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MONICA APODACA

ACD Art Director & Designer

  • WORK
  • ABOUT
  • Working Not Working
  • CONTACT

Ad Council - Prediabetes

86 million Americans have prediabetes, maybe even you, person-looking-at-my-portfolio. 

It's true. 1 in 3 Americans are affected by prediabetes. And despite this huge number, awareness of this public health crisis is negligible. Our task was to change that. 

So instead of creating a standard TV spot to raise awareness around the test, we built the risk test into a direct response TV spot, so every viewer would know if they were prediabetic – in real time. 

We also created geo specific print (here!), newspaper, OOH and banners that drove people to DoIHavePrediabetes.org.

Since campaign launch, the daily average of test completions went from 500-1,000 to nearly 8,000 daily completions.  

372 press pickups led to over 3.5m viewers. For the first time ever, prediabetes became a part of a national conversation. 

Hopefully all of Destiny's Child is prediabetes free now. 

Awards:

2016 Cannes Bronze Lion  - read about it here

2016 Cannes Shortlist

2016 Whpped Cream Award

2018 Effie Finalist

2016 Caples Awards - Finalist

2016 Ad of the Week - The Drum

Press:

Coverage highlights included Bloomberg News Online, CBS News, CNBC, CNN Money, Good Morning America, Univision, U.S. News and World Report, Telemundo, Yahoo! and local FOX, NBC, ABC, NBC, and Univision affiliates across the country. 

ABC - Good Morning America

Dr Oz

CBS News

 

 

 

 

Ad Council - Prediabetes Year Two

Year two of Ad Council was tricky - 86 million Americans (1 in 3) were still affected by prediabetes, and despite our success from the previous year the ask was the same: how do we get people to take a simple test to understand their risk?

Well, we decided to take the success of putting the real time test in front of people via TV to the web. We looked at online behavior to see where our target spends most of their time and decided to target them, right there, right then.

Lucky for us, they spend a lot of time looking at some reeeeally cute stuff. 

And in the end the work ended up being just as successful as year one leading to over 500k test completions and nearly 9 million views.

Press:

Men's Health

Food & Wine

Dr. Oz

NBC News

Campaign

 

 

The UPS Store

Everyone knows that The UPS Store does shipping, but what most people dont know is that they can actually do a whole lot more. Our job was to fix that.

And it turns out the work, well, worked.

Proof from a UPS Store franchisee:

“I just had a guy come in and say "I just saw your commercial last night for all of the services you offer. I never knew you did so many things here. Is it true that you notarize documents?”

In addition to shooting multiple TV and digital spots, we also designed a couple of our dream businesses (speed dating on a kitschy yacht? uh, yes, please) from the ground up. It was all very vectory and very fun.

General Mills - #LuckyToBe

When Lucky Charms launched two new rainbow marbits they asked us to come up with something fun for the limited release. And while we didn't get to make our jumbo-cereal hot tub float, we did get to make #LuckyToBe -  a social good campaign that asked people to express why they are #luckytobe who they are. It was one of the first LGBT campaigns ever launched by a family brand and proved that simple ideas trump small budgets, limited time and big obstacles. 

The campaign got some pretty cool press and even won some pretty cool awards.

Awards:

Gold Regi Award - Outstanding Achievement in Multicultural Campaign 

Ad Color Futures - Ad of the Year Award 

AAF Mosaic Award - Multicultural Digital Media Usage

ANA Multicultural Excellence Award 

ANA Multicultural Award Grand Prize Digital 

ANA Multicultural Award Grand Prize LGBT 

ANA Multicultural Award Significant Results 

 

Press:

New York Times

Adweek

GLAAD

Huffington Post

LGBT weekly

Jezebel

Huffington Post

The New Civil Rights Movement

Mediabistro

The Advocate

NewNowNext

(One of my favorite quotes)

“Sometimes the best thing a brand can do is lean into the conversation that’s already going on around it. And that’s exactly what Lucky Charms, a brand that some people have always seen as a little queer, is doing, in part to support LGBT Pride Month.”

