Newsroom

Situation: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, displaced employees leaned into the work from home (WFH) experiment in massive numbers.  Employers were forced to consider what a transformed post-pandemic workplace environment should look like. What will it take to bring their employees back to the office? Does safety override efficiency? How will human resources professionals and senior management achieve their goals for bringing reluctant employees back into congregate working areas? Simultaneously, design professionals faced a once in a lifetime opportunity to advance current thinking about the optimal work environment. The Silverado Roundtable, composed of America’s top workplace greenery...

Situation: During the overnight hours of May 30 and 31, 2020, dozens of La Mesa businesses were damaged, destroyed or looted in the aftermath of opportunistic violence and looting following peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations. In an effort to assist the affected businesses, a GoFundMe account was quickly established.Action: Falcon Valley Group was quickly engaged starting on Sunday, May 31 to develop the public relations and outreach effort, and provide strategic counsel to Fund administrators for developing the distribution process based on Gayle Falkenthal’s decades of experience with philanthropic best practices, including at the American Red Cross. Falkenthal led the fund’s...

Situation: Nearly as many Americans today say they prefer getting their local news online as through local television according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey on American Trends. A majority of Americans surveyed by Pew trust niche news websites above general news sites for science and environment coverage. These shifting media consumption habits continue to accelerate. Organizations such as the San Diego County Water Authority serving the public must shift their communication strategy away from a reliance on shrinking media coverage to other methods to continue informing and educating its key target audiences.Action: Falcon Valley Group worked with the Water Authority public affairs...

Situation: After 20 years of teetering on the brink of bankruptcy due to pension underfunding (leading it to be called “Enron By The Sea” by the New York Times), the City of San Diego was in dire financial straits. A citizen-initiated pension reform ballot measure, Prop B, successfully qualified via citizen initiative for the ballot.  Prop B opponents raised significant money with a large portion coming from pro-union interests. Opponents aired radio ads stating people who signed petitions supporting Prop B would have their identity stolen. Labor unions attempted to taint petitions with fraudulent signatures.Action: Falcon Valley Group directed earned and social media outreach for the Prop...

Situation: With incidents of violence and other emergencies escalating in the nation’s schools, capped by the horror of the Sandy Hook shooting, San Diego based Francis Parker School, a well-established private K-12 school system, engaged Falcon Valley Group to create a crisis communication plan.Action: Working with the school’s Communication Manager, Falcon Valley Group assessed the current state of readiness. From the baseline, Gayle Falkenthal applied her expertise to create a plan including protocols, personnel assignments, messaging, scripts, guidelines for working with internal and external audiences, community relations, media relations tactics, and supplemental materials.  Francis...

Situation: An eight percent drop in home sales in the first half of 2006 could not have been worse timing for San Diego based building developer Colrich. Colrich planned to open its luxury townhome complex “Lodge at Bankers Hill” in July 2006. This was Colrich’s first ground-up development. It previously focused on condominium conversation.Action: Falcon Valley Group worked with the ColRich marketing team to create a newsworthy Grand Opening event to overcome the challenging market economy. Using demographic research for area home sales, FVG learned the majority of buyers were upscale couples motivated to purchase instead of rent to accommodate their pets. As a pet friendly development...

Situation: In the early hours of October 25, 2003, the first of three major wildfires began in San Diego County. By October 27, the fires had killed 16 people, destroyed 3,241 homes and other structures, and cost $43 million in suppression costs. This wildfire occurred in the wake of a financial mismanagement scandal involving a 2001 wildfire response, resulting in the firing of the previous Red Cross CEO and entire board of directors just months prior to the 2003 fire. It was not known whether the public would donate anything to help support the Red Cross’s relief efforts, or whether volunteers would step up.Action: As Communications Officer for the American Red Cross in San Diego, Gayle...

Situation: Thirty-nine “Heaven's Gate” religious cult members killed themselves inside a Rancho Santa Fe (San Diego County) mansion, believing their souls would board a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet. It remains the country's worst mass suicide. Upon discovery of the scene, an unprecedented international media frenzy ensued.Action: As part of a three-member San Diego County public affairs leadership team from three departments (District Attorney, Sheriff’s Department, and County Administrative Officer), Gayle Falkenthal addressed media concerns and contained rumors and speculation while allowing processing of the scene and individuals, including a mass notification of next of kin....

Situation: The explosion of the Internet and online communication including social media found many public relations practitioners scrambling to develop the necessary skills to stay current and relevant as communication professionals. There were few resources for them.Action: In Falkenthal’s role as a board member of the San Diego Press Club, PRSA San Diego/Imperial Chapter, and San Diego State University Friends of Journalism and Media Studies Alumni Chapter, she worked on a pro bono basis with a committee of communications professionals and the San Diego State University School of Extended Studies to develop a professional certificate program for working communicators to learn social...