Deutsch New York has been named the lead agency for Jagermeister after a review.

Independent Los Angeles agency Mistress, which picked up the business in September 2011, was the lead agency. The brand has also worked with agencies such as Crossmedia, but prior to Mistress, it had not had an agency to work on the brand in 25 years.

The review process was internally managed. Work from Interpublic's Deutsch is expected to launch this year.

"The Jagermeister brand in the U.S. has a tremendous legacy of innovation in its marketing approach," said Adam Rosen, exec VP of marketing at Sidney Frank Importing Company, which imports Jagermeister.

"The choice of a lead agency partner was something we took very seriously as we needed to ensure all Jagermeister platforms in the future are breakthrough and consumer centric. The four month search was intense, with Deutsch emerging early as the agency to beat. Deutsch is a tremendous group of individuals that are experts in all aspects of strategy, consumer insights and creative development. Their track record speaks for itself and we are incredibly proud to now call them our partner."

"You would be hard pressed to find something as unique in the category, whether talking about taste or heritage or good times," said Kerry Keenan, chief creative officer at Deutsch, New York. "It's not a 'concept spirit.' It is and has always been the real deal. It's not often that you get to work on a brand that is so true to itself."

Jagermeister is not a big measured-media spender. Historically, it has relied on experiential marketing -- its female mascots, Jagerettes, for instance -- trade promotions and music and auto-racing sponsorships. In the first nine months of 2013, it spent about $5.6 million on U.S. measured media, according to Kantar. In 2012, the year it launched its first TV campaign in the U.S., it spent close to $5.9 million, up from a negligible $231,000 in 2011.