SPRINGFIELD — This month, Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) marks 35 years in business — a run that traces the arc of modern communications itself, from retail politics to the dawn of the web to the AI-driven answer engines reshaping public relations today.

Founder John Garvey launched GCAi in 1991, fresh off a short stint as a legislative aide to the vice chairman of the Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee. He started with a name on the door, no clients, and a family that, by his own account, ate ramen noodles for several years after. That lean stretch didn’t last long. Springfield City Councilor Brian Santaniello called looking for fresh re-election ideas and hired Garvey. The campaign topped the ticket, finishing first among all City Council candidates — and a first-time candidate GCAi also represented won a seat as well.

Political consulting proved a fast way to gain broad experience, and the legendary political consultant Joe Napolitan took Garvey under his wing. But Garvey chose a different road, turning toward the private sector — where two early wins shaped everything that followed. He became the first marketing consultant Tom Burton hired for Hampden Savings Bank and the first marketing and PR consultant Sam Hanmer brought on for his insurance network, then known as Field Eddy & Bulkley.

GCAi’s edge was an unusual one for a PR firm: Garvey knew computer programming and had worked in a computer center, and technology never frightened him. The firm was building websites in 1996, before most companies knew what a website was — GCAi first lived at AskMyDog.com (it’s a long story). Banking and insurance became a core focus, but over the years, the firm has worked across nearly every vertical, from healthcare and transportation to accounting, legal, and grocery.

GCAi also became known for getting there first. It built its first dot-com bank, yourebank.com, in 1998. It helped pioneer SEO PR and the use of video as a digital communications tool, and was among the first to use social media to distribute PR. Over time, through effective paid campaigns, the firm pushed PR beyond its traditional limits, showing it could be more than just the coverage a company earns.

Those instincts drew recognition along the way: an Ad Club Creative Award for the documentary-style “Innovation Series” hosted by PeoplesBank, a Daily Hampshire Gazette Reader’s Choice award for Best Marketing/Advertising Agency, a Small Business Recognition Award from the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, and a national Top Ten Social Media Standout honor from Snap Fitness. The firm is a Google partner and a Meta marketing agency partner.

Giving back has been part of GCAi from the start — perhaps because Garvey’s first venture out of college, before the State House and before GCAi, was a social enterprise: Dispute Resolution Services Inc., which he founded and ran for nearly a decade, and for which he was later presented with the Brent P. Davis Award for his support of the community mediation process.

With Attorney Scott Foster, Garvey helped develop permanent funding for Valley Venture Mentors, and he spent years as a mentor and PR and digital marketing instructor for MassChallenge. Organizations the firm has helped more recently include Tech Foundry, Square One, Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, Revitalize CDC, and a Garvey favorite, the Gray House.

Some of the firm’s favorite memories are the least corporate ones. Both of Garvey’s children, James and Quinn, practically grew up in the office at Tower Square — testing the patience of building security as they raced the elevators from the 24th floor to the second, with Edwards Books as their other favorite hangout. More than a dozen associates have come through GCAi’s doors over the years and gone on to bigger markets — New York, Los Angeles, and beyond. One even beat Garvey to retirement and now lives in Oahu. Quinn still works for GCAi today, specializing in TikTok content from her perch in the Hollywood Hills, and runs her own marketing business focused on vintage luxury estate and home sales.

That same get-there-first instinct defines GCAi’s work today. The firm now applies answer engine optimization and generative engine optimization to PR, shaping how AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s answer engines understand, describe, and cite the brands it represents.

As GCAi sees it, the audience once reached through a ranked list of links is now handed a synthesized answer, and the job is to be inside it. AI-powered discovery rewards brands with genuine authority, and the firms that establish that authority early are remarkably hard to displace.

One person stands at the center of the milestone. Garvey’s son James grew up to become GCAi’s vice president and director of Digital Marketing — a Google Ads certified planner, a member of Facebook’s Business Insights Panel, and a national award winner for social media marketing. He didn’t just buy ads; he built campaigns that worked for clients who trusted him completely, and he was doing the work he loved right up until the day he passed away nearly two years ago. So much of what GCAi is today, James helped build. The 35-year milestone is his as much as anyone’s.

Thirty-five years on, GCAi extends its thanks to every client, associate, mentor, and friend who has been part of the journey — and to James, always.

SPRINGFIELD — Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) has officially launched Tower Square Times, a new, monthly digital publication created in collaboration with Tower Square management and dedicated to everything happening at the downtown Springfield office tower and retail destination.

