Royal Caribbean Confirms Its Pitch Finalists

By Patrick Coffee 

A week ago, we posted a blind item on the ongoing Royal Caribbean review.

We told our (mostly angry) readers that the client had narrowed its list of contenders down to three…but our sources missed one.

The client did not speak to us regarding the details of the review and hesitated to discuss it even when the news first broke in February, but they did provide Andrew McMains with a list of the finalists today. They are:

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  • Deutsch New York
  • Mullen
  • Droga5
  • 22squared

Our sources mentioned the first three but somehow left out 22. A legitimate oversight, we’re sure.

The client seemingly wants to downsize future campaigns: McMains describes the shops involved as “midsize players,” noting that the final pitches will happen this week in Miami. It would also appear that JWT Worldwide will not retain any of the RC business after holding the account for seven years, though we received mixed messages on that point when the review went public. (JWT London recently lost creative AOR duties to TBWA.)

Royal Caribbean also plans to review its media account (current AOR Mindshare), but of course our readers don’t care about that.

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