We had the good fortune of connecting with Markus Gerdemann and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Markus, how does your business help the community?
In my role as marketer I am always aiming to shape and create culture — helping brands stand for something meaningful so people can rally behind and identify with them. When a brand becomes a platform for self-expression, it enables connection, belonging, and purpose. That’s how marketing can genuinely contribute to society — you create connections, – communities built on shared values and passions rather than transactions. That is powerful and meaningful – enable self expression and build likeminded communities

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Looking back at my career, one thing has always guided me: the goal to create and shape culture. I like to think that what sets me apart isn’t just where I’ve worked — across entertainment, sports, and fashion — but how I think and lead. Over time, I’ve defined four principles that reflect both how I got here and how I lead today.

Uncomfortable by Design
The belief that personal growth and developments stems from leaning into the unknown and its resulting discomfort. Growth doesn’t happen in comfort. The unknown is where learning begins, and curiosity is the fuel that drives it. By leaning into discomfort you expand your own horizon, but also push boundaries by providing a new, different perspective, it empowers you to ask questions, and to challenge the familiar. It is how individuals and organizations evolve. It empowers us to take calculated risks.

Being curious and leaning into discomfort the past 15 years, opened doors and created new opportunities. Opportunities I followed. That way I was able to dive into corporate brand side across Entertainment, Sports & Fashion the same way as into the agency world. It got me to work across the world and live and work in many different places such as Amsterdam, Montreal, New York or Los Angeles. In fact I ended up moving to Amsterdam three times over the past two decades – the city can’t get enough of me… But all this I attribute to my curiosity and tolerance for challenging/professional discomfort.

Principled Growth
Great leadership means balancing performance with principle. It is the idea of driving business growth and always doing what’s best for the business, without losing the human component and empathy. In an executive leadership role you often have to make hard decisions. I am not afraid of making these, but want to ensure they are done in fairness, transparency, and respect to everyone involved and affected. Success should never come at the expense of humanity; it should be built on it.

Lead Like It’s Yours
Empowerment starts with ownership. In every role I ever had I cared and acted like an owner of the business. This means you move fluently between vision and birds-eye view to execution and rolling up your sleeves. I expect that from my teams as well and encourage them to experiment, take initiative, and treat the business as if it were their own. With ownership comes fulfillment — and with fulfillment comes accountability. That’s how you create teams that are driven, creative, and truly invested, assuming your team members are invested and up for the challenge.

Impact focused
Every initiative, job or idea needs a reason and a result. Impact that sparks conversation, drives connection, growth, builds community and delivers meaningful change for audiences, colleagues, and organizations alike.
That’s why strategy and creativity must work hand in hand, and audiences sit at the center — to build stories, experiences, and moments that create cultural and social impact. My work needs to move something — culture, people, and business. This is the key lens I look at job opportunities, asking the question “Can I have impact on culture, the audience and the colleagues and organization around me”.

These principles have guided me across industries and continents, and they continue to shape how I build brands, teams, and communities that move culture forward.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have a few must-do things when family and friends from Europe visit. What I love about LA is that you can make it whatever you want it to be. If you like coastal vibes, head to the Westside. For a more urban feel, explore Downtown, Silverlake, or Eagle Rock. You can experience the outdoors, suburbia, or culture — it’s all here. I love showing people my version of LA, the one that’s a little less polished and a mix of all these things.
There’s no particular order, but one day we’d definitely go surfing. If it’s not an all-day surf trip to Old Men’s Beach in San Onofre — with tacos after in San Clemente — we’d stay local, hit El Porto, or cycle to Venice Breakwater for a morning session and a breakfast burrito at Flake on Rose.
If they’re here on the second Sunday, we’d head to the Rose Bowl Flea Market and go shopping at Union, Dover Street Market, The Real Real, and Brain Dead.
In the evenings, maybe a show at the Hollywood Bowl or the Greek Theatre, a Lakers game if it’s in season, and dinner at Musso & Frank’s with a martini before ending up at the Comedy Store for a proper Hollywood night out.
We’d probably also tag along to a gallery opening with our close friend and artist Kevin Yaun, and I usually take visitors to The Huntington Library and The Broad — with a stop for lunch or a snack at Grand Central Market.
For a more outdoorsy day, we’d go hiking in Malibu or Mount Wilson. And if we feel like getting out of town, I’d recommend wakeboarding at Lake Castaic or a weekend getaway to Joshua Tree.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve been really lucky to have had incredible mentors throughout my career — people who taught me, trusted me, and inspired me. But my shoutout doesn’t just go to managers. It goes to all the brilliant co-workers, partners, and cross-functional teams I’ve learned from along the way. I truly believe curiosity is one of the most important professional values — you grow the most when you lean into discomfort. Working alongside amazing people — whether that was agency partners, creative directors, and photographers like my friend and photographer Frank Ockenfels, or my content, product, and engineering colleagues at Netflix and Crunchyroll — constantly pushed me to stay curious and learn something new.

On a personal note, my wife deserves the biggest shoutout — she inspires and grounds me every day. And finally, I owe a lot to skate and hip-hop culture. That’s what got me into marketing in the first place — it taught me the meaning of community, creativity, and authenticity: having a point of view and staying true to who you are.

Website: https://www.markusgerdemann.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/__mrkz__/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markusgerdemann/

Other: Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/markusgerdemann?fl=pp&fe=sh

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