Each issue is packed with the latest news and announcements from Tower Square tenants and shops, buzzworthy updates on downtown events, and exclusive business spotlights. Tenants and businesses can get in on the action by submitting their news to [email protected] — spots fill up fast, so it’s first come, first served every month. Sign up and find out more at visittowersquare.com.

“Downtown Springfield is alive right now, and Tower Square is right at the center of it,” said John Garvey, president of GCAi. “This newsletter is our way of capturing that energy and making sure everyone in the building — and beyond — knows exactly what’s happening. We’re not just publishing a newsletter. We’re building a community hub.”

Sara Smith, Tower Square’s general manager, added that “this is something Tower Square has needed for a long time. We have so many incredible businesses and tenants in this building, and now we finally have a platform to showcase all of it. The energy here is real — and this newsletter is going to put it on full display.”

In addition, every month, one Tower Square tenant will win a prize courtesy of Tower Square’s supporting businesses. The first prize is being sponsored by Springfield Wine Exchange, the wine shop on the first floor of Tower Square.

“We jumped at the chance to be part of this from day one,” said Carlo Bonavita, owner of Springfield Wine Exchange. “Sponsoring the first prize feels like a toast to something really special. Tower Square is a fantastic community, and this newsletter is going to bring people together in a whole new way. We’re honored to help kick it off.”

Myranda Nasworthy

SPRINGFIELD — Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) has expanded its digital public-relations capacity by adding Myranda Nasworthy, an experienced video producer. Armed with GCAi’s new G7x vlogging cameras, Nasworthy worked on client videos before she started at the company.

“Myranda’s video-production experience has enabled her to be a quick start on all digital public-relations efforts,” said John Garvey, GCAi’s founder. “Her video and interview skills mean she can effectively work on both sides of the camera.”

Nasworthy will work in GCAi’s new edit suite, including a 2024 Apple Mac Studio. She is also equipped with a 2024 Macbook Pro for remote video editing. She is already working with a new GODOX lighting kit used at GCAi’s 24th-floor studios in Tower Square to produce 10 videos for an award program. Nasworthy shot and worked on all the edits with co-producer Nate Dion. She has also worked with GCAi’s West Coast team to produce 9:16 videos for Reels and TikTok.

A former associate producer of New England Public Media’s Emmy-nominated quiz show, As Schools Match Wits, Nasworthy interviewed celebrities including Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops, and Red Sox players Rob Refsnyder and Christian Arroyo.

“I think of video as being PR’s Swiss-army knife, a multi-faceted tool revolutionizing communication,” she said. “Video storytelling has a humanizing effect on corporate communication, evoking empathy and adding emotion. It allows brands to amplify their personality and intentions in a way no other medium can.”

Nasworthy is a summa cum laude graduate of Westfield State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communication with a concentration in media arts & analysis. GCAi currently employs one other graduate of Westfield State’s communication program and has successfully employed others. “Westfield State’s communication program is a wellspring of talent for us,” Garvey said. “We are delighted they are located in the area.”

Nasworthy’s skill set includes operating Sony, Canon, Panasonic, and Nikon filming equipment and studio, control-room, and field equipment. She also is experienced in working with Adobe Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Dreamweaver, and Final Cut Pro.

SPRINGFIELD — Another chapter has started at Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) and its ‘success amplification’ through PR efforts with the appointment of Nathan Dion as digital PR analyst. Dion is an experienced video producer and is already telling local stories with GCAi’s new vlogging camera.

“Upon meeting him, you get a feeling of quiet confidence, but also empathy from Nate. He is a calm and quiet guy,” said John Garvey, president of GCAi. “Yet, in my experience, that is what is necessary on a PR shoot. Interviewees are nervous, and Nate’s demeanor and technical expertise dissipates tension and yields a great shoot.”

Dion will continue to grow GCAi’s digital PR video services and subsidiary New England Corporate Video.

“Video allows companies and businesses to tell their story in an engaging way,” he said. “Through video, you’re able to see and feel the emotions and story on screen. I really feel that it is my job to capture all that in the shoot and the subsequent edit.”

Dion is a graduate of Westfield State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication with a dual concentration in media arts and analysis and public relations. He also minored in graphic design.

Garvey thanked Westfield State for referring Dion to GCAi. “It’s not easy to find qualified employees these days. For those of us working in communications, Westfield State University is incredibly important as they are essentially building our workforce year after year. I am very grateful for their support.”

