Ad Age named Fallon its "comeback agency of the year" on Monday for its recovery from the near-disastrous loss of two major clients, Cadillac and Purina, in 2013.

The influential trade journal said those accounts made up nearly half of the Minneapolis agency's annual revenue and that the loss of Cadillac alone forced Fallon to close a satellite Detroit office and lay off 75 employees.

But under the direction of agency CEO Mike Buchner, Fallon embarked on an aggressive search for new clients that started with landing Arby's last January. Since then Fallon has added Loctite, the Big Ten Network, Truvia and Quicken to its book of business.

As a result, Fallon recovered from its loss of Cadillac and Purina and saw revenue grow by 20 percent in 2014, Ad Age said.

Buchner told Ad Age that Fallon is not done shopping for additional clients. "This is a momentum business and we have some positive momentum, so we're going to continue to go after new business growth," Buchner said.

David Phelps • 612-673-7269