Josh Golden has joined Grey NY as its first CDO and will oversee all digital communications and “set and implement the agency’s digital vision.” Golden joins Grey’s flagship office from Euro RSCG New York, where he was managing director, digital for the past three years. Prior to that, he served as group director, digital marketing at NBCU and had a five-year stint at Y&R’s Big Apple branch, where he helped launch the agency’s interactive group.

More: “Grey NY Welcomes New Chief Strategy Officer”

It took a week, but Red Lobster has finally made a decision and the Darden-owned seafood chain has chosen Grey New York over Saatchi & Saatchi as its AOR. According to the Grey camp, there was a staff meeting this morning to confirm the news. Estimated billings for Red Lobster are said to be in excess of $115 million.

Grey, though, is no stranger to Darden as it’s served as the holding company’s AOR for Olive Garden since 1987 and LongHorn Steakhouse since 2008. In a statement, Red Lobster’s EVP, marketing Salli Setta says, “Grey demonstrated superb creativity, strategic thinking, integrated capabilities and a deep understanding of the casual dining marketplace. We look forward to working with this great team to leverage the growth and success of Red Lobster in the years ahead.”

More: “Red Lobster Visited Grey, Saatchi Today…and Still No Answer”

Since we’re on the Cannes theme, we’ll have to give it up to Grey Denmark, which we found out last year was behind a popular viral ad for Visit Denmark, for going against its former client and entering the clip into this year’s Cannes festival even after the agency was told to sod off.

Much like the Downfall meme, a client proves once again that it doesn’t get “viral” as the video–where mom Karen sends a shout-out looking for her baby daddy–garnered 2,578,961 views across 466 websites in 266 countries before Visit Denmark admitted it was a hoax and pulled it from YouTube.

But Grey tells the The Wall UK that the client approved the ad “at every step,” but “fell at the first hurdle.” According to a statement from Grey Group’s vice chairman and worldwide CD Tim Mellors, “The documentary style proved incredibly convincing and peaked people’s curiosity about life in Denmark.” Time will tell if the agency’s defiance pays off.

More: “Glasses-Tattooed-on-Face Vid was Ray-Ban’s Doing”

Grey Group CEO/chairman Jim Heekin announced that current Grey West MD Brad Fogel has been promoted to president of the group’s San Francisco and LA offices while also taking on management oversight of Grey Atlanta. During his tenure, Fogel–who joined Grey West as CMO in 2007 and then later replaced Betsy Sperry as MD in November 2008–was “instrumental” in helping Grey West win new business like the BMW of North America $80 million U.S. regional ad account and the $30 million Reliant Energy business according to a statement from Heekin.

Prior to joining Grey, Fogel has two stints at Publicis & Hal Riney in SF and held senior management posts at Hill Holiday, FCB, Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi during this three-decade advertising career. In addition to Fogel, Grey also promoted seven-year agency vet Sam Hosokawa to MD of the Atlanta office.

More: “Grey’s Alliance Unit Has a New President”

Amy Tunick has been promoted from VP of client development at Grey’s entertainment marketing agency Alliance to president of said unit.

Tunick, who joined Grey in 2003 after spending a handful of years at William Morris Agency, has led new business efforts, strategic planning and account management in her most recent VP post. Along the way, she’s built up her portfolio that includes work with celebs like Rihanna and strategic partnerships with clients including Universal Music Group and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Tunick replaces John Eckel, who’s left the agency after 2 1/2 years.

More: “Grey NY Welcomes New Chief Strategy Officer”

Grey announced that Pele Cortizo-Burgess, he of brooding headshot to your left, has moved back from London to take on the newly created EVP/chief strategy officer post at the agency’s New York office. Cortizo-Burgess most recently worked at ITV across the pond as director of creative strategy.

This is not the exec’s first stint in the Big Apple as he also served as EVP/director of planning and research at FCB New York. Perhaps most notably, Cortizo-Burgess handled lead planning duties at Goodby on the long-running “Got Milk” campaign. As he acclimates to his apparently difficult surroundings, Cortizo-Burgess will work closely with Grey CEO/chairman Jim Heekin, Grey NY CCO Tor Myhren and global director of strategic planning Suresh Nair.

More: “Grey New York to Handle Branding for the NFL”

The New York Times recently took a stroll through Grey’s new open-layout office space on Fifth Ave and from the sound of it, employees have just one thing to say about their new home: Waahh..we have no walls anymore.

