Tracy Mathews is an experienced brand strategist and visual communicator with nearly 20 years of expertise in brand identity, advertising and content creation. Her passion for problem solving and her keen eye for design converge to craft integrated campaigns that captivate audiences and drive engagement. Whether the goal is to raise awareness, shift opinion, influence action or impact policy and legislation, Tracy develops conceptual ideas for clients, as well as designs full-blown, multifaceted campaigns for various media types, including print, digital, OOH, video, radio, and social media. Tracy supports clients’ needs in corporate reputation, advocacy and public affairs, when research-driven positioning, messaging, and visual identities are needed. She seamlessly operates across sectors, including health/pharma, finance, transportation, food and consumer products and education. And as the head of APCO’s full service, multi-disciplinary creative team, Tracy doesn’t just lead; she inspires.
“It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds.”
— Paula Scher
Tracy’s work has been recognized with many awards including PR News’ Nonprofit Award in Digital/PR/Marketing for the “StopAirTax Now” campaign for Airlines for America; PRWeek’s Best Use of Audio/Video, PR News Platinum Award for Best Video Program and several MarCom awards for a Video Brochure she designed for the Consumer Electronics Association; and PR News Digital PR awards nomination for CEA’s “Declaration of Innovation” campaign in the Digital Marketing category.
Prior to joining APCO, Tracy worked as an art director at a design firm in Fairfax, VA where she was responsible for the conceptualization, design, production and print preparation of numerous publications, newsletters, meeting materials, direct mail campaigns and corporate identities. Some of her clients included The Association of Corporate Counsel, The Endocrine Society, The American Fence Association and SOCAP International.
Tracy holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from James Madison University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and was awarded the 2004 JMU Junior Graphic Design Outstanding Achievement Award.
