Virtue APAC names new executive creative director

Virtue APAC has named Martin Soendergaard as its newest executive creative director (ECD) as it continues to grow its creative team in Asia. Soendergaard will oversee and guide the agency's entire creative output across its offices in Singapore and India. 

He will also be charged with growing and developing a team of creatives working across global and regional clients such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, and Shiseido. Soendergaard will report to Lesley John, managing director of Virtue APAC.

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Soendergaard joins Virtue APAC from We Are Social Singapore, where he was ECD for more than two years. There he worked for brands such as Samsung, Activision, Amazon Prime Video, and Bandai Namco.

Prior to this, he also helmed the role of ECD at BBDO Worldwide. Soendergaard has also worked internationally for the past 16 years at agencies such as CPB, 360i, and Cheil Worldwide, leading diverse teams responsible for developing global multi-platform campaigns.

"Soendergaard 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," said Lesley John, managing director at Virtue APAC.

"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," explained John.

"Virtue APAC is doing really innovative and creatively driven work, 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,” Soendergaard added.

Virtue APAC is currently also recruiting for an additional two creative teams to support its new and organic client growth, following Soendergaard’s appointment, it said. 

This comes months after Virtue appointed Chris Gurney as group creative director in APAC. Gurney is based in Virtue's Singapore office. Gurney joined Virtue’s Singapore regional hub to build and define the agency’s creative vision, lead regional pitches and grow its creative teams to make work that stands out and gets recognised in culture.

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