Aero Film Signs Award-Winning Ad Creative Peter Moore Smith as Director

Accomplished advertising creative Peter Moore Smith is shifting careers, in a sense, moving from the agency space to the director’s chair and joining the roster at global production company, Aero Film.

With over 20 years’ worth of experience in ad land, Smith arrives at Aero after spending the last four years as executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York, where he oversaw all creative on the General Mills account and worked on acclaimed campaigns for Cheerios as well as Walmart and Duracell. More recently, Smith directed “The Talk” for Harlem-based youth development organization Brother/Sister Sol, which earned several esteemed industry awards including Cannes Lions, CLIOs, and One Show Pencils.

According to the new Aero director, the move from creative directing to directing proper was a fairly natural transition. “I spent my whole career on set during commercials shoots,” Smith says. “The more time I spent on a production, the more I realized I wanted to stay in that environment. I started making commercials at BBDO where I was really encouraged to be part of the production process, and get really involved with the director. So ultimately, I wanted to do it myself.”

As a creative whose roots lie in both copywriting and writing, having also penned a novel called Raveling and the screenplay for the 2012 feature film, Forgetting the Girl, Smith spent nearly 15 years at the aforementioned BBDO New York, rising from a budding creative star to senior creative director while working on celebrated campaigns for top-tier brands such as Pepsi, Visa, GE and FedEx in the process. During his career, Smith also held a similar position as EVP/ECD at Publicis before moving on to Saatchi, where he assumed the title of ECD and even interim chief creative officer for a time.

Still, while he’s technically leaving the agency side, Smith hopes to infuse his vast advertising experience into his new role as director at Aero Film. “Generally, directors come from a film background and may not know the politics of advertising,” he says. “Some details might be very important that could be confusing for a director who’s new to commercials. I hope that with what I’ve learned during my time in advertising, I can be helpful with that and successfully navigate through the process.”

Smith’s working relationship with Aero Film, which is run by partners Skip Short, Lance O’Connor, and Klaus Obermeyer actually dates back to his days at BBDO. In regards to what Aero’s newest director brings to the table, O’Connor explains, “When we got the first script from Peter for VISA, Klaus and I were blown away by the caliber of writing,” he says. “We knew we were dealing with a real talent. Over the years, that’s only gotten better. Seeing him as a director, his instincts for casting are amazing. He’s the ultimate storyteller. Performance is his strong suit and we couldn’t be more proud to have him in the Aero family.”

About Aero Film:

With its “soup to nuts” capabilities, versatile production company Aero Film has established itself as a global powerhouse with offices in Santa Monica, New York, and Munich. Home to a roster of visionary, world-class directors, cinematographers, producers and editors, Aero Film has produced commercials and films for an array of high-profile clients including ASICS, Pepsi, Activision, Ford, U.S. Navy, Audi, and Samsung.