Michael Smith

Creative Director & Filmmaker, Where The Buffalo Roam

• Writing and directing across client projects, including launch and storytelling work for Google AI Studio.

Freelance Creative Director, Writer & Director

Film, brand voice, and campaign storytelling for startups, agencies, and global brands.

Selected Clients & Projects

Creative Director, Writer & Filmmaker, Hello Stranger Productions

• Co-founded a boutique film studio with three filmmakers and industry vets — pairing award-winning, human-centered storytelling with decades of creative leadership to deliver best-in-class global production, without the usual bloat.

Selected Projects

Group Editorial Creative Director, Fitbit (Google)

• Owned voice, tone, and storytelling guidelines and consistency across the brand.
• Led the brand's first user-stories documentary film project and managed the writing team.
• Launched the fall product line.

Sr. Creative & Content Director, Good Eggs

• Repositioned the brand to a bold, purpose-driven, editorial voice — refreshing the look and feel and authoring new brand values.
• Built lifecycle journeys with new messaging and launched the company's biggest awareness campaign across the Bay Area and LA.
• Established a documentary storytelling series celebrating climate-friendly food producers.

Creative Director & Conceptual Storyteller, Airbnb

Lead Creative, Airbnb Experiences · 2016 — 2021

• Led conceptual campaigns, integrated launches, messaging, in-product prototypes, and storytelling across mediums — documentaries, brand films, editorial series, and podcasts.
• Launched the global Cooking, Adventures, and Online Experiences campaigns, and the @AirbnbExperiences channel.
• Directed two dozen-plus short documentaries and brand films (2016–2020).
• Launched Magical Trips — 350+ short films produced in two months.

Creative Lead, Airbnb Homes · 2014 — 2018

• Co-led ideation, messaging, and film storytelling for the Airbnb Plus launch; concepted the We Accept Super Bowl spot.
• Collaborated on Pineapple, the first Airbnb magazine, and authored the Airbnb brand voice guidelines.

Creative, Instagram

• Helped build Facebook and Instagram's creative and design teams; wrote for the Facebook design blog.

Independent Writer & Editor

• Wrote and edited for tech startups, lifestyle brands, and publishers — Meebo, Nike, Vail Resorts, Travelocity, Expedia, and McGraw-Hill — and rebranded the Shoreline Waikiki hotel.
• Literary editor at StoryQuarterly, Other Voices, New Rivers Press, and The Journal; acquisitions editor at Longman and Penguin. Taught creative writing in Boulder and Chicago.