• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 1, 2015

Norwegian Cruise Line has named Omnicom’s BBDO and OMD to be its creative and media agency partners, respectively. The decision was made following a competitive review.  The account had previously been handled by The Martin Agency, which did not participate in the review. The business will now be led out of BBDO Atlanta and OMD Midwest. 

Norwegian spent about $33 million on ads last year according to Kantar.

The client said BBDO will be responsible for providing creative and strategic leadership and development of a multimedia advertising campaign. OMD will be responsible for media planning and buying across all media channels.

The review followed management changes at Norwegian, including the addition of Meg Lee, who was promoted to CMO in March.

“Norwegian Cruise Line and the cruise industry are on an uptick and we are looking to capitalize on this business momentum,” said Lee said. “We initiated this review with the goal to identify the best agency partners to help take Norwegian to the next level and accelerate the global expansion of the brand and our unique Freestyle Cruising proposition. In BBDO and OMD, we have found two agencies with proven track records of success with high involvement brands.”

Said Drew Panayiotou, president & CEO, BBDO Atlanta: “Norwegian Cruise Line is an innovator in its field. Our goal is to help potential cruisers discover the revolutionary experiences that Norwegian brings to its cruise travel.”

It is expected that the first new work from BBDO and OMD will debut in January 2016. 

The award follows the completion last month of a creative review by competing cruise operation Royal Caribbean, which awarded its account to Interpublic’s Mullen Lowe. The Boston-based shop is also contending in a separate ongoing review for the RC media assignment.