Questions & Answers

We answered all your possible questions about our services and how we work

What phases has the communication sector gone through?
The origin of commercials and promotion dates back to beginning of humanity. It starts with the apple of Eve, and continues with ads of tradesmen and “Wanted” posters of sheriffs. However…
The very first professional advertising agency was established in London in 1786 by William Taylor and in 1850 by Volney B. Palmer.
“The Full Service Agency” was established by David Ogilvy in 1948 in New York, and in 1976 in London by Saatchi brothers. Faal Agency by Eli Acıman was established in 1944 in Turkey, and then İlanat Agency, which was named İlancılık Agency later on, was launched by David Samanon and friends in 1909 in Istanbul.
Some terms such as marketing, brand and advertising budget came into use more actively and often after the World War II in particular. Having carried out advertising & marketing activities with 2-3% of customers’ turnover, agencies began to generate revenue from sales at 15 to 50 percent since the television media had already been introduced and creative commercials came into vogue. Press, outdoor movie theaters and radio were the major players of the mass media prior to the invention of TV. Advertising agencies were the sole service companies that decided on how and when to make advertising investments and where and with what budget to release ads.
With a growing body of satellite television channels and most importantly the introduction of internet in 1990s, media planning and purchasing agencies broke into the market. Media Agencies began to offer the best media for clients and target groups, and purchase it at best possible prices. Media agencies had the upper hand on budgets whereas creative agencies produced creative advertising materials on the media in question. This led to an economic downturn for creative agencies. Then, almost all major agencies turned into holdings, and launched media, social media and event agencies within their own body.
“Advertising is the oil for wheels of economy”. Be that as it may, “50% of the money you spend on advertising goes to waste”.
“Brand Agencies” came into life in 2000s in an effort to minimize such potential inefficiency. The main service of brand agencies is to serve as a bridge between clients and media & creative agencies, and make sure that the communication budget would be spent “properly” that is to say to create strategies to minimize the part deemed to “go to waste”. It should be such a strategy that it would increase sales & profits in the short term and enhance visibility and value of a brand in the mid and long terms, turning it into a distinctive global brand.
Why do not we have a global brand?
Turkey has made great strides in production and sales within the past three decades but achieved less in marketing.
Turkish companies make it to the list of Fortune 500 whereas they fail to do so for the list of Interbrand 100. We are of the opinion that Turkey can produce global brands and brand cities in case they are well-managed.
It is not rocket science for Turkish cities and national brands with economic and touristic value to turn into global brands thanks to unerring strategies and investments.

What does “a global brand product project” mean?
Simply it means; leading the perception of your product. To be is to be perceived.
When should we start the project?
You should think of being a global brand if you are a national brand already.
There are some examples like “Google” or “Facebook” that became a global brand starting day one. It happens especially if your product is an Internet based product.

What are the advantages of being a global brand product?
More sales, more export, higher EBITDA.
A built reputation.
Higher company value.

What is the difference between the logo and a brand?
The logo is like the title of the product, so of course it is an important asset. You should invest in your logo by making it a brand.

What is the affect of corporate brand on product brand?
It depends. Corporate branding is an important issue in some industries like banking and insurance for the trust. In retail industries product brand is more important. Do we know who is producing Abercrombie Fitch or which company produces Jaguar car? We don’t care. Abercrombie Fitch used to be produced by Limited Company based in Columbus Ohio, US and now a New Yorker investor has purchased the brand. Jaguar is a famous hand made car, used to be produced by a UK company, but now it is purchased by an Indian Tata company. We don’t care who is producing the chocolate bar “Bounty” (by Mars) but it is a strong brand. The taste, the package and its penetration are more important for us.

How can I make my product a global brand?
You should be decisive first.
You should define a leader for the branding project. The leader could be the President or the Vice President or the Brand manager of your corporation.
Be sure the branding project is not only an advertising campaign or sales, marketing activity.
There should be a separate department and team for it, which cooperates with others.
The sale of your product made in a country does not mean that your product is a strong brand there.
You should have a reasonable budget.
You should be adventurous and brave, because being conservative does not help on branding.
Be creative: make attractive packages and designs, be ready for more sales, find desirable slogans, work with a creative team, market aggressively, be innovative, proactive and fair. Sky is the limit.

