Visit Orlando’s 2026 PR Playbook with Azul Airlines

The Visit Orlando partnership with Azul Airlines stands as a prime example of effective travel PR, showing how strategic alliances can significantly boost tourism and brand visibility. Crafting a successful airline partnership campaign demands a structured approach, from initial outreach to measuring the impact. This tutorial will guide you through the process using a hypothetical, yet realistic, marketing platform interface from 2026, focusing on the steps necessary to replicate such a success.

Step 1: Stakeholder Identification and Value Proposition Mapping

Before any outreach, you need to know exactly who you’re talking to and what they care about. In the context of an airline partnership, this means identifying key departments within the airline and understanding their strategic objectives. Our hypothetical platform, “AeroConnect Insights,” is designed for this initial research.

1. Access the “Partnership Scout” Module: Navigate to the main dashboard of AeroConnect Insights. On the left-hand navigation pane, select “Modules” then click “Partnership Scout.”
2. Define Target Airline Parameters: In the “Partnership Scout” interface, locate the “Airline Filters” section. Here, you’ll input criteria such as “Geographic Focus: South America,” “Fleet Size: 50+ aircraft,” and “Primary Hubs: Brazil.” This will narrow down potential partners. For Visit Orlando, the focus would clearly be on airlines with strong routes into Central Florida.
3. Analyze Airline Strategic Reports: Once a list of potential airlines appears, click on “Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras.” A detailed profile will load. Within this profile, look for the section labeled “Annual Reports & Strategy Briefs 2024-2025.” Download and review these documents. Pay close attention to sections on “Route Expansion Plans,” “Customer Acquisition Targets,” and “Marketing Spend Allocation.” These reveal an airline’s priorities. For instance, an airline might be heavily invested in increasing passenger load factors on specific routes, or expanding into new international markets, a detail that becomes critical for your pitch.
4. Map Value Propositions: Based on your analysis, open the “Value Proposition Canvas” tool, accessible directly from the airline’s profile page. Here, you’ll articulate how your destination (e.g., Orlando) addresses the airline’s pain points and creates gains. For Azul, a key pain point might be underutilized capacity on specific routes to North America, and a gain could be increased bookings from a high-demand tourist destination. Your value proposition then becomes: “Driving increased passenger volume and higher yield on existing routes to Orlando, using our strong destination marketing to a targeted audience.”

Pro Tip: Don’t just look at public reports. Use the “Industry News Feed” within AeroConnect Insights, filtering for “Azul Airlines” and “Partnerships” to see recent announcements. This can reveal ongoing strategic shifts or competitive pressures that inform your pitch. A common mistake here is presenting a generic tourism pitch without tailoring it to the specific airline’s current business objectives. Your pitch needs to solve a problem for them, not just tell them how great your destination is.

Step 2: Crafting the Compelling Narrative and Media Assets

Once you understand the airline’s needs, the next step is to build a narrative that resonates with both the airline and the media. This isn’t just about facts. It’s about telling a story. We’ll use a hypothetical “Storyteller Pro” platform for this phase.

1. Access the “Narrative Builder” Module: From your primary marketing dashboard, select “Content Creation” and then “Storyteller Pro.” Within this tool, choose “New Campaign Narrative.”
2. Define Core Message Pillars: In the “Narrative Builder,” you’ll see fields for “Pillar 1: Economic Impact,” “Pillar 2: Traveler Experience,” and “Pillar 3: Brand Teamwork.” For Visit Orlando and Azul, Pillar 1 might be: “New flight routes projected to inject $X million annually into the local economy.” Pillar 2: “Smooth travel experience for Brazilian families, connecting them directly to world-class attractions.” Pillar 3: “Aligning two leading brands committed to delivering exceptional value and memorable journeys.” Each pillar requires supporting data or a compelling angle.
3. Develop Media Kits and Press Releases: Navigate to the “Asset Generator” within Storyteller Pro. Here, you can input your core messages and automatically generate drafts of press releases, fact sheets, and social media copy. For the Visit Orlando-Azul partnership, a press release draft would include quotes from both organizations’ CEOs, highlighting the shared vision. I always recommend having a dedicated section for high-resolution images and B-roll footage of both the destination and the airline’s aircraft. The “Asset Generator” includes a feature to ensure brand guideline compliance for both parties, a small detail that prevents significant delays later.
4. Pre-Approve Key Messaging: Before any media outreach, use the “Stakeholder Review Portal” within Storyteller Pro. Upload your drafted press release and media kit. Assign review tasks to relevant contacts at Azul Airlines and Visit Orlando. This ensures all parties are aligned on messaging before it goes public. An important step often overlooked is getting explicit sign-off on every quote and statistic to avoid retractions or clarifications later.

Pro Tip: Focus on the “why” for travelers. Why should a Brazilian family choose Orlando via Azul? Is it the direct flights, the competitive pricing, or the unique cultural experiences offered? According to a 2025 report by eMarketer, nearly 60% of international leisure travelers prioritize direct flight options when planning long-haul trips. Emphasize this convenience in your narrative. Don’t underestimate the power of a strong visual identity. High-quality images and video are non-negotiable for travel PR.

Step 3: Targeted Media Outreach and Relationship Management

With your narrative and assets ready, it’s time to engage with the media. This isn’t about sending blanket emails. It’s about strategic, personalized outreach. Our hypothetical “MediaLink Pro” platform excels at this.

