We were one of the first companies addressing the event and the impact on the country and on business."

"Fallon never hesitates to push back and they always have a point of view," says Dow, who in addition to doing eight years on the agency side at Lowe, is now chief marketing officer for National Car Rental and Alamo Rent-a-Car. "The way I judge good creative is, if it makes me nervous, it's probably great. Fallon never failed to make me nervous. But it was never creative for creative's sake; it was also strategic, which lets creative break through the clutter."

Like the word "genius", in the ad world "creativity" is tossed around like so much confetti. In Fallon's case, as with a few other agencies, it's not mere lip service, it's the mantra. To clients though, it can be seen as a double-edged sword.

"When we hired them eight years ago, given their reputation for creative, we thought they might be prima donnas," says Brad Jakeman, former managing director of global advertising at Citibank. "We found the opposite to be true, though they do use [the reputation] as a tool to gain notoriety." Jakeman was the man to convince that a decidedly non-, even anti-, banking style of spot was just what Citi needed to bring in new customers.

While no prima donna, Fallon will admit to confidence bordering on arrogance. "There have been times - and not just two or three - when I've gone into pitches and I can't conceive of not winning it," says Fallon. "Not because the competition wasn't great, but because what we had was brilliant. A strategic chemistry of intelligence and creativity. When that's there, the swagger and confidence is there." Fallon notes that was the feeling in the initial meetings with Jakeman and Citi about the "Live Richly" ideas. The confidence was noted by Jakeman. "The conversation was never about motive, it was about objective and aspiration. In the end, we said yes to ads that had notoriety and an exponential impact."

Pat Fallon remembers it as, "We pitched first and painted a compelling and persuasive picture. Right then, we knew it was over - shut off the lights."

The rest is history.

Fallon http://www.fallon.com
Juicing the Orange http://www.juicingtheorange.com