Grey New York wants to tell you that “It’s Never Not a Good Time for a Refreshing Mike’s.” Excuse the double negative (what about “It’s Always a Good Time…?), but to draw your attention away from the grammatical errors, they included some very, very random celebrity cameos from actor Martin Landau and rapper Coolio. The 30-second spots include some random rhyming that leads to a series of non-sequitors, hence the random celebrities. Random is the only way to describe this campaign.

Before watching these spots, I hadn’t thought of Landau and Coolio in years. Both are stored away firmly in the Club for G-List Celebrities Who Will Never Be Famous Again. In Landau’s defense, he’s 84 and had a memorable run of “Entourage” a few years back (not to mention his Oscar-winning turn as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood). Coolio is Coolio. They both picked up paychecks in return for a loss of dignity. That’s advertising for you. Check out the Coolio spot and credits after the jump.

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It looks like P&G made its announce ahead of the 1pm EST time that we were hearing about today, as Grey indeed has won the Gillette business, thus ending a review that lasted seven months (judging by the tips box, P&G made the announce as early as 11am today). We were told by those in the know that staffers were on “pins and needles” for the last few days–for obvious reasons–though as far as we know, Grey was tipped to win Gillette as of last week.

Of course, the agency folks can now breathe a sigh of relief and pop open the champagne as their agency’s officially picked up global ad duties for the men’s shaving/grooming brand (hell, we still swear by our Mach 3), which were previously handled by BBDO (the agency’s relationship with Gillette dates back half-a-century). The latter agency along with Saatchi & Saatchi were reported to have been the other finalists in the review.

Update: And as expected, our sources have sent us an internal memo from Grey regarding the Gillette win. After the jump, you can read the agency chairman/CEO Jim Heekin‘s note to staff, who from what we’re hearing will be partying it up tonight:

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Instead, for now, we have this statement from Marriott VP of global brand PR John Wolf, who says, “We chose Grey for its expertise in integrated consumer brand marketing that will help us amplify the innovations Marriott is bringing to market to appeal to Gen X and Gen Y travelers. We were impressed by Grey’s passion, creativity and best-in-class PR practices to maximize the buzz factor across business and lifestyle media.”

We’re checking to see if there was a review for this. While we’re on the subject of Grey, we’re hearing from sources that the agency is still one of the finalists in the Gillette creative pitch and a decision is expected to made by this coming Monday. Update: There was no review for the Marriott PR biz; the appointment just grew out of Grey and the hotel brand’s existing ad relationship. Burson Marsteller, meanwhile, continues to handle corporate PR for Marriott.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If anyone needs a crash course explaining the differences between American and European cultures, pay attention to this post about taxis. American cabbies are generally considered beasts behind the wheel–especially in New York City, where driving their yellow death machines poorly is not only acceptable, it is encouraged. Cab rides are expensive in American cities, so the drivers try to seduce any possible fare into their jail-like backseats. In Europe, cab drivers are more underdressed chauffeurs than maniacs. The cars are smaller, more energy-efficient, and not always driven by Formula 1 wannabes.

These stereotypes, while not always true, make the latest news out of Dusseldorf, Germany, seem par for the course. Grey Worldwide Dusseldorf and Seat Germany created “The Seat Taxi Fare,” a technology that results in a decreased fare every time a cabbie uses the brakes. In the land of awesome architecture, this brand of savings is acceptable; in America, there would be cabbie riots.

The above video gives viewers a chance to see how passengers responded to “The Brake Energy Recovery System.” From a consumer’s perspective, this campaign is fantastic other than the fact that Seat’s slogan is “Enjoyneering.” After I covered last week’s Nissan Juke n-tec, it may be time to save creatives from themselves with an automotive naming intervention. Credits after the jump.

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During his last stint at Grey as EVP, Livingston oversaw digital assignments within the agency as well as digital biz dev, recruitment, and training & development efforts.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sources tell us that G2′s move to peel away from Grey has been discussed by all parties involved since late last year, but it’s been stop and start ever since. Tipsters on the Spy line, though, tell us that G2′s purported realignment was already announced at a recent town hall meeting. Whatever the case, G2′s move to Ogilvy’s New York HQ, aka “The Chocolate Factory,” doesn’t seem too far-fetched when you consider that the former’s recently installed USA CEO, Harvey Kipnis, has a relationship with the latter that dates back to 2003. We’ll try to fill in the blanks once we get some clarification and/or confirmation on the matter.

