The Wink Factor
Almost four decades in Hispanic and multicultural advertising, from a Mexico City copywriter to McDonald's global chief creative officer, now building MEL.
"The more I know, the more I realize I, I know so little."
Luis Miguel Messianu is the Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer of MEL, the multicultural creative company he built after decades shaping how brands speak to Hispanic and multicultural audiences in the US. He is known for turning cultural relevance into a driver of brand growth, and for a body of award-winning work he describes as elevating the communities it represents.
The son of Romanian immigrants who had to start over in Mexico, Messianu began writing as a copywriter at 17 and, by his account, never stopped writing for a living and living to write. He was a creative director at McCann in Mexico on General Motors, L'Oreal, McDonald's and Coca-Cola before moving to the US, then returned to Mexico from 1990 to 1993 on a regional role while his father was ill. In 1994 he opened Del Rivero Messianu, the predecessor to Alma, with a vision of a multicultural agency built on depth of strategy and creative excellence to rival the great creative shops of the era.
Messianu relaunched the agency as Alma in 2007, backing what he called social creativity and the mantra that brands, like people, have soul. He spent 29 years as head creative for McDonald's, the last two as global chief creative officer overseeing what he says were 46 markets. He has since founded MEL, a leaner company built from the top down around a senior team and bespoke project crews. Alongside the work he has taught at the Miami Ad School and the University of Miami and founded Circulo Creativo, where he says he served as first president.
We're in the business of optimism.
"This is not, uh, only a consumer segment, it's about cultural intelligence."
Messianu rejects the idea that multicultural is simply a demographic to be reached. He argues the discipline is cultural intelligence, understanding what genuinely moves an audience. In his telling, the industry has moved from a translation business built on cliches to one that must run on lived understanding.
"It shouldn't be mentoring. It should be sponsoring"
Messianu believes giving back is an obligation, given how little US Hispanic-made creative talent exists. He wants to go beyond mentoring to sponsoring, someone who actively helps and guides a young creator. He points to former students now leading creative departments as the real award.
"In this big equalizer, the difference will be in, in, in that understanding of culture."
Messianu warns that AI will exacerbate a one size fits all default in the industry. His answer is depth of cultural insight, which he frames as the saving grace that keeps the business vibrant. In a world where technology equalises execution, he insists cultural understanding is the durable advantage.
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