Celebrity Cruises Names Marketing Head

Celebrity Cruises appointed senior marketer Steven Hancock to lead intensified marketing efforts for the premium brand. In his new role, Hancock will assume broad-reaching responsibilities for consolidating Celebrity's brand messaging and widening its customer base. He takes over as senior vice president of Marketing on Aug. 15. Hancock has a unique background and specialty qualifying him for his new job. He has spent the last two decades at financial services leader Citigroup, where he has rotated among fast-moving, start-up business groups, with the sole focus of accelerating growth. His work has been praised by Forbes, Money, and Worth magazines. Most recently, Hancock was chief marketing officer for Citibank Online, a job that involved developing and launching the bank's online customer financial services, creating all aspects of the customer's online experience, and managing sales and acquisition. Jack Williams, president and chief operating officer of Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, believes Hancock and Celebrity will be an excellent fit. "We are delighted to have a marketing professional of Steve's stature and expertise join Celebrity," he said. "Steve has a unique set of marketing skills. In particular, his experience with one-to-one targeted relationship marketing is just what Celebrity needs to differentiate the premium status of the brand." Hancock added, " I am pleased and excited about joining the Celebrity organization. From my perspective, Celebrity is very special, especially in terms of its value and commitment to providing the best customer experience in the industry." Ares Michaelides, a long-time Celebrity finance executive who has held the position since April 2001, will transfer from the Marketing Department to two corporate start-up ventures, Island Cruises and RCL (UK). Michaelides will report directly to Williams in his new role. "Ares has done an excellent job in refocusing Celebrity's marketing efforts," Williams said. "I can't say enough about the fine job he has done in laying the groundwork on which we can now build a stronger, more meaningful brand in the marketplace. We now need his skills in other critical areas."