SINGAPORE — Virtue APAC is supercharging its creative team in Asia, appointing Martin Soendergaard as Executive Creative Director with the agency’s recent significant organic and new client growth.
Martin joins Virtue APAC, the agency powered by VICE, from We Are Social Singapore, where he was ECD for more than two years, delivering global and regional work for brands including Samsung, Activision, Amazon Prime Video, and Bandai Namco.
At Virtue, which builds brands inside culture, Martin will oversee and guide the agency’s entire creative output across its offices in Singapore and India, in addition to growing and developing a team of creatives working across global and regional clients such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, and Shiseido.
Originally from Denmark, the new ECD has worked internationally for the past 16 years at agencies such as CPB, 360i, and BBDO, leading diverse teams responsible for developing global multi-platform campaigns. His creative passion lies in pushing the limits with immersive experiences and exploring brand storytelling in new, imaginative, and channel-agnostic ways. His extensive portfolio includes iconic brands in culture like Absolut, Volkswagen, Ford, Burger King, Bose, and Porsche.
Martin believes that creativity is a tool, more important and powerful today than ever, in a world where brands are being left outside of culture. Culture moves fast, media is fragmented, and attention is scarce. Amidst this landscape, every creative effort needs to be in service of acquiring mental real estate for the brand or product in the consumer’s mind. There is no more seamless and effortless way of doing this than creating brands from inside culture, leveraging cultural understanding to shape brands to make them more relevant, visible, and valued.
Lesley John, Managing Director of Virtue APAC, said, “Martin joins Virtue as we partner with more ambitious clients wanting to build their brands inside culture. His extensive experience at leading global agencies, combined with his strong social capabilities and passion for effectively using tech, make him ideally suited to drive our creative offering. He is a proven leader with a reputation for collaborating and motivating his teams to maximize creative opportunities. His international and regional knowledge will be a major asset, and I’m delighted to welcome him to our growing Virtue APAC team.”
Martin said, “Virtue APAC is doing really innovative and creatively driven work such as the recent Coca-Cola Creations’ Y3000′ and ‘Soul Blast’ launches and its ‘Walk Beyond’ brand platform for Johnnie Walker that spotlights the progressive creative culture born from the streets of Southeast Asia. Everything they do is rooted in deep cultural insights, and I’m looking forward to helping our clients think differently while championing and building the brilliant creative talent within the agency. I couldn’t be more excited to join the Virtue family.”
Virtue APAC is currently recruiting for an additional two creative teams to support its new and organic client growth.
