Lauren Hystead and Lauren Swago have joined Chicago-based agency SOCIALDEVIANT as associate creative directors who will work across multiple pieces of new business.
Hystead and Swago first worked together at FCB Chicago from 2012-15, where their creative director thought it would be fun for two Laurens to work together–with Hystead as copywriter and Swago as art director. Their work together proved so successful that they joined Chicago’s Trisect Agency as a creative team in Dec. 2015, where they remained through 2018.
What started as a project for Valsar Paint developed into a partnership for the Laurens that’s going on six years and their third agency together. Other clients the pair has worked on include Kmart, Slim Jim, and the Chicago Bears.
“From our first conversation with agency president Linda Johnson and COO Dave Shuck, we could feel the energy of SOCIALDEVIANT,” said Hystead. “There’s an immediate sense that big things are brewing and we really just want to be a part of that.”
Added Swago, “With all the work coming in, we’re excited for the opportunity to help SOCIALDEVIANT expand their capabilities and grow relationships with new and existing clients.”
According to agency CEO and founder Marc Landsberg, SOCIALDEVIANT’s revenues shot up by almost 70% in 2018 (fueled by the win of seven new clients in recent months, including CareerBuilder, E.& J. Gallo and The Disney Channel). This growth led the agency to actively recruit to fill these and several more roles.
Hystead graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.A. in journalism and strategic communication in 2011, joining FCB Chicago shortly after graduation.
Swago attended the University of Georgia, graduating with a B.B.A. in finance in 2007. She taught English for a year before switching gears and attending The Creative Circus from 2010-12. She landed at FCB Chicago in Aug. 2012, where the seeds of the Hystead-Swago creative partnership then took root.
Steven Soderbergh Has A Multi-Faceted “Presence” In His Latest Film
Steven Soderbergh isn't just the director and cinematographer of his latest film. He's also, in a way, its central character.
"Presence" is filmed entirely from the POV of a ghost inside a home a family has just moved into. Soderbergh, who serves as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews (his father's name), essentially performs as the presence, a floating point-of-view that watches as the violence that killed the mysterious ghost threatens to be repeated.
For even the prolific Soderbergh, the film, which opens Friday in theaters, was a unique challenge. He shot "Presence" with a small digital camera while wearing slippers to soften his steps.
The 62-year-old filmmaker recently met a reporter in a midtown Manhattan hotel in between finishing post-production on his other upcoming movie ("Black Bag," a thriller Focus Features will release March 14) and beginning production in a few weeks on his next project, a romantic comedy that he says "feels like a George Cukor movie."
Soderbergh, whose films include "Out of Sight," the "Ocean's 11" movies, "Magic Mike" and "Erin Brockovich," tends to do a lot in small windows of time. "Presence" took 11 days to film.
That dexterous proficiency has made the ever-experimenting Soderbergh one of Hollywood's most widely respected evaluators of the movie business. In a wide-ranging conversation, he discussed why he thinks streaming is the most destructive force the movies have ever faced and why he's "the cockroach of this industry."
Q: You use pseudonyms for yourself as a cinematographer and editor. Were you tempted to credit yourself as an actor for "Presence"?
SODERBERGH: No, but what I did is subtle. For the first and... Read More