SPRINGFIELD — Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) announced that veteran ABC News affiliate reporter and anchor Mary Cate Mannion has joined the team as a digital PR analyst and will be responsible for planning, producing, and editing video content; photo supervision; and writing posts for digital dissemination on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and the Google Ads Display Network, but not Tik Tok, as well as working directly with media publications.

She is working in GCAi’s Springfield edit suite with award-winning video producer Darcy Young and planning digital campaigns with award-winning digital marketer James Garvey, who is based in GCAi’s Marina del Rey, Calif. office.

Mannion is an award winner in her own right, receiving a Broadcasters Award and two Emmy nominations during her tenure as an anchor and energy-news reporter with NBC News affiliate KFYR-TV. Her reporting was also used in an investigative segment by John Oliver on HBO’s Last Week Tonight, and she has served as a correspondent for Headline News.

“Mary Cate is a proven storyteller who not only possesses excellent interviewing skills, she literally can edit on the fly, which is sometimes on the hood of a car,” Garvey said. “That is speed that Darcy and I can appreciate and find very valuable.”

Mannion earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College. She crossed paths with Young during her time at Western Mass News, when she emceed the Springfield Colleen Contest, for which Young is a long-time volunteer. Mannion also her singing skills during an American Idol audition in Boston and was successful for six rounds. Her progress ended when Simon Cowell told her, “you only get one song, Mary,” and he apparently didn’t like the one she sang.

Mannion has also achieved considerable success as a competitive Irish dancer, something she is still enthusiastic about today as a member of Springfield’s Claddagh School.

SPRINGFIELD — In recognition of her six years of success and awarding-winning accomplishments as a video producer, Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) announced Darcy Young’s promotion to director of Digital Public Relations.

“Darcy has been working hard to develop our brand-journalism approach since she walked through the door,” said John Garvey, president of GCAi. “It has not been easy. Today, however, she is a respected leader in the field who has interviewed and produced digital PR campaigns for many of the market’s leading CEOs and businesses. She is also one of a few experienced female producers in Massachusetts.”

According to Garvey, GCAi’s brand-journalism process is built upon the company’s digital-marketing expertise and recognizes the increased responsibility of public-relations professionals to produce relevant content for both media and consumers. To that end, both media and digital audiences have an insatiable appetite for short-form video, something in which Young is accomplished.

She will continue to supervise all digital PR content production as well as the technical teams that work on such efforts. Her work will be continued to be supported by GCAi’s production team, as well as a new digital PR analyst who will join the company in August.

“When I say it hasn’t been easy, what I mean is that it takes hundreds of hours of video-production experience, in the field doing interviews — because that’s where the stories are — and in the edit suite stitching together a short video to tell the story effectively,” Garvey said. “What most people don’t know is that, when the workday ends, Darcy goes home and often is involved with even more video production as a member of her local cable community-access channel.”

Young is a former assignment desk editor, field producer, and production assistant for both ABC and FOX local news affiliates. She is a cum laude graduate of Westfield State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in journalism. She won an Ad Club award for her production of “The Innovation Series,” a video series that highlighted the success paths of Valley Venture Mentors startups and the entrepreneurs who founded them.

SPRINGFIELD — While apps are nothing new, app marketing is. Most businesses with apps fail to move beyond the launch into actually engaging their customers in the benefits. That’s surprising because the benefits flow both ways — to the customer and to the company.

But there’s more. When the app is combined with a rewards program, things really accelerate. In fact, 80% of travelers purchase tickets through a rewards program. Combined with a travel app, customers gain convenience and benefits that, in this case, include free travel.

Riders on any Peter Pan bus right now will not only view a new app-marketing video but also a new Perks Rewards program video. In between the two marketing videos is a brief welcome message by company Chairman and CEO Peter Picknelly.

Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) produced the three videos, which are already being shown on all routes in the Northeast Corridor. Each of them was produced by award-winning video producer Darcy Young, one of the only female video producers in the market. The concepts and scripts were developed by GCAi founder John Garvey.

“These videos always present a creative and production challenge for us,” Young said. “We have to capture the attention of a distracted bus passenger with something exciting, then shift to the sincere and more serious tone of the CEO, and then back to upbeat and engaging. It’s a lot of fun, but a lot of fine-tuning too.”

The app and rewards videos will be disseminated through digital marketing campaigns in specific markets on the East Coast in the near future. These videos are the third in a series of passenger videos produced by GCAi that began when Peter Pan Bus Lines separated from Greyhound Bus Lines in 2017.

The videos can be viewed at gcaionline.com/video.