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IQ Interactive is an Atlanta based agency known for building flash and microsites. That should help explain, in part, why the 55ish person shop let go of 8-10 employees yesterday — according to a source.

The agency serves clients like UPS and New York Life. Yesterday's layoffs were attributed to a "restructuring", we're told. The last time you heard about this shop, it was in Russian.

More: "Ad Agency Layoffs: The Twitter Feed"

Barely three months after leaving Chiat LA and joining PHD West as EVP and managing director, Robert Harwood-Matthews is back in the TBWA fold, this time as president of TBWA Group UK.

Harwood-Matthews, who was only at Chiat LA for six months as global MD for the Infiniti business, replaces Tim Lindsay. In a statement posted on Brand Republic, TBWA president Europe and COO International Perry Valkenburg says, "Robert has the true TBWA spirit. He is a doer. He thinks media neutrality and is an incredibly passionate media-artist. I am delighted to work with him in his new role. Together with all our great people in the London operation, he will make TBWA even stronger than it is today."

More: "Duncan Milner Promoted to CCO at TBWA\Media Arts Lab"

I can't tell you how often we receive anonymous tips from fine folks looking to give us info or ask a question. These are good things, because we like helping out when we can. But please, for the love of David Ogilvy, and stupid jokes, let us know how we can respond to you. We don't bite or turn people in to their respective agencies. We probably don't know who you are, yet, so help a friend out!

Also, to the person who wants to borrow our identity for a press conference, not gonna haps. Thanks for reaching out though.

In case you have trouble reaching us:
email — agencyspy at mediabistro dot com
twitter — twitter.com/agencyspy
IM — agencyspy
phone — 212.547.7935

The ballad of David Carroll strums on as the Canadian musician's tussle with United Airlines, which resulted in his "United Breaks Guitars" YouTube smash, is still biting him in the ass.

The New York Times offered a little follow-up on Carroll's life these days, and from the looks of it, history's repeating itself. Carroll tells the NYT that the airline lost his bag on Sunday, in turn telling him to wait over an hour at Denver International Airport so he could be present when the "delayed" luggage came down the conveyor belt. And as you guessed, the bag was MIA, causing yet another United apology. "We will fully investigate what regretfully happened," a spokeswoman said.

Though he was finally reunited with bag on Wednesday, why does Carroll keep taking United? Songwriting inspiration perhaps? Free rides? Whatever the case, we'll likely have United opus #3 to look forward to.

More: "United Airlines' Favorite Customer to Release Follow-Up Tune"

Got some spare time? Make something Halloweeny and we'll post it tomorrow before heading off to do whatever it is we do in our spare times. Send pics of your office's Halloween adventures, you and colleagues in costume, your cat sitting in a lantern. No matter the fare, we don't care, it'll be Friday soon and we'll have a little fun.

Some of your colleagues have already shared their costume ideas, which are:

— "Polycarp, the first century theologian. By draping myself in multiple carp, of course."

— "Vader — my kid is going out as a clone trooper."

— "Norman Bates' mother."

— "an FTP client"

— "The Hamburglar. I'll be making my hamburger tie out of Ralph Lauren fabric that I picked up..."

— and our classy intern, Ralph "Dept. Of erections inmate". Nice dude.

Email anything you like to agencyspy at mediabistro dot com.

More: "The Week in Advertising Halloween Extravaganza"

PleaseFeedTheAnimals proprietor and former Arnold Boston senior copywriter Erik Proulx is parlaying the buzz of his documentary Lemonade into a spinoff book.

Proulx is soliciting stories on his site because he says that film logistics prevented him from telling more tales based on his favorite submissions. Proulx is hoping to assemble a collection of essays on people's career reinventions in the ad industry and beyond. General guidelines in Proulx's own words are as follows:

-It can be a 1-paragraph abstract.
-The submission must be an original, unpublished work.
-There's no submission fee or cash prize. This is simply a forum to tell your story and inspire others who need to hear it.
-All entries become the property of Please Feed The Animals and Fighting Monk, Inc (the legal entity for my business).
-I want to be ambitious about getting this completed. So all submissions must be received by November 30.

