Staats Falkenberg

Staats Falkenberg

By Mary Tuma Friday, 12 February 2010

CENTRAL AUSTIN — Howard Falkenberg roamed the streets of 1960s San Antonio as a young and energetic broadcast reporter. Today, as the president of Austin-based marketing communications firm Staats Falkenberg, he deals with the press in a different capacity—damage control for his clients.

“A lot of times I’m a firefighter: When people’s hair catches on fire, I’m there to put it out,” he said. “A great deal of that involves dealing with the media.”

“My time as a journalist helped me write effectively because writing is critical to what we do. But my work in politics and debate have been as big of an influence.”

Before his career in public relations, Falkenberg forayed into the political sphere, working on staff for the first two Republican Texas state representatives elected since Reconstruction.

Former journalist Neal Spelce, who gained international fame for reporting on the University of Texas Tower massacre in 1966, pulled Falkenberg away from an Austin radio broadcast job in 1972 to join his advertising and PR firm that catered to a number of political figures.

“I figured I would give it a shot and I could always go back to whatever I wanted to do,” Falkenberg said. “But I ended up staying with him for 13 years and ultimately became president of the firm.”

In 1985, he branched out on his own, opening up Staats Falkenberg, which he describes as a “small boutique shop,” serving a select number of big and small clients. “Staats” is the last name of Falkenberg’s maternal grandparents.

“While my own name needed to be included because it carried some recognition with potential clients, I wanted both to take some of the emphasis off of it and to honor my grandparents,” he said.

Located on the 12th floor of One America Center on Congress Avenue, the firm offers a wide variety of services including branding, marketing, event planning, government relations, advertising and public affairs work. Among its clients are United Way Capital Area, U.S. Foodservice’s Austin Division and Walton Development.

Though the firm has grown over the years, Falkenberg said he remains committed to helping communicate whatever story or message a client has to tell.

“Some people treat communications specialists as vendors, and maybe even without realizing what they are doing,” he said. “They oftentimes think of you as a commodity they buy, and perhaps some firms deliver commodity. We deliver a very personalized and specialized product to resolve the needs of a client, and we like to be thought of as something more than just ‘vendors.’”

Falkenberg recollected his early days in advertising, when projects were created by hand and took hours to refine and modify. Technological advances in the communications field have sped up processes and driven down costs, Falkenberg said, but have also increased competition and raised clients’ expectations.

“Because it’s just a click of a mouse away now, people expect a lot more,” he said.

To conceptualize some of the work his firm performs for its clients, Falkenberg showcases informational folders designed with bright splashes of color, graphics, and full-page photos, created for The Long Center, Austin Convention Center and Mathworks, a children’s learning program. Clients realize these eye-catching promotional materials are not only helpful for generating business, but should also be representative of the company’s mission and philosophy, he said.

Additionally, Falkenberg’s firm will use photo shoots, billboards and newsletters to tailor marketing campaigns to individual clients’ needs.

“We also do look at them from a strategic standpoint and try to add value as communication strategists,” he said. “It depends on who the client is and what they are trying to convey.”