- Talking to… Mónica Tadeo
This world needs people who love what they do. Vocation, coincidence, vocation, coincidence… Sometimes these two words are like the two sides of the same coin. The coin in question? The audiovisual world. As we have already stated in previous articles, vocation is essential to work in this industry. However, sometimes the love for the audiovisual comes into your life unexpectedly. This is what happened to today’s protagonist. The APCP is back to acknowledge the value of those women who have founded their own production companies. Today we will be telling you everything about Mónica Tadeo, founder of MIRINDA FILMS… Would you like to know more about her?
Mónica started working in the audiovisual industry by chance, because she used to study Pedagogy. ‘I had classes in the morning, so I started looking for an evening job that would help me pay for my expenses and ended up working for Pirámide, a big production company’ she says. She found it very unique and fun’. Truth be told, she did many things (getting the phone, invoices, filing cabinet…) until, after some time, she started working in post-production coordination. Mónica got her degree… What would she do next? What did she want for her future? These were difficult questions that would define her path, but she had already decided: ‘It did not take much to convince me to stay in the company. I found everything related to audiovisual productions fascinating, and the work environment in the company was amazing’. After working hard for a long time, Mónica finally achieved what she never imagined but discovered to be her passion: she became executive producer.
Mónica Tadeo, Founder of Mirinda
Mónica is the CEO and Co-Founder of Mirrinda. And how did this company come to exist? You may ask. ‘In 2006, I excitedly started a new chapter in my life together with Javier Gálvez, the best friend and adventure partner that I could have ever dreamed of’, she tells us. Javier was a Production Director at McCann Barcelona and, later on, he started working for Pirámide as an executive producer. Their respective experience in the field led them to creating Mirinda in 2006. They want to feel proud of every project while enjoying their work. The producers, whose motto is ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’, are very involved in the projects, so they usually carry out one project at a time. Through ‘responsibility, compromise and honesty at the time to face the projects and design the productions’ this company has already 16 years of history.
Which projects have impacted this woman the most? She thinks that ‘every one of them has had something special’. Whether the personal implication of the staff, the luck of getting to meet special people or or the ability to move people through simplicity, 
Monica has many wonderful projects, like the following:
Aquarius Catedral de Don Justo
El pueblo en el que nunca pasa nada
Loterías Sorteo Extraordinario de Vacaciones
‘Being passionate about your job, being curious, having common sense and good communication with your team, and good humour’. These are the key elements that, from Mónica’s perspective, should never be forgotten when working in this field. To her, putting all your effort into every project, no matter big or small, is essential. She also points out the importance of surrounding yourself with a good team, ‘people with extensive experience, very professional and first-class humanity. In Spain, we are lucky enough to have many exceptional professionals’. However, although experience is important, this production company does not leave out the youngsters that have just started to work in the audiovisual world and are full of excitement, will and ideas. They love introducing them into the team!
Mónica Tadeo: ‘A production ends up becoming a little sociological experiment. Each department is a micro-society and the conjoint collaboration of the departments makes it possible for a production to go smoothly. I think that communication, humour and caring about each other is really important’.
To all the girls dreaming of being part of the audiovisual world, Mónica would like to tell them that ‘they should learn about everything they can, be able to identify the necessities that come up during a production, learn to anticipate things and gain experience from everything that happens around them. Take the chance and learn, do your bit, follow your intuition, make mistakes and to get things right’.
Sometimes vocation, other times coincidence. Whatever it is, Mónica Tadeo has turned her work ‘into a way of living’. A woman who starts investigating in order to achieve the impossible and make it possible. After talking to her we realise that, even though she considers common sense a necessary tool for this job, she thinks that we must manage to ‘turn it into seeming craziness to polish something that is turning grey’. That is how she is.
By Paloma Garrido
- Gerety Awards: What advertising campaigns connect the most with the female audience?
The Awards’ answer to this is: ‘Dante’s Kiss’, ‘Trapped in the 90s’, ‘#ToyStrike’, ‘Sugar Kids’, ‘You are a gamer and you don’t know it’ and ‘Bihar, Choosing Tomorrow’, awarded in the Gerety Awards 2022.
The Gerety Awards, in its 4th edition already, is defined as the only creative festival that rewards the campaigns that connect the most with the female audience. With sessions of executive juries organised around the world every year, creative leaders come together to judge the campaigns from the perspective of the female gaze, rewarding the creative excellency, independently from the creators. The biggest difference with other festivals is that Gerety’s winning campaigns are chosen by the most powerful consumers in the world.
As Madonna Badger, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of Badger Agency and member of the Grand Jury explains: ‘It is an honour and a privilege to be part of the jury for the Gerety Awards. Frances Gerety was a legendary woman in the world of advertising and, just like most of the female creatives, appreciated a work well done independently from the gender of the person responsible. However, the campaigns are judged through the female gaze, which is incredibly unique and important for our industry’.
Alejandra Chacón, Strategy Director at Havas Media Group Spain added: ‘The experience of participating in the Gerety Awards’ jury has been like an open window to the world that lets fresh air come in: energising, inspiring and cheerful’.
Finally, the jury for this 2022 edition has awarded 5 Grand Prix, 34 Gold, 58 Silver, 77 Bronze and 139 pieces that got into the Shortlist.
The Awards’ Spanish winners are:
- SILVER Craft CUT (Illustration) for ‘Dante’s Kiss’ for Magnum of LOLA MullenLowe
- SILVER Entertainment CUT for ‘Trapped in the 90s’ for IKEA of McCann, Madrid
- BRONZE Communication CUT for ‘#ToyStrike’ for the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs of MRM Spain
- BRONZE Health CUT for ‘Sugar Kids’ for the Spanish Ministry of Consumer Affairs of VMLY&R Health Madrid
- BRONZE Health CUT for ‘You are a gamer and you don’t know it’ for Multiópticas
- BRONZE Work for Good CUT for ‘Bihar, Choosing Tomorrow’ for BBK Foundation, belonging to LLYC
Meanwhile, the Grand Prix went to Bodyform/Libresse, VICE Media, Channel 4 and Whirlpool.
- Grand Prix Illustration in Craft Cut:
#painstories, Bodyform/Libresse by AMVBBDO, United Kingdom
- Grand Prix Alternative media in Communication Cut:
Unfiltered History Tour, VICE Media, Instagram AR Filters by Dentsu Webchutney, India
- Grand Prix Editing in Craft Cut:
Super. Human. Channel 4, Tokyo Paralympics 2020 by Final Cut, Reino Unido
- Grand Prix Mobile in Experience Cut:
Unfiltered History Tour, VICE Media, Instagram AR Filters by Dentsu Webchutney, India
- Grand Prix product and packaging design in Innovation Cut:
Plasticoff, Whirlpool de VMLY&R Mexico City, Mexico
You can see all the winners on its website.
