Media Monitor: A Fallon meltdown, VVM paper pinched and dispassionate conservatives

Egomelting: Minneapolis-based ad giant Fallon, as a reaction to the ad industry’s awards fetish, is asking staffers to donate their coveted Gold Lions, Silver Pencils and Clios to be melted down and made into a sign bearing its new slogan, “You are Fallon.” The gist: Clients matter more than ego-pumping creative prizes. So far 89 people at the firm have donated awards that’ll head to the foundry to make up copperplate that’ll greet visitors at their new building. The idea and corresponding YouTube video are a good press gimmick, but media site Unbeige points out a backhanded bright spot, “At least their old motto will bite the dust soon – ‘Outsmart Vs. Outspend.’ Fallon Minneapolis hasn’t been out smarting anyone in some time.”

Penalties rise for City Pages’ parent: Expect penalties against Village Voice Media for its predatory ad-pricing suit in San Francisco to keep inching up. On May 19, a judge ordered SF Weekly (owned by City Pages’ parent, VVM) to pay nearly $16 million to competitor the San Francisco Bay Guardian and promise they wouldn’t sell ads below cost. The kicker: She also ordered the paper to pay legal costs for the Guardian, conservatively estimated to be around a cool mil.

About that level of political discourse… Noting the “deafening” silence in the blogosphere over news of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s brain cancer, MPR’s Bob Collins emailed Scott Johnson at Power Line to see if a post was in the works. All heart, Johnson replied, “I am planning on writing about Senator Kennedy’s contribution to the lowering of the level of poltical [sic] discourse, but will probably wait til tomorrow morning to do so, if I don’t change my mind. “