How long does it take?
It takes 2 to 3 years.
A higher budget buys you time.
Sustainability, determination and patient should manage the project.
New generations mean recall projects, so it is a lifetime process.

What does global branding project contain?
Creativity,
Product identity,
Researches,
Geopolitical point of view,
P.R.,
Lobbying,
Leadership,
Advertising campaigns,
Aggressive marketing,
Information sharing through the web,
Using social networks 7/24,
Sponsorships,
Celebrity events,
Cultural events,
Music events,
Sport events,
Online or concrete penetration,
Duty free shops sales,
Forums, festivals, exhibitions, events,
Government support.

What is the cost of being a global brand?
It depends on your professional look and vision. A bigger budget buys you time
The budget contains two parts.

GMB consultancy fee,
Execution cost budget.
It’s a tailor made job.

Why going global, if my product’s sales figures are already perfect?
To sell more,
To create a product brand value.

It will take a longer time to be discovered globally without a branding campaign.

Global branding brings a forward-looking vision.

Can my humble product become a global brand?
Yes, every product can be a global brand by creating an accurate strategy and working hard for it.
Red Bull is a perfect example for it. The Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz created it in 1987 and has became a global brand in several years by its slogan “Red Bull gives you wiiings”, aggressive marketing, tournament sponsorship, sports team ownerships, celebrity endorsements, and Red Bull Records music.

What is a loved brand product?
Creating a loved brand is an amazing job. Consumers will buy your product without any doubt like Apple did by “I-phone” and “I-pad”. Your customers will be addicted to it like Starbucks, IKEA, Coca cola or Google did. Creating a loved brand is further more then creating a brand.

How the Logo of the product important?
It is a substantial asset. You may change your logo if it seems poor before going global.

Is the name of my product important?
Yes it is so important. “Jetta” (Volkswagen) by itself does not mean anything, nor is it associated with “bad luck” as “jella” also it was apparently unaware that “no va” (Chevrolet) means “it won’t go” in South America.
Name “Kumlu” (sandy) for battled water was the reason of failure for a Turkish bottled water company.

How the package designs are important?
Your package design should be appropriate for your target audience. You should consider their social income level and their admiration when you design the package. It must enhance their desire and passion.

What should we do if our product is not a retail product?
You may start by creating an accurate strategy to manage your awareness and service perception.

Is the corporate brand important for my product brand success?
Not necessarily. Who knows Victoria’s Secret is produced and distributed by Limited Brands Company, USA, OH?

How is important the penetration in duty free shops for branding?
Very important especially if your product is a retail product. Even though Rolls-Royce car is not a perfume or a FMCG product but you can find it on Dubai Duty Free Shops ground.

How is the penetration of my product important? Will branding campaign fail if we don’t have POS in every country?
Yes it is important for sure. But there are some examples undermine this theory like Victoria’s Secret again, which doesn’t have stores except in the USA, and Canada but it is known everywhere or Barclays Bank is not serving in every country but their brand is so strong globally.

How can we evaluate our brand?
There are accredited brand auditing companies or consultant corporations that GMB cooperates with them.

Why is the evaluating important?
Your brand is part of your intangible assets.

Will the campaign cover the entire world?
Not necessarily. Better you make a list in order of important destinations.

Will it be the same strategy for every country?
You may have a separate strategy for every destination. Geopolitical point of view is needed. For example Nestle is a strong brand by milk powder in Africa and by deluxe chocolate in Europe.

Can this project fail after all these?
Being conservative would cause the failure of branding project. It’s a show business project more then an academic work.
Successful crises management is required.

How does GMB work?
Pre-contract; The Company leader and GMB team persuade each other.
Post-contract; we spend 8 weeks to comprehends and digest the project. We cooperate with multinational partners and have our own methods on researches & studies.

Defining approved targets by the client and presenting our road map.

Taking the full control and execution action.

All execution expenses will be under the control of the client.

Our job should be countable and controlled by a valid third party chosen by the client. The success indicators are;

Higher perception by customers.
Growing sales and EBITDA numbers.
The client could terminate the contract any time with a 3 months advance notice

How does GMB make money?
GMB is a fee based consulting company.
GMB may ask also for a yearly success fee upon the results of the indicators mentioned above.