It’s not like open space is anything new in the agency world nowadays, but it seems Grey folks are taking things pretty hard. Staffers like Grey New York chief talent officer Natalia Schultz seem heartbroken about not having a place for things like a shoe collection. “I had a shoe closet in my office. I still only got two boxes. Now the bulk of my shoes live in the trunk of my car.”

According to the NYT piece, Grey went so far as to employ business psychologist Joel Mausner to help ease the transition and quell employee grumblings. Mausner says he’s planning to hold kumbaya sessions of sorts: “One to let employees mourn the loss of the old building; a second to come up with ways to handle potential drawbacks of the open plan; and a third to help workers use the new space to its full potential.” The talking baby E*Trade ads somehow make more sense now than ever.

Grey NY CCO Tor Myhren adds that the move symbolizes Grey’s transition from “very slow and not very nimble” to a “faster enviroment” that’s open, collaborative and “reflects what’s happening in the digital world.”

Image: Chester Higgins, Jr./New York Times

More: “G2 Got Our YouTube Account Shut Down”

We got an email from YouTube/Google this morning in response to our counter-claim, in which we say we didn’t infringe G2 Direct & Digital‘s alleged Copyright on the above video. Unfortunately, they don’t care about Fair Use because they don’t have to. Their service, their rules. Fortunately, Viddler, Vimeo, Brightcove and a bevvy of other sites haven’t banned us yet. We have accounts with all of them, each happily waiting to receive more videos.

Basically, Google won’t be giving us the account back. But whatever, don’t get mad, get a video account on another server! Today we begin with Viddler, which will probably also take the video down. However, it’ll take at least a day. Then we’ll go to Vimeo, Brightcove and so on. If G2 keeps fighting it, we’ll keep talking about it. And talking about it, and talking about it, until Pete knows when. Sorry if this is boring you, oh kind readers, but we’re not about to let an agency dictate how and what we can show, even if it means we have to convince Mediabistro to develop an in-house player. Gawker did it, and now they live happily ever after.

See Google’s unfun email, after the jump. You don’t need to though, so go about your business.

Update: ARRRRG! The legal team has reconvened and says our “copy of a copy” breaks the rules. Well poop, fun’s over kids, but hey &#151 when it comes down to it we play by the rules. Sorry for ruining your dreams &#151 trust us, ours are also crushed. We tried to be bold, we tried to do you right, and in the end this is where we ended up. Still alive!

More: “G2′s ‘Das Pulse’ Clip Flatlines”

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Late last week we found a page on G2.com (Grey’s interactive agency G2 Direct & Digital site) which contained a case-study video for the VW ‘Das Pulse’ campaign. We recorded that video with a little camera and then posted it on YouTube. G2 then made a claim to YouTube that we stole their Copyrighted material, so they took our video (and entire YouTube account!) down. Don’t worry, we got another one. Oh, and we still have the original copy of the video. It’s pretty boring, so our gut is to cut it down into something more palatable, and re-post. But it’d be a little time consuming, so we wanted to ask you: should we re-post it? Note: we risk getting sued, but the journalist in me (yes, it exists!) is compelled not to let this story die &#151 but that’s mostly because we didn’t actually, you know, do what G2 is accusing us of.

Don’t forget, they threatened to get us fired. Also, as for the YouTube account &#151 YouTube has an itchy trigger finger on these issues. We could probably hide behind fair use, aka the First Amendment, if it came to court (who knows, I’m not a lawyer). Anyway, the reason the account came down is we had a similar infraction with a different video, and the “owner” complained. With YouTube it’s two-strikes then done. Annoying! We filed ‘counter complaints’ in both cases, and have yet to hear back from Google on either.

More: “G2′s ‘Das Pulse’ Clip Flatlines”

Grey UK Group CEO David Patton was bumped up to President/CEO of Grey Europe, Middle East & Africa. Patton, who will take his post on January 1, succeeds Carolyn Carter who’s leaving Grey after a 30-year tenure at the agency. Carter, though, will stay onboard with Grey until March 2010 to see the transition through according to the announce.

As EMEA President/CEO, Patton meanwhile will oversee a group that covers 80 cities in 59 countries. Along with the EMEA appointment, Grey promoted its London MD Chris Hirst to CEO of the office.

More: “Grey NY Moves to LEED Certified Bldg. Ending 45 Years at 777 Third Ave”