Chicago's "hawk," the freezing lake wind that rips through the city, has been accompanied by a equally brutal agency climate this winter.

Layoffs abound, with DDB icing 37 and Frankel 100 just this week.

Though the new biz environment seems as barren as an Arctic wasteland, all it takes is a quirky little account to give agencies the hots.

According to this report, the author of a local play currently in previews titled "Penis' Responses to the Vagina Muse," was "deluged with overtures from Chicago ad agencies" to do its campaign.

The winning agency raced to the playwright's apartment to snatch the account.
It'll probably be a good fit, considering the agency's name is Hardware.

Since Chicago is "The City That Works" not "The City That Jerks," the relevance of this piece of business to paying prospects is a stretch.

But it'll probably give award show judges a rise.