• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 18, 2015

As you have undoubtedly heard, Minneapolis ad man Pat Fallon died last week. In honor of Fallon, former Fallon staffer and current partner at GdB Doug deGrood created a tribute ad that appeared as a full-page ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Wednesday. But deGrood did much more than simply create a tribute ad. 

deGrood, along with several other co-workers, went much further reaching out to the Minneapolis ad community asking for their participation in the ad. Over 40 agencies participated. 

The ad contains the logo of all the businesses that participated along with the copy, "While any other day we might be business adversaries, today, we the members of the Twin Cities advertising community are united in expressing our gratitude to a man who literally changed the face of Minneapolis advertising. And on whose shoulders countless individuals have built their careers." 

Of his efforts reaching out to the ad community, deGrood told me: "The conversations were very short, because it took people all of a nanosecond to say, 'Damn right, we want to be part of this!' And that was when everyone thought we were going to have to pay for the space. The Star Trib later graciously comped it. Classy move. Not sure they want their other advertisers knowing that though!" 

You can see the ad here. 

Well done, sir!