• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 16, 2015

A month after Mullen Lowe, part of Interpublic Group, won lead creative duties for cruise ship company Royal Caribbean, the agency’s media operation Mediahub has won the client’s North American media assignment, the client confirmed Tuesday. Both wins came after separate parallel reviews.

Royal Caribbean spent about $75 million on ads last year, according to Kantar. WPP’s Mindshare was the incumbent media agency, while Media Storm also contended for the account.

The wins follow IPG’s decision in early May to merge its Mullen and Lowe units, elevating Mullen head Alex Leikikh to CEO of the merged entity. The Royal Caribbean pitch was handled by Mullen. 

The scope of the media assignment includes planning and buying across all traditional and digital channels. 

For Mediahub, the RC win is the second big win in as many months. Earlier, it won the estimated $80 million Scott’s Miracle-Gro media pitch.

Mediahub President John Moore said RC was looking for both “creative media thinking to infuse the brand” as well as an agency that executed the basic media “blocking and tackling really well.” The fact that Mediahub is part of the agency group that won the creative account probably helped the shop’s effort as well, he said.