Entertainment.
Fashion.
Sports.
Music.
Technology.
CULTURE.
Markus Gerdemann - Senior Vice President of Marketing who transforms brands into cultural touchstones. He turns stories into movements and audiences into communities. His work sparks conversation, drive long-term growth, and connect audiences across the globe. He thrives where strategy meets creativity and culture meets business impact, because brands don’t just reflect culture — they shape it.
work. work. work.
As SVP Marketing, Markus played a key role in Sony’s $1.2B acquisition of Crunchyroll, leading the marketing integration of Funimation, seven domestic anime brands, and Crunchyroll, while overseeing the release of record-breaking Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train in theaters and streaming. He built a holistic global organization spanning brand and title marketing, creative services, operations, social, publicity, and regional teams. Under his leadership, the team defined a shared brand purpose and brought it to life through an authentic rebrand. The social ecosystem was redefined and expanded with the award-winning The Anime Effect podcast, the Anime Awards were elevated into a prestige industry celebration, and the brand executed its first-ever awards campaign for an anime film with Suzume—securing historic Berlinale, Golden Globes, and international nominations. The team also drove rapid subscriber growth and global box office success with franchises like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Solo Leveling and Demon Slayer.
Netflix
At Netflix, Markus led global creative marketing for original series originated in EMEA, developing campaigns that created worldwide relevance for local content, including but not limited to The Witcher, Emmy winning show Unorthodox, Damien Chazelle’s The Eddy, and the highly awarded campaign for the grand finale of Dark. As part of the Global Creative Marketing team for Original Drama, he drove strategy and creative for 360 campaigns across the Super Sci-Fi and fandom slate—overseeing launches such as Altered Carbon, Marvel’s Daredevil and The Punisher, and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. He also guided a team managing campaigns for Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist, while overseeing publishing efforts for the Millarworld portfolio, building passionate fan communities and strengthening Netflix’s cultural footprint worldwide.
AKQA
During his time at AKQA New York, Markus led digital transformation and brand strategy initiatives for clients including Verizon, Mondelez, and Steinway & Sons. He oversaw a full redesign of Verizon’s digital presence, aligning 15+ agencies under one unified identity and delivering a 9.3% sales lift in a single quarter. For Mondelez’s Wheat Thins, his team built an always-on social ecosystem that sustained engagement and visibility organically, while for Steinway & Sons, the brand’s digital strategy was reimagined to evolve a heritage icon into a modern, service-led, consumer-centric experience. Markus also directed new business pitches for brands such as Tidel, further strengthening AKQA’s client portfolio.
180 Amsterdam
Headed 180 Amsterdam’s flagship ASICS account, guiding the brand’s global repositioning as the world’s premier running brand. As lead on the account, Markus and his team developed and launched ASICS’ first global integrated campaign, “It’s A Big World – Go Run It!”, uniting markets under a single creative platform and establishing the foundation for the brand’s long-term growth and cultural relevance in running.
SID LEE
At Sid Lee in Montreal and Amsterdam, Markus worked on the global adidas account, playing a key role in shaping adidas Originals into a $3B global brand by developing long-term brand vision and leading 360° marketing strategies across digital, retail, and local market activations. He contributed to the digital execution of the landmark “All In” campaign, and later led the development of iconic initiatives including “All Originals Represent” and “Unite All Originals.” He scaled seasonal storytelling rooted in youth culture and built the digital ecosystem to support global growth. Markus also led go-to-market and brand development initiatives for emerging categories such as adidas NEO, miAdidas, Terrex, and Leo Messi—helping define positioning and social presence for key product and athlete verticals.