Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, considered San Diego’s oldest operating public relations agency, will soon begin its 51st year in business. The agency opened on April 1, 1974.
“While a lot has changed in 50 years, some things remain the same, like our commitment to our values, building strong relationships and doing good work,” said Teresa Siles, NST president and partner, told Times of San Diego. “As we look to the future, we do so with excitement that the best is yet to come as we continue to redefine the public relations agency and explore new ways to better ourselves, our partners and communities.”
NST said it is marking its 50th anniversary with a redesigned website and an expanded client roster and team.
An agency statement said the revamped website offers a fresh, modern look and its forward-thinking approach.
NST said its new clients include Mission Federal Credit Union, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, California Bountiful Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the state’s agricultural industry, and Divine Flavor, a produce grower and distributor. The agency said it will provide services in media relations, social media strategy, strategic planning and stakeholder communications.
Also, the agency said it was awarded a renewed contract with the Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program through the California Department of Food and Agriculture after a competitive bidding process. NST said it has supported the California citrus industry for the past 15 years.
In addition, recent staff changes have included the promotion of Natalie DeAngelo Neal to account supervisor and the hiring of Elle Seeler as an account coordinator.
During her five-year tenure at NST, DeAngelo Neal has led public relations strategy and managed project execution for such clients as Ag Vision, Food Foresight, WD-40 Company and EOS Fitness.
Seeler, a former NST intern, was previously the vice president of marketing at The Women’s Network.
“From the agricultural industry to financial services to San Diego’s public transportation service, our new and existing clients rely on NST for a strategic, value-driven approach that drives results and fuels connections,” said Siles. “The depth in expertise of our talented team allows us to continue to expand our client portfolio across industries.”
NST also announced the second year of “Make Things Better,” its companywide charitable initiative, will include provide services for the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank.
“The selection of the 2024 initiative was almost universally chosen by our team, which sees it as a way to make a positive impact on the well-being of our fellow San Diegans,” Siles said. “What’s more, our history working with food and agricultural organizations and in tracking food and health trends has taught us that the goal is not only ensuring people have food, but ensuring they have access to nutritious food for good health and wellness.”
The San Diego Council on Literacy was the inaugural recipient for NST’s “Make Things Better” initiative.
Over the past five decades, NST has partnered with or represented many of San Diego’s most notable brands and organizations locally, nationally and internationally, including WD-40 Company, Chicken of the Sea, Sony Electronics, McDonald’s, San Diego Zoo and San Diego State University.
NTS was founded by Dave Nuffer and Bob Smith, both deceased. Kerry Tucker joined the team in 1980 and grew the agency’s reputation as a leader in the agri-food space. From 2000 to December 2016, the agency was led by the late Bill Trumpfheller, a champion of local nonprofit organizations, universities and businesses.
In 2016, NST became a member of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, a global partnership of independent public relations firms. Worldcom membership affords international member agencies access to a network of collaborative firms.
In 2020, the agency was acquired by three long-time employees, including Siles, Mary Correia-Moreno and Price Adams, each with a tenure at NST of more than 15 years.
Manolatos Public Affairs, IVC Media Announce Partnership
Manolatos Public Affairs, a strategic communications firm founded by Tony Manolatos in 2009, and IVC Media, a full-service digital marketing firm founded in 2013, have announced a strategic partnership offering integrated public relations and marketing services.
“Both companies have strong brand equity, so we didn’t want one brand to swallow the other,” Manolatos told Times of San Diego. “The strongest path forward was to formalize our business relationship by announcing a strategic partnership.”
Over the past five years or so, Manolatos said the two firms have collaborated on several projects for a variety of clients, including a November 2022 housing-related ballot measure and a 2021 effort to increase summer school enrollment.
Currently, both companies are representing Project Santee, a ballot measure initiative to raise the sales tax in Santee by a half cent to support the city’s firefighters with new stations, new equipment and more personnel, said Manolatos.
