- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Havas units Arnold and MPG have won creative and media duties, respectively, on Carnival Cruise Lines' estimated $70-80 million account after a review. The other finalists were IPG units Deutsch and McCann Erickson, which pitched with sibling shop Universal McCann.

The account encompasses all marketing services duties, including traditional creative ads, interactive ads, direct marketing and media planning and buying.

The Boston offices of Arnold and MPG succeed Omnicom Group's CooperDDB in Coral Gables, Fla., which handled traditional creative duties, media duties and some direct marketing duties, and Avenue A/Razorfish in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which handles interactive duties. CooperDDB sister shop DDB defended on behalf of the incumbent but did not advance past the RFP stage. Consultancy Ark Advisors guided the process.

Final presentations took place last week at Carnival's headquarters in Miami, said sources. Each shop got three hours to present to about a half dozen executives, including Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill and evp of marketing Ruben Rodriguez.

"We love this category, and we are really proud to have the opportunity to work with the market leader," said Pam Hamlin, president of Arnold, Boston.

The win returns Arnold and MPG to cruise-line business following their loss of the Royal Caribbean account last year after working with that client for a decade. A WPP team led by JWT and MindShare ultimately won that account.

Arnold's team pitched first, on the morning of May 22, followed by McCann's team on that afternoon and Deutsch on May 23, sources said. Account revenue is estimated at $10-12 million.

The New York office of Ark handled the search.