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Now at Grey NY, Reiss will join the agency’s leadership team that president/CCO Tor Myhren and COO Michael Houston (her predecessor on the CMO position). Prior to NYC & Company, the exec spent nearly two decades at NYC full-service agency Margeotes Fertitta & Partners, last serving as managing director/partner.

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By now, you’ve probably read or heard about the news that Grey New York has nabbed the Marriott Hotels & Resorts business, which resided with McGarryBowen for nearly a decade. Anyhow, without any pretense, pomp and/or circumstance, Grey NY prez/CCO Tor Myhren and managing director Michael Houston relayed the good news to staff like this:

“We’re going to keep this short and sweet.

Grey just won the Marriott Hotels and Resorts business, beating out mcgarrybowen and JWT in the final round.

Congratulations, people. This is huge.

The news will hit the press shortly.

Stay tuned for celebration details…

Tor and Michael”

Well, the news definitely did hit the press, but thanks to Marriott’s stellar PR work, it didn’t hit our inbox til late in the evening. No need to repost the reasons why Marriott tapped Grey, but the agency did beat out McGB and JWT for the biz. Meanwhile, Marriott’s agency relationships with MEC, Anomaly, Team One and other creative and specialized agencies throughout its global operations were not affected in this review.

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From Grey NY comes a new spot for Downy Infusions, the best fabric softener for twirling around the in park with your freshly softened dress. Wait, what kind of creepy park is this where the flowers are dying at such a rapid rate? Despite its beauty, this is not the kind of park an innocent fresh-smelling girl should hang out in by herself.

Anyway, who better to ride up to meet our Downy girl than Isaiah Mustafa? Yes, apparently “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” uses Downy fabric softener on his lavender linens, which is totally forgivable if your man also looks like Isaiah Mustafa but incredibly confusing for the average TV viewer.

So, how did W+K feel about their golden boy being used in a spot by a competing agency? About as well as you’d expect…er, maybe a little worse than you’d expect. According to a source, W+K “demanded” to be on the set for this spot, which is weird considering they don’t exactly own Mustafa, nor are they still using him in Old Spice ads. Is this alleged watch-dogging a byproduct of paranoia, megalomania, or simply a dedicated approach to quality control? Leave your guesses in the comments, and if you have any more information on how this devastatingly awkward-sounding shoot went down, send us a tip!

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Ok, here we go, sources familiar with the matter confirm that following the Eli Lilly account hullabaloo, Grey has soaked in another piece business in the form of Reliant, which we’ve been told was  originally a conjoined operation within the Grey/G2. From what we’ve been told by sources familiar with the matter,” We had a shared relationship with Grey on the Reliant business, which has been service[d] out of the San Francisco Grey office.” From what we’ve been told, it was the Reliant direct marketing business that was at hand. You might asscociate Reliant with the NFL team/stadium it owns and doctrines on mind.

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In addition to the aforementioned senior creative’s departure, Draftfcb has also lost Nanci Silverman, who spent the last five years at Draft, to Grey, which she officially joined on May 1 and now serves as EVP/group account director on the WPP agency’s Darden portfolio including Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Longhorn Steakhouses. Silverman replaces Michele Kay, who is “taking early retirement” according to Grey.

We’ve been told the parting was amicable, the pair is moving on to “greater opportunities” and to second that emotion, here’s a statement from Draftfcb NY CEO Dana Maiman, who says, ““We are so happy for both of them as are our clients. We wish them tremendous luck.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Sources familiar with the matter confirm that following a review, Grey has picked up the advertising business for Pfizer’s Emergen-C brand (one of our favorite cure-alls). Pfizer, if you recall, acquired Emergen-C’s parent company, Alacer Corp, just a few weeks ago. The Emergen-C account will be handled by Grey Healthy People, the health & wellness division launched by the agency last fall.

Tipsters tell us that New York-based Burns Group was also in the review, but that hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. As a result of the win, Grey expands its longstanding relationship with Pfizer and more specifically its Consumer Healthcare division, which has been a client since 1995. The agency already works with PCH brands including Robitussin, Alavert, Advil Cold and Sinus and Preparation H.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.