Celebrity Cruises named Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mediahub its media agency of record in North America following a competitive pitch, a spokeswoman for the brand confirmed. 

The account was previously held by Dentsu’s Media Storm, which defended the account, according to multiple people close to the situation. It’s unclear whether Media Storm will continue handling media outside the U.S. Other agencies believed to have been involved include Stagwell's Assembly and independent Crossmedia.

Crossmedia deferred comments to the client. Media Storm and Assembly weren’t immediately available for comment.

This is a significant win for the media agency, which already handles North American media for Celebrity’s parent company, Royal Caribbean. Celebrity has been increasing its media spending since 2021, which was pegged at $25.4 million by Kantar. In the first half of 2022, Celebrity spent $33.4 million on media, according to Kantar.

In September 2021, Celebrity debuted a campaign following a 16-month pause in its operations due to the pandemic.

The cruise industry was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic and is still bouncing back as inflation becomes another complication for cruise lines. In July, Royal posted a second-quarter net loss of $500 million in revenue despite booking volumes rising 30% above 2019 levels.

In July, the CDC lifted its COVID-19 guidance for cruise ships which required all passengers to be tested and encouraged vaccinations for staff and employees. In early October, Norwegian cruise lines became the first cruise line to end all its COVID testing, masking and vaccination requirements. Other cruise companies including Carnival and Royal Caribbean still require unvaccinated passengers to be tested before boarding.

This continues a streak of new business for Mediahub, which was named media agency of record for Post Consumer Brands, Topgolf and Lyft earlier this year.