NEW YORK — Discover Puerto Rico has moved its PR business to a team made up of talent from MMC, H&S and FleishmanHillard, called Discover Collective.

As PR agency of record, the collective is tasked with driving interest in tourism among mainland US travelers. The team’s remit also includes helping elevate Discover Puerto Rico, a destination marketing organization, into a lifestyle brand.

The organizations said the collective fuses the strengths of the three agencies including MMC’s expertise in brand building; H&S’s expertise in travel and tourism; and FleishmanHillard’s expertise in crisis and issues management.

The business previously belonged to Ketchum, which, like MMC and FleishmanHillard, is an Omnicom agency. H&S calls itself a “preferred partner” of the holding company.  MMC will be the contracting agency. 

The account will be co-led by Abbey Scalia of MMC and Stefanie Samarripa of H&S, who will oversee operations and travel & tourism, respectively. Rebecca Rausch of FleishmanHillard will lead the crisis & issues team.

“We are proud to be the new public relations AOR for Discover Puerto Rico, working with the DMO to dimensionalize the Boricua spirit for U.S. travelers,” according to a joint statement from MMC CEO Olga Fleming and H&S CEO Elizabeth Harrison.

Discover Collective’s appointment caps a PR agency review process that started last summer. At that time, Discover Puerto Rico said it was looking for a firm to handle PR in the mainland US with the goal of positioning Puerto Rico as a premier travel destination.