More: "Today on the Menu: Lemonade/Please Feed the Animals Creator Erik Proulx"

Award-winning creative Ed Han joined New York-based indie agency Walton|Isaacson as ECD. Prior to joining the W|I, Han served as SVP/creative director at Publicis New York on accounts like Maytag and Whirlpool. Before moving to NYC, Han, whose work has been recognized by the Effies and New York Addys among others, worked at agencies FCB and Hal Riney & Partners in Chicago.

At Walton|Isaacson, which is backed by Earvin "Magic" Johnson himself apparently and counts Unilever and Lexus on its client roster, Han will manage strategic development, integrated agency network management and branding.

More: "Kash Shree Lands at Pereira & O'Dell"

Hello, dear reader. We hope you're having a good day. It's late October and the seasons are changing, unless you're in LA, which is a metaphor for itself (if you can imagine such a thing). The seasons don't change there, like the many plastic-surgeried faces of the women and men who frequent its many streets, highways and biways. Whatever, we just wanted to take a minute to say thanks.

So, thanks.

Why? Because AgencySpy is your blog, that's why. You give us the juicy tips, you send us tales of agency daffiness and holiday parties gone wild. These stories, the ones you share, are about the people of this business and the companies that employ you. On any other site, Doner would seem boring. Atmosphere would appear as quiet as a lamb. Baa. So thanks, again, for keeping things interesting.

Sometimes we try to thank you with alcohol — so if you're into that, we'll be having a party in the winter times to celebrate what may have been the shittiest year for advertising since, well, ever. But you persevered, you go-getters, you. We'll think of better ways to thank you later on, but for now please accept this brief post, late on a Friday.

If you'd like to keep in touch:

Twitter: @agencyspy
IM: agencyspy
Email: agencyspy at mediabistro dot com
Phone: 212.574.7935
Smoke signals: two puffs and a French inhale

More: "AgencySpy Should be in Jamaica Right Now"

Ralph Lee was the only person naive enough to apply for the AgencySpy internship. Why naive? He wants to actually work in advertising, so associating himself with us was mistake number one. His second mistake was writing a post for us, because now I have to rip it to shreds. The subject: why the hell he can't find a job, despite doing more to get one than maybe anyone I've ever met. Seriously, the kid is everywhere. My remarks are italicized. Ralph, meet blogger-scorn.

I'm going to go ahead and ask the question that most people in my situation are asking themselves. Why can't I land a gig in advertising (bands get gigs, all others get jobs, captain jargon pants)? Whether you're an aspiring account executive, creative, traffic coordinator, or whatever you desire to be, the question still remains the same. If you're like me, you go on interview after interview explaining why YOU are the "next best thing". Then you get an email, a week later, telling you that you're not. Why is this? (You get actual emails telling you you're not the "next best thing" — ouch.)

Maybe it's due to the lack of experience (and generally sucking at life)

That's what I said. For a guy like me, who graduated last year, but decided to go into advertising a bit late in my academia, I obviously lacked in this area.

But being that these are entry-level positions that I go for, and they already have my resume, they should know that I have no direct experience. That's why they call it entry-level. Right? (Yeah but with the number of available low-level folks who have 1-3 years experience, you're the equivalent of a 3rd grader)

Maybe it's due to a lack of ideas

The current generation, which is tomorrow's leaders, is somewhere in the range of 15-35 years old, better know as Generation Y. This is where the fresh ideas of today will make for the innovation of the future After all, we are the folks who will be lingering around this planet for the next few decades, and running it. Why not have someone in that age range, that is in tune to what the generation is asking for? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out (You want to be in accounts: your ideas don't matter)!

