Luis Miguel Messianu

Luis Miguel Messianu

Founder-President-Chief Creative Officer at MEL (Messianu/Edelman/Lerma)
Miami, United States

About me

Luis Miguel Messianu has played a respectable and influential role in the most important developments in the U.S. multicultural market during an advertising career that spans three decades. Born to Romanian parents and raised in Mexico City, he has worked in both the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic markets. His professional trajectory is defined by a conscious effort to help pioneer the melding of marketing niches into a nuanced and evolving market. His award-winning work for multinationals such as McDonald’s, State Farm Insurance, Clorox, MolsonCoors, Sprint, Pepsi, among others, is a testament to that effort. Luis Miguel Messianu is an innovator, a mentor, and an example followed by many distinguished professionals in the multicultural marketing community.
Luis Miguel had the foresight to target this vast and untapped market. In 1994 he started his own Hispanic agency, winning soon after the McDonald’s and State Farm Insurance accounts. Twenty nine years and numerous award-winning campaigns later, both clients still trusted their multicultural strategy to Luis Miguel’s previous creative shop, called alma. alma is a modern culture marketing agency known for highly effective, award-winning segment-led creative campaigns, with a broad roster of clients, including McDonald’s, MolsonCoors, PepsiCo, Wells Fargo, CVS Health, Google, State Farm and others. Under his watch the agency fueled exceptional business growth through creativity, earning 35 Cannes Lions and 27 Effie Awards, as well as numerous Radio Mercury, One Show, Clio, ANA, and New York Festival Awards. alma was named to Ad Age’s prestigious A-List seven times and earned “Agency of the Year '' titles from El Ojo, El Sol, and FIAP.

In 2015, ADCOLOR named Luis Miguel Legend Honoree in celebration of his achievements in diversity through his career, and in 2016 he was selected as juror for the Radio Category at the Cannes Lions Advertising festival, he was invited back in 2022 as a juror for the Sustainable Development Goals category. In 2019 he was inducted into the CMC Advertising Hall of Fame, one of the highest recognitions in the multicultural industry.
He has always been passionate about mentoring and educating a new generation of Multicultural advertising professionals, and has been a member of the Miami Ad School Board and faculty since the school's inception. He is a professor at the School of Communications at the University of Miami. Luis Miguel was also one of the founders of the US Hispanic Creative Circle more than two decades ago, was elected its first President.
He completed with honors his Executive MBA at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership.
From February 2022 to July 2023, he was DDB’s Global Chief Creative Officer for the McDonald’s account. Messianu oversaw the creative output of the McDonald’s brand across 46 markets, where the DDB network is responsible for the account. He split his time between his role as Founder and Chairman of alma and the global position within DDB for McDonald’s.
In June 2023 he left DDB and alma, the agency he founded,and launched a Multicultural Creative Content Consultancy under the name “Included” going back full circle as a creative entrepreneur who really loves to build cultures and companies from scratch. Soon after he engaged in conversations with Pete Lerma and Richard Edelman, who wanted to partner with him, which in turn are now giving birth to MEL. This new Latino Earned Media enterprise will allow him to recommit to his personal and professional mission of helping dignify and elevate the presence of Latinos in the U.S.

Positions

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Coconut Grove, United States
2007 - Present (17 years 2 months)
We opened our doors in 1994 as del Rivero, Messianu. With a pioneering spirit, our main focus, aside from developing communication campaigns for our clients, was to change the way Hispanic Advertising was created in the US. We moved the industry from one that viewed Hispanics as stereotypical to one that strived to connect with consumers on culturally relevant, emotional ways.
In 2007, as the industry was evolving at a very fast pace, it was time to relaunch and reinvent. We changed our name to Alma, we added some great new talent, we moved to a new state of the art space, embraced "Social Creativity" as a unique approach and the results started to show! We were named twice to the Ad Age’s A-List. In both occasions we were the only Hispanic agency listed.
We have won not only Hispanic but also General Market accounts (Tobacco Free Florida, Quaker, PNC Bank, Florida Blue,among others)
We went from agency #14 on Ad Age’s Hispanic Fact Pack in 2007 to #6 in 2013.
So where we are today? 110+ employees, one of the most awarded Hispanic agencies in the market, strong thought leadership, Digital as part of our core ideation process, 11 new clients since 2007, Hispanic, LatAm, GM, Total Multicultural accounts, profitable with revenue up since 2007 by more than 60% and more important, a great place to work, with a great culture, seeked by both professionals and clients.
Chief Creative Officer
Rivero Messianu
United States
1993 - 2007 (14 years)
Latin America Regional Creative Director
Lintas
United States
1990 - 1993 (3 years)
Creative Director
Austin, United States
1988 - 1990 (2 years)

Associate Creative Director
Mendoza Dillon
United States
1986 - 1988 (2 years)
Creative Director
Mexico City, Mexico
1985 - 1987 (2 years)
VP Creative Director
Scali, McCabe, Sloves
United States
1981 - 1985 (4 years)
CEO Creative Chairman
Coconut Grove, United States
Board Member
Miami, United States
Creative Chairman & CEO
Coconut Grove, United States
Creative Chairman/Ceo
Pantin, France

Education

EMBA in Organizational Leadership

2016 - Present (8 years 2 months)

BS in Advertising

1976 - 1981 (5 years)

Other professional activities

Miami Ad School

Board Member
1993 - Present (31 years 2 months)
Cause Education

PHNX 2021

Awards Jury Member

PHNX 2024

Awards Jury Member

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