“Multi-disciplinary creative agency” Mistress of Los Angeles hired Steve Orenstein as its first-ever chief operating officer.
Mistress, which recently produced spots for VH1, NOS energy drinks, and the latest edition of Assassin’s Creed, positions Orenstein’s hiring as a way to cap off a very successful 2014: the agency expanded its headcount by 70 percent, opened a Hamburg, Germany office under the Mistress.tech moniker, and hired Tim Cyrol (formerly of NBC Universal) to run its HR department.
Here’s the catch: Orenstein will simultaneously serve as COO for Mistress and CFO for WONGDOODY, which still insists we write its name in all caps (both of his new positions are officially part-time). This is not a new experience for Orenstein, who filled both roles at 72andSunny for six years before leaving last month.
Orenstein is nothing if not an agency veteran: he helped run the Los Angeles offices of Y&R and McCann in the 70s and 80s while you were still sucking your thumbs, and he spent the following 15 years at LA’s Davis Elen Advertising.
Mistress’s newest hire got clever in the press release:
“I’ve been married 40 years and this is my first Mistress and I have to say I’m in love.”
On moving from big agency to small:
“[Mistress needs] one big client who will let them do some crazy good creative and they’ll be on the map just like 72andSunny has been for the last 4 years.”
But who will that client be? (No word on whether Orenstein had to write a rap track dedicated to the agency in order to score the gig.)