— Adweek

Lose Like A Man

Losing weight is as hard for men as it is for women. And for some reason men don't like asking for help (say what?!). Weight Watchers wanted to change that. What came out of it was Lose Like A Man, a campaign starring a man who is able to eat his balls AND lose weight. 

This was the first 360 campaign I ever helped create in my professional career and saw it air Christmas Day at a dive bar in my home town - not a bad way to kick things off.

Happy meatballin. 

Press:

Ad Age

Huffington Post

New York Post

ESPN

CNN

American Express - Apple Pay

With the launch of Apple Pay, American Express wanted to assure card Members that the safety and security that comes with Membership would remain the same.

To convey that message, we went back through 50 years of American Express work to illustrate how payment has changed and to welcome the next evolution. 

Now I can tell people I made a commercial with Jerry Seinfeld…(sorta)

Press:

Ad Age

TIME Magazine

Business Insider

 

Uncork the Night

Once upon a time I shot a campaign for Macaroni Grill that involved two of my favorite things: hunky Italian dudes and pasta.

Beyond my love for the two, Mac Grill needed to remind people that life is better lived when you're filling your belly with wine and tortellini, instead of looking at portfolio sites (or whatever it is you like to do...)

IKEA - Make The Dream Yours

The American Dream has changed. And whatever that looks like for you, you should be able to live it. This campaign isn’t about having a dream home. It’s about IKEA enabling you to create your best life at home.

A bold proclamation emblazoned on a flag communicates that, with IKEA’s support, anyone can live the dream they want.


(Even if that dream means building a six-drawer dresser that may or may not lead to some excessive wine drinking, that may or may not lead to some very awkward tweets.)

The campaign we created includes holiday and brand TV and some very fun non pre-roll, pre-roll.


Hello Cereal Lovers

A few years ago General Mills wanted to change the perception of sugary morning cereals. What came out of it was Hello Cereal Lovers digital campaign - a campaign designed to remind Moms and cereal fanatics alike that our favorite past time breakfast is still as wonderful and healthy as it ever was. Moms all over rejoiced and we got to make some pretty fun cereal GIFS. 

Specifically we developed the Website, Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter page, along with daily content. 

It was named one of the 13 best social media campaigns of 2013 by Postano.  And was featured on the cover of the New York Times .

 

Awards:

13 Best Social Media Campaigns 2013: Postano

Internationalist Award for Innovative Media: Bronze

Press:

Media Post

New York Times

Convince and Convert

Serious Eats

Warc 

STAPLES

When kids go back to school they are already thinking about the last of day school. Parents, on the other hand, are thinking about all the supplies they need to get them through until the very last day. Lucky for them, they have Staples. And Oliver Gondry, our director who helped us shoot these backward commercials to help bring the idea to life.

Enjoy the flying school supplies.

LIVE LIFE ACTIVE

One late night my partner and I came up with this campaign for Weight Watchers. It was bright, it was fun, and it was completely different from anything Weight Watchers had done. 

 

Copywriter: Chelsea Parks

Monica Designs Things

A collection of vector(y) things for clients, friends, and mostly fun.

1. Probono Austin Farmers Market Poster for all those downtown ATX hipsters.

2. Lockup for American Express brand campaign line. The ellipsis served as the graphic thread across multiple mediums and partner work.

3 & 4. Real logos for a few not so real businesses for a very real commercial.

5. Logo & Business Cards for Austin Energy Audit.

6. Logo Redesign for Austin’s beloved trailer snow cones, Ice Queens. (and the very first rebrand I ever did. I should probably take it out of my book, but I’m nostalgic, what can I say?)

7 & 8. Print and OOH for Mastercard’s annual Priceless Holiday campaign.

9. American Express celebratory print for Fred Smith from FedEx.

Ad Council - Prediabetes

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Ad Council - Prediabetes Year Two

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The UPS Store

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General Mills - #LuckyToBe

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Lose Like A Man

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American Express - Apple Pay

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Uncork the Night

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IKEA - Make The Dream Yours

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Hello Cereal Lovers

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STAPLES

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LIVE LIFE ACTIVE

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Monica Designs Things

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