1. Identify Key Journalists and Influencers: In MediaLink Pro, navigate to the “Media Database” module. Filter by “Geographic Focus: Brazil, Florida,” “Topic: Travel, Aviation, Tourism,” and “Outlet Type: Major News, Lifestyle, Industry Trade.” You’ll find a curated list of journalists and travel influencers. For the Azul partnership, specific journalists covering Latin American aviation and Florida tourism would be paramount.
2. Personalize Outreach Campaigns: Select your target journalists. Within MediaLink Pro’s “Pitch Composer,” you can draft personalized email pitches. The platform pulls in recent articles by each journalist, allowing you to reference their work directly. For example, “I noticed your recent piece on new routes into Miami. Our announcement about Azul’s expanded Orlando service offers a similar, compelling angle for your readers.” This shows you’ve done your homework and aren’t just spamming.
3. Schedule Embargoed Briefings: For significant announcements like a new airline partnership, embargoed briefings are invaluable. Use MediaLink Pro’s “Briefing Scheduler” to set up virtual or in-person meetings with top-tier journalists a few days before the official announcement. This allows them to prepare their stories and ask questions, ensuring more complete and accurate coverage.
4. Manage Media Relationships: The “Relationship Tracker” within MediaLink Pro logs all interactions with journalists, from initial pitch to follow-up. It also tracks their response rates and the types of stories they’ve covered for you in the past. Use this data to nurture long-term relationships, understanding that a strong media contact is a continuous asset, not a one-off transaction. Sometimes, a journalist might not cover this specific story, but they’ll remember your professional approach for the next one.

Pro Tip: Always have a dedicated spokesperson prepared. For an airline partnership, this should be a high-level executive from both the airline and the tourism board. Media training is not optional. It ensures consistent messaging and confident delivery. Also, consider local influencers in both markets. A well-placed Instagram story or blog post can sometimes reach a more engaged audience than a traditional news article, particularly for leisure travel. Just make sure their audience aligns with your target demographic for Orlando visitors.

Step 4: Real-time Monitoring and Sentiment Analysis

Once your announcement is out, monitoring the media conversation is critical. It allows you to gauge the immediate impact, identify any misrepresentations, and respond effectively. We’ll use “PulseMonitor 360,” a complete media intelligence platform.

1. Configure Keyword Tracking: In PulseMonitor 360, navigate to “Monitoring Dashboards” and select “New Campaign Monitor.” Input keywords such as “Visit Orlando,” “Azul Airlines,” “Orlando flights Brazil,” and specific flight numbers if applicable. Include common misspellings to ensure complete coverage.
2. Set Up Sentiment Analysis: Within the “New Campaign Monitor” settings, enable “AI Sentiment Analysis.” This feature categorizes mentions as positive, neutral, or negative, providing an immediate overview of public perception. For the Visit Orlando-Azul partnership, you’d want to see a high percentage of positive sentiment regarding the new routes and the overall collaboration.
3. Track Media Reach and Share of Voice: The “Coverage Metrics” section of PulseMonitor 360 will display total mentions, potential reach, and your share of voice compared to competitors. This provides quantifiable data on how widely your story is being disseminated. A higher share of voice indicates that your partnership is dominating the conversation within the relevant media field.
4. Identify Key Influencers and Outlets: PulseMonitor 360 also identifies the top media outlets and individual journalists covering your story. This information is invaluable for future outreach and relationship building. If a particular outlet generated significant positive coverage, you’ll want to prioritize them for subsequent announcements. I often find that niche travel blogs, while not having the same reach as major news, can drive incredibly engaged audiences.

Pro Tip: Don’t just track mentions. Analyze the context. A mention without a link back to your announcement or a positive call to action might be less valuable than a smaller mention that drives direct engagement. Pay close attention to comments sections on articles or social media posts. This raw feedback can offer unexpected insights into public perception and potential areas for clarification or further messaging. According to data from Cision’s 2025 Global Comms Report, organizations that actively monitor and respond to media sentiment improve their brand reputation by an average of 15% within a year.

Step 5: Impact Measurement and Reporting

The final step is to measure the tangible impact of your PR efforts. This goes beyond clip counts and focuses on business outcomes. We’ll use “Impact360 Analytics,” a strong reporting tool.

1. Integrate Data Sources: In Impact360 Analytics, navigate to “Report Builder.” Connect your media monitoring data (from PulseMonitor 360) with your website analytics (e.g., Google Analytics 5.0) and airline booking data (if shared by Azul Airlines). This creates a well-rounded view of the campaign’s performance.
2. Analyze Website Traffic and Conversion: Focus on referral traffic from media mentions. Look for spikes in visits to specific landing pages related to the Azul partnership. Track conversion rates for flight bookings or Orlando vacation packages originating from these referrals. For instance, did the announcement lead to a measurable increase in unique visitors from Brazil to Visit Orlando’s Portuguese-language site?
3. Quantify Media Value: Impact360 Analytics can assign an “earned media value” to your coverage, comparing it to the cost of equivalent paid advertising. While not a perfect science, it provides a financial metric for your PR success. This is often a key metric for senior leadership.
4. Generate Executive Reports: Use the “Automated Report Generator” to create concise, visually appealing reports for stakeholders. Include key metrics like media reach, sentiment score, website traffic increase, and any measurable booking increases. Always include a section on “Key Learnings and Future Recommendations.” This demonstrates not just results, but strategic thinking.

Pro Tip: Don’t just report on what happened. Explain why it happened. Did a particular journalist’s article drive significantly more traffic? Did a specific social media influencer generate more engagement than anticipated? Use these insights to refine your strategy for future travel PR campaigns. The Visit Orlando-Azul partnership’s success wasn’t just about getting press. It was about getting the right kind of press that translated into actual traveler interest and bookings. My advice, always, is to tie every PR activity back to a business objective. If you can’t, why are you doing it?

Successfully working through a travel PR campaign for an airline partnership, like the one between Visit Orlando and Azul Airlines, requires careful planning, targeted execution, and rigorous measurement. By following these steps, using advanced marketing platforms, and maintaining a focus on mutual value, organizations can achieve significant visibility and drive tangible business results.