Messer, Michael


Freelance Creative Director, Writer, Étudiant en philosophie


︎︎︎Info


I don’t come up with ideas on my desk. I call it work.
I don’t write quietly. I call it getting stuff out.
I don’t jog. Ich renne.
I do pull-ups until failure.
I don’t just work these days, I also study philosophy. I call it life.

I won Austria’s very first D&AD Yellow Pencil for an advertising agency, Best of Discipline pencil at The One Show, Grand LIA and the first Gold Lion in six years for an Austrian advertising campaign. I was ranked number 
29 Creative Director globally by The One Club in 2022. I created the WARC Top 5 creative campaign of the year 2022. This will probably never happen again. But I’ll never stop trying. 


All photos by my lovely and immensely talented partner Martina Trepczyk




Agencies I worked with.
Mother in Berlin, TBWA/HEIMAT Berlin, TBWA/Madrid, Jung von Matt SPREE, Jung von Matt HAVEL, Jung von Matt NECKAR, Jung von Matt DONAU, Antoni, Vice/Virtue, Freundliche Grüße Zurich, Sir Mary Zürich, DUDE Milano. 

Clients I worked for.
Vienna Tourist Board, Burger King, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Vodafone, Opel, Genesis, HORNBACH, Steigenberger Hotels, Heineken, Leopold Museum and many more.

Magazines I founded or worked with.
Fragmente Deutschland, Systematische Offenheit, Kaput Magazin, Vice, Igittbaby, TheGap, Rock Hard, Kulturpegel and more.

Education/Languages. 

BA in Social Sciences, Deutsch, English, French, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian. Bridgehouse Leadership Seminar. Jung von Matt Academy Mentor, Freshmen Mentor at the University of Vienna for introduction to philosophy. Tutor at the University of Vienna for moral philosophy, theories of violence (ethics) and research methods in philosophy. Two-time receiver of a merit-based scholarship (whose reproductive quality for neoliberal structuring of reality I shall not dwell on here)

Member of the German Advertising Film Academy.
Member of Art Director’s Club of Europe.
Member of Art Director’s Club Germany.
Member of Creative Club Austria.