When is the best time to start for a branding project?
Today is better than tomorrow.

What does “a global brand city project” mean?
Simply it means; leading the perception of the city.
A built reputation.

Your city without branding would be like an unlit giant transatlantic that passes without playing siren in the dark.

To be is to be perceived.

What are the advantages of being a brand city?
A higher GDP,
More jobs,

More visitors and tourists,

More congresses, conferences, and conventions,

High-priced sold hotel rooms,

More investors,

More number of creative class* as designers, artists, musicians, IT people, and entrepreneurs live or work in your city,

Increasing civic pride,

More sold products made in your city or destination,

Branding transfers history and culture of your city and investments you made on the infrastructure of your city to life and income,

Branding brings a forward-looking vision.

What is the difference between loving your city and making your city a brand city?

Loving your city is like loving yourself but creating a loved city by others means creating a brand city.

How can we make our city a brand city?
You should be decisive first.
You should define a leader for the branding project. The leader could be the Mayor or The President or a head of a Non-Profit Organization.

You should have a reasonable budget.

You should be adventurous and brave, because being conservative does not help on branding.

Be creative: be ready for more visitors and investors, find desirable slogans, work with a creative team, market aggressively, be innovative, proactive, and fair. Sky is the limit.

How long it takes?
It takes 2 to 3 years
Sustainability, determination and patient should manage the project.

New generations mean recall projects, so it is a lifetime process.

What does city branding project contain?
Creativity,

Researches,

P.R.,

Lobbying,

Political leadership,

Advertising campaigns,

Information sharing through the web,

Using the social media 7/24,

Sponsorships,

Celebrity events,

Cultural events,

Music events,

Sport events,

Geopolitical point of view,

Tourism offices in and out of the city,

Forums, festivals, exhibitions, events,

Providing “concierge office” services.

What is the cost of being a brand city?
It depends on your professional look and vision. A bigger budget buys you time.
The budget contains two parts.

GMB consultancy fee
Execution costs.
It’s a tailor made job.

What is the difference between being a famous city and a brand city?
Being famous may not bring more earnings to the city by itself, but be sure that being a famous city is part of being a brand city.

Can our small city become a brand city?
Every city or destination can be a loved global brand city.

What is the most important indicator of a loved brand city?
Your city will be a loved brand city if the people who are not city citizens feel like home during their stay and wish to come back again.

Are the history and culture important to become a brand city?
Yes important but they are not everything. Dubai has a poor history but it is a brand city.

What are we going to market about our city?
Every city or a destination has competitive advantages.

Why we spend money and time if our city already perfect. Wouldn’t be discovered by itself?
You seem like a beautiful sexy young girl always stays at home looking in the mirror and says “how beautiful I’m”. Go out, go online, be social, and show yourself then you will be discovered.

Will the campaign cover entire world?
Not necessarily. It may it may not. We will define the target destinations to conduct our campaigns.

What is effect of the country to the city branding?
Your city’s brand could be more stronger then country’s brand, so it effects but don’t worry your city could be one step ahead of your country. Like Casablanca, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Hong Kong or Amsterdam.

Can this project fail?
Being conservative would cause the failure of branding project. It’s a show business project more than an academic work.
Successful crises management is required.

How does GMB work?
Pre-contract: the city leader and GMB team persuade each other.
Post-contract: we spend 8 weeks to comprehends and digest the city and the project. We cooperate with multinational partners and have our own methods on researches & studies.

Defining approved targets by the city and presenting our road map.

Taking the full control and execution action.

All execution expenses bids will be under the control of the city.

The city could terminate the contract any time with a 3 months advance notice.

Our job should be countable and controlled by a valid third party chosen by the city. The success indicators are;

The higher perception by city citizens and others,

Growing GDP numbers,

More visitors and tourists,

More investors,

More newly created jobs.

How does GMB make money?
GMB is a fee based consulting company.
GMB may ask also for a yearly success fee upon the results of the indicators mentioned above.

When is the best time to start for a city branding project?
The capital is limited in the world so if you stay late other cities inside or outside of your country will do it and pull the wealth like a magnet before you do.

Does your city deserve to be an important brand city today or tomorrow?

Today is better then tomorrow.

*The rise of the creative class, Richard Florida