Esteban "Steve" Petersen
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR / DIRECTOR
About
Esteban “Steve” Petersen is an award-winning director + creative director known for producing work that combines live-action and visual effects to create immersive audience experiences. Throughout his 25+ year career, Steve has not only shaped the creative and narrative potential of experiential marketing, he’s transformed it. He has been at the forefront of leveraging cutting edge technology to tell unforgettable stories for companies including Nike, Disney, Netflix, Mattel, Toyota and Xbox, amongst others.
Steve’s diverse work across commercial films, brand activations, immersive design, VFX , real-world game integrations and AR/VR experiences have earned him several awards including an Emmy, Clio, Promax Gold and Telly. Notable projects he has led include the interactive launch event for Alien: Rogue Incursion Meta Quest 3; a four-story anamorphic screen for Creed 3; the 2018 NIKE All-Star Weekend Pop-Up in Hollywood; and National Geographic Channel’s Future Cats documentary which uses imaginative visual effects to show how big cats would adapt to environmental changes.
Most recently, Steve was the creative director behind Chrono Craft: Beijing, a first-of-its-kind augmented reality mobile experience which brings people together and places to life by creatively telling stories via an immersive vehicle. He was instrumental in incorporating technologies including AR, video, spatial audio, and LED animation into the storytelling process to ensure that audiences would have a dynamic experience they can see, touch and feel.
Steve was previously the co-founder and executive creative director of Big Machine, a leading LA-based creative studio that combines live-action storytelling with design and technology to produce unforgettable content. In this role he spearheaded the creative strategies for all of the company's clients and oversaw 20 employees.
Steve graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and Photographic Arts from Syracuse University. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
