Hi! I'm Dani Maldonado,

I make complex things clear And clear things beautiful.

decisions · 2018 → present

Creativity applied to the problems that matter: distinction, demand, and growth.

  1. 01

    Some brands can't be fixed. They have to be replaced.

    starry · pepsico
  2. 02

    We gave up the logo to win the brand.

    mtn dew × game of thrones · pepsico
  3. 03

    Pepsi doesn't follow the meal. It belongs at the table.

    food deserves pepsi · pepsico
  4. 04

    You don't borrow culture. You earn your place in it.

    brisk × black panther · pepsico
Dani Maldonado I make complex things clear. And clear things beautiful.
← back to decisions 01 / 04

decision 01 · starry

Some brands can't be fixed. They have to be replaced.

After two decades of chasing the lemon-lime category, the next attempt had to be built to win, not built to relaunch.

brand
Starry, PepsiCo
role
Creative architect, concept through launch
outcome
$100M in 3 months

01 · the complexity

No equity to borrow. No heritage to lean on. A category owned by a single dominant player, and an organization watching whether this attempt would be different.

02 · the clarity

The category had confused color with flavor for sixty years. Lemon-lime never had to mean green — it had to mean unmistakable.

03 · the beauty

primary can · 12oz · launch sku
cooler door · category context · q1 2023
1B+ media impressions in year one
national retail launch across all skus
$100M in the first 3 months
recognition red dot · pentawards · a' design awards · press in rolling stone, adweek, the drum
01 Starry
02MTN DEW × Game of Thrones 03Food Deserves Pepsi 04Brisk × Black Panther
Dani Maldonado I make complex things clear. And clear things beautiful.
← back to decisions 02 / 04

decision 02 · mtn dew × game of thrones

We gave up the logo to win the brand.

Mountain Dew's entire equity lives in one neon-green icon — and the only way into the biggest pop-culture moment of the year was to throw it away.

brand
MTN DEW, PepsiCo
role
Design lead, concept through activation
outcome
15.7MM+ impressions

01 · the complexity

HBO challenged fans and brands alike with one question for the final season — "What would you do for the throne?" Mountain Dew's answer was the hardest thing a brand can do: give up its name. The brand's equity sits entirely in its iconic logo, neon-green color, and the shards and rails on its packaging. Walking away from all of it — for a co-brand where we couldn't even show a single character from the show due to rights limitations — was a real risk on a real flagship. The whole program was built and shipped in under two months.

02 · the clarity

In Game of Thrones, the Faceless Men give up their identity to become "no one." So we did too — a stark white, nameless can that only reveals Arya's kill list once it's chilled.

03 · the beauty

brandless white can · thermochromatic kill-list reveal
iron vending machine · nyc + la activations
15.7MM+facebook reveal video · 6.4× average
1.2MM+views · 95%+ completion · top video of the year
+272%instagram can-reveal vs. average performance
recognitioncannes lions · design submission
01Starry
02MTN DEW × Game of Thrones
03Food Deserves Pepsi 04Brisk × Black Panther
Dani Maldonado I make complex things clear. And clear things beautiful.
← back to decisions 04 / 04

decision 04 · brisk × black panther

You don't borrow culture. You earn your place in it.

A beverage brand had to share the stage with one of the most culturally loaded IPs in the world — and earn the moment, not borrow it.

brand
Brisk × Black Panther, PepsiCo (with Marvel Studios)
role
360 campaign creative lead
outcome
5.6MM+ impressions

01 · the complexity

A full 360 — packaging, advertising, digital, activation — that had to honor the weight of the Black Panther IP while giving Brisk a genuine cultural moment. The hard part wasn't volume; it was respect. The brand had to read as a true collaborator in the film's universe, not a sponsor borrowing its glow — and do it through craft serious enough to stand next to Marvel Studios.

02 · the clarity

Respect the culture, don't interrupt it. The brand earns its moment by honoring the IP first — the packaging itself becomes the proof we belong.

03 · the beauty

ultra-premium influencer kit · "wakanda forever"
unmasked studios · nba all-star weekend, la 2018
5.6MM+media impressions
1MM+hidden hustle views · from michael b. jordan's instagram
marvel studiosofficial ip collaboration
earnedtop-tier coverage · sports, entertainment, multicultural, trade
01Starry 02MTN DEW × Game of Thrones 03Food Deserves Pepsi
04Brisk × Black Panther
Dani Maldonado I make complex things clear. And clear things beautiful.
← back to decisions 03 / 04

decision 03 · food deserves pepsi

Pepsi doesn't follow the meal. It belongs at the table.

A flagship brand had to claim a daypart it didn't own — mealtime — without ever feeling like an interruption to it.

brand
Pepsi, PepsiCo
role
Creative direction, platform & design system
outcome
[métrica verificada — pendente]

01 · the complexity

One system had to perform across retail, away-from-home, and digital without fragmenting — every food and lifestyle frame styled to hold a single language so the brand reads as one idea on a shelf, a screen, and a table.

02 · the clarity

Don't sell the drink. Make the table feel incomplete without it.

03 · the beauty

[ex.: TVC nacional · key art do sistema de design · aplicações em canais]
[imagens pendentes — sem assets na pasta]
[STAT][pendente — métrica verificada]
[STAT][pendente — métrica verificada]
recognition[Shorty Award? confirmar]
[STAT][pendente — métrica verificada]
01Starry 02MTN DEW × Game of Thrones
03Food Deserves Pepsi
04Brisk × Black Panther
Dani Maldonado I make complex things clear. And clear things beautiful.

about

An arc, not a résumé.

brooklyn · cdmx · são paulo

For most of a decade she was the one who made things. Posters that went up on Monday. Decks that closed rooms on Friday. The hands that closed every loop someone else had opened. She moved fast and made well, and for years that was enough — the work was the point, and the work was good.

Then a meeting changed shape. The brief arrived ambiguous, the room turned to her, and instead of executing she named what the project actually was. The folder hadn't opened yet. Strategy stopped being something the agency handed down. It became something she handed back, in italics, before anyone asked. The work kept being good. But the role had moved.

The MBA followed because the language needed to. The talks followed because the rooms asked. The awards arrived not as proof but as punctuation. What began as a maker's instinct became a method, and the method has a name now.

She still draws. She still ships. She just decides first.