/WHO WE ARE
came from, greetings from
Medina Turgul DDB.
ON ADVERTISING…
On TV, mobiles, tablets, radio, laptops and outdoors…wherever and whoever you are, brands are fighting each other for your attention. As consumers we all feel besieged like never before. Most advertising has been reduced to the boring interruption to the TV series we love, the videos and films we want to watch, or the games we play. It’s harder than ever to be an advertising agency, yet also more interesting.
Hard, because to find an idea that’s never been seen before is so much more challenging. Interesting, because no brand has the luxury to be dull any more. Hard, because consumers are scattered all over the place and have such different lifestyles. One may still be glued in front of the TV, another can’t even go to the toilet without their mobile. One is constantly playing video games, another can’t cook without consulting food blogs. Interesting, because they’re in just the right place for us – if we can engage them with the right idea. Difficult, because there’s an incredible amount of new data about consumers’ behaviour. Interesting, because if we can use that data in the right way, we have an opportunity to create advertising that pinpoints them perfectly.
Our business is creating those business and communications ideas. Whether they’re used in a TV campaign, as VR, or an Instagram post, in a mailing or on packaging, we believe that the most effective force in advertising is a big, influential idea. And finding that is the most interesting of all.
MEET THE FOUNDERS
FOUNDING PARTNER
BILL BERNBACH
Bill Bernbach was one of DDB’s three founding partners, in other words the ‘B’ in DDB. His creative understanding and philosophy made him the source of inspiration for a whole generation of advertising professionals. In the 1960’s he became a leader of what became known as the “creative revolution”, the impact of which influences advertising to the present day. We can say that thanks to him the formulaic approach to advertisng was put aside and people were put at the centre of advertising.
Bernbach thought as much about the agency’s employees as about the thinking of consumers. His free-thinking approach led to a number of firsts within the industry. For instance, the sector’s first-ever copywriter started her career alongside him and rose to be a creative group head (another first). DDB was also the first agency to sit copywriters alongside art directors to work as a single ‘creative team’. The legacy left by Bill Bernbach still guides our thinking.
FOUNDING PARTNER
JEFFİ MEDİNA
Born in Istanbul in 1950, Jeffi Medina attended the German High School and then studied economics at Strasbourg University before completing his studies at Istanbul University. He started his career in 1974 as a television producer, rising to the position of Manavizyon Managing Director in 1978.
By 1987 Jeffi Medina had assumed the Managing Director mantle at Manajans Thompson, before leaving alongside Yavuz Turgul to establish Medina Turgul in 1993. The agency partnered with DDB in 1995, becoming Medina Turgul DDB. For 3 years between 2004-2007, he was the President of the Advertising Agency’s Association, bringing the Effies to Turkey. Today he remains Chairman of the DDB Group in Turkey.
FOUNDING PARTNER
YAVUZ TURGUL
Born in Istanbul in 1946, Yavuz Turgul studied Journalism at Istanbul University’s Economics Department and started his career at Ses Magazine. He was later to become that magazine’s youngest copy desk manager. Leaving Ses Magazine he then joined Arzu Film as a screenwriter, penning such renowned films as Tosun Paşa, Şabanoğlu Şaban, Hababam Sınıfı and Sultan.
In 1980, with the local film industry in crisis, he entered the advertising sector joining Manajans Thompson as a copywriter. In 1984 he became the agency’s Creative Director. In 1993, alongside Jeffi Medina, he founded Medina Turgul. For many years he combined careers in advertising alongside cinema, putting his name to films such as Fahriye Abla, Muhsin Bey, Eşkıya and Gönül Yarası. In 2003 he put aside his role as Creative Director and retired from an active role in the advertising industry.
“We are so busy measuring public opinion that we forget we can mold it. We are so busy listening to statistics we forget we can create them.”
– BILL BERNBACH –
DDB NETWORK
In 1949 DDB was founded by Maxwell Dane, Ned Doyle and Bill Bernbach. The work they created in their first few years showed, first America and later the world, that advertising was set for a revolution. To this day, some of that work, such as Volkswagen’s “Lemon” print campaign, the Avis “We try harder” campaign, and the “Spicy meatball” commercial for Alka Seltzer, inspires advertising professionals. Within a short period of time, those campaigns gave their clients enormous success while also fuelling DDB’s rapid growth.
Omnicom is one of the world’s largest marketing services networks. With a presence in over 100 countries, it provides services to over 5,000 clients with its 74,000 employees. At DDB we’re a part of the Omnicom network, alongside TBWA and BBDO. DDB holds many creative accolades, as you would expect from one of the most creative networks in the history of advertising. But without going too far back in history, suffice it to say that in 2014 and 2015 our region, DDB Europe, was the Cannes Lions’ Network of the Year. In 2017 DDB Europe earned 54 of the DDB total of 100 Lions.
ALİ KAYA SOKAK
This is an address where everything began, where we grew up step by step. This address has always given us good luck. We first met Ali Kaya Street in 1994. At that time Levent was a bazaar. Then Kanyon opened just beside us. Levent became one of the most crowded and most valuable neighborhoods of the city. We spent 14 years here. Skyscrapers were all over it. It was necessary to keep up with the trend. Our building had to be demolished and replaced. We left here, we met Tuzambarı. After 10 beautiful years we spent there, we were on the road again. But not too far away, back to our old home. We are now creating our new ideas at this address.
TUZAMBARI
İstanbul is a very special, very different city. There are so many places, interesting buildings or historical artefacts in İstanbul that no one knows about and has not noticed even though we have been passing by them for years! We discovered Tuzambarı the same way years ago, as we wondered what was behind the long wall that we passed by hundreds of times. We settled in Tuzambarı after a very thorough restoration of work. After 10 years of working in this valuable historical place, we left Kasımpaşa. We returned to Ali Kaya Street where we were 10 years ago.