Also, they represent LISC SD, a nonprofit community development financial institution that supports affordable and middle-income housing.
“There’s good synergy between us and our skill sets don’t overlap so we’re able to provide wraparound service or a wide variety of specific services, all tailored to whatever the client needs,” said Manolatos. “Together, we also have a pretty great network to call upon to help our clients achieve their goals. In many ways, in public affairs, you’re only as strong as your network.”
IVC Media (IVC is an acronym for “Integrated Vertical Communications”) is led by three partners, including Chad Peace, Juan Hernandez and Anthony Astolfi.
“Back in 2013, I met Juan when I was representing Kevin Faulconer and he was working for David Alvarez in the mayoral election to replace Bob Filner,” said Manolatos. “Although we were competitors, we became friends. We respected each other and the work each of us did.”
In a February 2014 runoff election, Faulconer, a Republican San Diego City Councilman, won a decisive victory (54.5 to 45.5 percent) over Democratic Councilman David Alvarez to replace former Mayor Bob Filner who resigned in August 2013, following a sexual harassment scandal. Faulconer finished the remaining 33 months of Filner’s term before winning reelection in 2016.
Since September 2023, Manolatos and Hernandez have been co-hosting “Dear San Diego,” a public affairs podcast sponsored and syndicated by Times of San Diego. The podcast features interviews with San Diego newsmakers and policy advocates.
To date, 10 podcast episodes of the popular podcast have been recorded. Upcoming guests will include Ricardo Campos, executive vice president of club operations for San Diego FC, the new MLS Club, and Lenny Leszczynski, CEO, San Diego Automotive Museum.
KPBS Receives $3 Million Gift from Irwin and Joan Jacobs
KPBS, San Diego’s public broadcasting TV and radio station, has announced it has received a $3 million gift from Irwin and Joan Jacobs to fund the KPBS Democracy Project, which will include a new journalism team focusing on election coverage and local government reporting, ranging from school boards to city councils, over the next three years.
The gift also will include Spanish translation of election coverage, civic education, expansion of a voter guide and social media content, a statement said.
The Democracy Project also will include news organizations inewsource and Voice of San Diego sharing political and governance content on the KPBS TV, radio and digital platforms.
“The democracy project strives to expand the culture of civic engagement in our community through increased public conversation and increased coverage of issues that matter to our region, specifically within communities that are often left on the fringes of political power,” said Deanna Mackey, KPBS general manager. “These three nonprofit news organizations are coming together to address access to information and coverage needs across the county to build a more informed, connected future for all San Diegans.”
KPBS said the Jacobs are longtime supporters having previously made gifts to support the expansion of the KPBS newsroom, its digital innovation and the building capital campaign.
“Joan and Irwin’s gifts to KPBS over time have continually allowed us to make transformational change in our digital content, becoming a significant news service, and now I believe in helping bring people together in divisive times,” said Mackey.
Study: No Clear Winning Strategy for Political Ads
Billions of dollars will be spent on political advertising during this election year. However, there’s only one problem.
A study of more than 600 political ads produced by more than 50 campaigns during the 2018 and 2020 election cycles revealed there’s no way to predict what makes a political ad resonate with voters.
The study, conducted by Swayable, a platform used by Democrats to test the effectiveness of different messages, determined that among popular strategies, including mentioning key issues, giving facts about the candidate, taking a positive or negative tone or showcasing everyday voters, none stood out as a predictor of which type of ads would be most effective from one cycle to the next.
“Making these findings more problematic is that political ads performing best were more than twice as effective as the average ad, making it tough to determine what content strategy should be used to ensure the best return on investment,” as reported by Inside Radio, an industry trade publication.
As reported by Politico, while some ads might be more effective at influencing voter choice than others, what voters respond to year-over-year is far less clear. “The biggest lesson for all campaigns may be to not rely too much on what worked in the past,” wrote Politico.
Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.