• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 11, 2011

Horizon Media and mcgarrybowen have been selected to handle media and creative ad chores by United Continental Holdings, the company confirmed. The client, which owns both United Airlines and Continental Airlines, spends about $100 million annually on ads.

The client stated it had named mcgarrybowen as lead agency partner and that the shop would partner with Horizon to execute the airline's marketing communications strategy, traditional and digital creative and media planning and buying.

Mark Bergsrud, senior vice president of marketing, stated that "selecting a new long-term agency partner with the depth, expertise and passion to help us advance the United brand is one of the most important marketing decisions we have made since closing the merger of United and Continental."

The other finalists in the review were Havas' Arnold, which teamed with sister agency MPG, and Omnicom's TBWA, which teamed with PHD.

UAL said that the incumbents, Kaplan Thaler Group and Barrie D'Rozario Murphy, were eliminated from contention before the final round.

The merger of the two airlines was finalized last October.