Maybe you just suck (finally, something I agree with — speaking exclusively about Ralph, here)

That's the big question! Do you suck? Well, this is something that you have to take into consideration heavily. Maybe advertising isn't the line of work for you. Maybe it is. You'll never know until you're in it. I definitely can't be the judge for you on this one, but I can tell you that there is only one way to find out. Hey, if you land your gig and it doesn't work out, at least you're still young.

Maybe your resume sucks? (in Ralph's case, yes! OK we kid — he's interning everywhere, volunteering for the likes of the OneClub, and attending event after event. if you ever needed an accounts guy who gets around, this is the slut for you — metaphorically speaking)

Take a good look at your resume. Put yourself in the mind of a hiring manager/recruiter. When you look at it again, with this different lens, does "______" jump out from the page from your past experience and skills? ("______" = your desired career title) If not, then you need to shape it to do so. From my experience, even if your previous work doesn't reflect that of your aspiring position, you need to be able to market what you've done that correlates with it. If you want to be a traffic person, maybe you've played in traffic (wa waaa)? Just kidding, but you get the idea. If it does, then maybe you need to reevaluate your interview skills. This is a huge lesson that I've learned through my current quest to the next step in my career: If you don't believe and show that you can do the job, they won't either. Remember that. (how did you get this job again? I need to drink less)

What do YOU want to do? (not have to read this article anymore, but let's move on)

We've all settled in our life at some point and time. Should you settle in your career? I know, in this job market you basically have to take what you can get, but this might not be the best solution. For example: You are aspiring to be an art director, but after a few failed interviews, you take a gig as a traffic coordinator to get yourself "in". This may seem like a great way to transition, but what happens when you're a traffic coordinator for a year or so, and you get stuck? You're now branded as a traffic person, and it could make it that much more difficult to become that art director that you've always wanted to be. (good point, actually, but you still suck)

So I think we've boiled down to the basic setbacks of the current job market in media and advertising. Not that I am an expert by any means, although I should be (yeah, an expert at not getting a job. burn). It is definitely not an easy task to get your first foot in the door to the possible career of your lifetime, but if it is the career that you desire, the hard work is worth it! To leave you with one word that sum up the best interview strategy... MARKETABILITY. Make yourself, your experience, your attitude, and your tonality, exude the best qualities that would make you the best for the job. (blowjobs don't hurt either — the word exude applies here, too)

Good luck hunting! (what are they, fighter pilots?)

Read Ralph Lee's Tumblr here (update, dude!) and follow him on Twitter @madmanralph.

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More: "Intern Insights: A Note From Departing Faceless Intern ryan to His Replacement"

PRNewser's Joe Ciarallo interviewed David Steel, SVP of marketing at Samsung, about merging communications and product development. This practice (or theory) is also the subject of Alex Bogusky and John Winsor's "Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves".

Steel, who met with PRNewser at a panel called "The Reinvention Economy: Re-casting Communications as a Critical Corporate Innovator" today in New York, discusses a topic you've heard before: the benefits of getting consumer feedback in real time. With technology in particular, it's increasingly difficult to stay ahead of the curve because products become obsolete so quickly. Marrying communications and development can, in some cases, lengthen a product's life by getting it to market faster.

And although this idea may seem simple, corporate infrastructure can inhibit the switch from theory to practice.

"When we hit the ground with a new product, we need real feedback from consumers that there's real demand, real interest, [to know] what appeals to them," said Steel. "So this new paradigm of communications allows us to do that, because we can hear what consumers are saying about our products and technology in essentially real time, what they're saying to each other as well as what they're saying back to us as a brand. So a lot of these techniques and tools in social media and online marketing allow us to get consumer input very early in our product development process and then we can reflect that in new products that are coming out. It's a very powerful new tool for us."

Advertising related? No. But as problem solvers, you are constantly seeking to understand the full extent of a problem. Only then can you hope to find the answers your client needs — and will pay for you to fix.

More: "John Winsor: Leaving Crispin"