The Naples Airport Authority (NAA) invites the submission of Letters of Interest and Statements of Proposals from all interested and qualified parties with demonstrated expertise in PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING to provide full service public relations, advertising, communications and media services to assist the NAA with proactive media campaigns, internal and external communications, public involvement and to help manage responses to high-profile, technical and sensitive media inquiries.
Background
The Airport
The Naples Municipal Airport (commonly referred to as the “Naples Airport”) is in western Collier County, Florida, approximately one mile from the City of Naples business district and approximately one and a half miles inland of the Gulf of Mexico. The land where the airport is located, which is owned by the City of Naples, was leased to the City of Naples Airport Authority (the “Authority”) in 1969 under a 99-year lease. The airport was originally constructed in 1943 and served as an Air Corps base for training gunners, bomber crews and fighter pilots for combat during World War II. Significant improvements have been made since that time. General aviation drives activity at the Naples Airport, including flight training, emergency responders, and charter and high-performance business aircraft weighing less than 75,000 lbs. The airport generates a significant economic impact within the community and ranks among the top 20 airports nationally for business aircraft activity and customer service.
The Authority
The City of Naples Airport Authority was created by State Enabling Legislation and City of Naples action in 1969. The City of Naples, recognizing the benefits of an authority type management concept, established the Authority for the purpose of enhancing service to users, improving the community gateway image and eliminating financial subsidies by city taxpayers. The Authority’s Board of Commissioners is composed of five members appointed by Naples City Council. Commissioners are appointed for a term of four years. The Board of Commissioners retains the Executive Director, who is the chief operating officer, chief financial officer, and secretary of the Authority. The Executive Director hires all other Authority employees. Our purpose statement is “Connecting you to Naples through an exceptional airport experience.” Our customer service vision statement is “First and lasting impressions of excellence.” We have a five-year strategic plan with the following goals:
1. Provide a safe, modern and efficient airport.
2. Be an engaged community partner.
3. Strengthen the airport’s economic vitality.
4. Equip employees to excel today and in the future.
The Authority financially supports itself directly from aviation fuel sales and airport user fees. No local, state or federal general taxes, such as property, utility, sales, intangible or income taxes, directly support the Authority. The Authority receives, for certain capital projects, state and federal financial grants from trust funds established largely from aviation fuel taxes and airline ticket taxes. The Authority pays the City of Naples for utilities, police and firefighting services and built, equips, and maintains City Fire Station #3, as well as several stormwater and environmental facilities. The Authority builds and maintains internal roadways and utilities and has constructed many of the external roadway improvements, including horticultural beautification and bicycle paths.
Scope of Work
The Authority issues RFPs for full service public relations, advertising, communications and media consultants to assist the Authority with proactive media campaigns, internal and external communications, public involvement and to help manage responses to high-profile, technical and sensitive media inquiries. Public involvement includes communicating to all interested persons, groups, media and government organizations information regarding the airport through a variety of mediums. The Authority has found these consultant services to be cost-effective and extremely valuable in communicating the Authority’s goals and accomplishments to the media, employees, and the public. The Authority proposes to contract with a public relations consulting firm or multiple firms to assist with proactive programs such as news conferences, publicity and planning for special events and advertising campaigns, noise abatement outreach, website administration, graphic design, internal employee communication, co-marketing programs with airport tenants, and development and execution of a stakeholder outreach campaign to enable the Authority to market itself as a considerate and responsible citizen of the local community. The firm should be fully capable of advising the Authority on proactive media outreach opportunities and organizing and executing these projects under the direction of the Community Outreach & Communications Manager and executive leadership. The Authority will seek the firm’s guidance and immediate response to crisis and other time-critical events related to the airport that may need representation with formal and informal communications for both internal and external stakeholders. The Authority will require the firm to provide both written and graphical internal and external materials for a variety of purposes including branded education and marketing collateral, flyers, presentations, etc.
The Authority anticipates that the services will include, but are not limited to the following:
• Development of a strategic plan for addressing the airport’s various constituencies, anticipating the varied outreach needs of those audiences
• Produce external and internal communications and branding guides
• Report measures of strategy success and opportunities for improvement
• Work closely with the executive management in developing concepts and creative materials for promoting Authority programs and services to the local and aviation communities
• Identification, production and placement/insertion/distribution of a wide-range of marketing collateral products in a variety of local and industry media, including print and digital
• Identification, coordination and development of community partnership programs that would enhance the Authority’s stature and visibility as a good citizen of the community
• Coordination and production of various aviation, technical, and marketing award submissions
• Copywriting, blog posts and articles, white papers, press releases
• Case studies and market surveys
• Digital and social media planning, development and maintenance
• Corporate communication, including employee outreach, thought leadership positioning, crisis and issue management, press releases, change management communication, awards preparation & submission
• Public relations outreach including, speeches, presentations, and media interviews, community and stakeholder relations, reputation management, employer branding, sponsorship and event management, trade show support
• Media and industry analyst relations – media / industry analyst development, corporate message creation, refinement and placement, news outreach and management, influencer / partner relations, advertising/media buying
• Track and respond to stories in the media that might benefit from a response from the Authority
• Website design, maintenance, content, SEO
• Analytics in support of traffic to website pages and social media, blogs and other hosted digital media with benchmarks and recommendations for optimizing relevant pages with content or SEO to drive traffic to desired content.
• Special events and promotions planning & coordination
• Monitor and report on the effectiveness of the Authority’s own press releases, story pitches and activities
• Developing, printing and/or mailing collateral pieces such as videos, newsletters, handouts or postcards
• Providing multi-lingual services as needed
• Taking photographs and developing videos of assigned projects; prepares, scripts and edits video presentations; creates and produces computer generated graphics
• Develop and implement targeted marketing campaigns that target the media, elected officials and the public
• Engage in unique public participation and solicitation techniques either via the web or in person. The techniques may include but are not limited to public surveys on the web or through social media, opinion polls that produce real-time results graphically to the audience at public meetings or other innovative measures to solicit public input.
• Arrange and/or conduct surveys of passengers, tenants, customers or the public
• Promote the airport and FBO in industry awards and recognition programs
RFP Submittal Date
January 31, 2022
2:00 P.M. EST
All responses to this RFP must be submitted to: Zachary Burch Communications & Community Outreach Manager Naples Airport Authority 160 Aviation Drive North Naples, FL 34104 No later than January 31, 2022, at 2:00 PM
Agencies to consider for this assignment include Hunter PR and Alison Brod PR.