He is the founder and communication strategist of Konseptiz, one of the first brand management agencies in Turkey, serving many reputable global and national brands. At the age of 17, he started his advertising career by starring in a Diet Coke commercial filmed in England. She studied marketing and PR at the University of Wales and worked as a copywriter, art director and creative director. In 2008, he returned to Izmir and founded Konseptiz. Hun Bozkır, who is 47 years old today, is also the leader of a team that produces application and software technology in Bilimpark.

"62 percent of consumers think that brands should continue to communicate about what they do for their customers and communities throughout the pandemic," said Hun Bozkır, founder of Konseptiz, adding that consumers are now more sympathetic to brands that are beneficial for the world and people. Bozkır emphasized that the most fundamental aspect of communication is sharing meaning and said, "Brand managers should shift their focus from the product to the people. Today, we all know that our brain does not make any decision without emotion. Those who know which emotion motivates their customers to buy can turn that information into stories and experiences that arouse their customers' emotions. As a result of this strategy, every activity to be carried out for communication builds the relationship with all stakeholders, especially consumers, on solid foundations and strengthens their image in their minds. While humanity is experiencing a revolution in social communication, brands that are managed and guided by the belief that they can make a difference in the world are successful. Because in the pandemic period we live in, they give more than promises, they take concrete action. And what they all have in common is their ability to personalize their products, services and communications. At the same time, they can create a perception that they are beneficial to society and the environment. In this sensitive process, people expect brands to leave a more livable world to the environment, society and the countries in which they operate."

Marketing has only one goal: Branding

The successful communicator says, "Branding is the main purpose of communication. Your brand in your customer's mind motivates them to buy your product. It connects them emotionally to your product, creates a positive bias and enables them to perceive your messages more clearly. There is a considerable majority around us who think that they are a brand when they have a logo, website or social media accounts." Emphasizing that the brand journey does not end with corporate identity design, on the contrary, it starts there, Hun Bozkır said, "A brand is not just graphic design. It is the idealized symbols of an organization that connects with the people it is in contact with, solves their problems and adds value to their lives. It is the lifestyle it promises, the culture it creates, the measure of its customers' reputation in society and even one of the elements that shape their identity. Therefore, we should make marketing a tool rather than a goal and see it as the management of all activities leading towards branding."

Give your communicator a seat at your table

Stating that how customers perceive the brand makes a big difference when it comes to sales, Bozkır said that creating and maintaining a positive brand image is arguably the best way to retain existing customers and attract new ones at the same time, and gave the following advice to brand managers: "Creating a brand's communication concept, creating a brand identity, positioning it correctly, determining the communication strategy to make it meaningful and sustainable requires talent, experience and a professional team. It is a vital decision whether to manage the communication part of your business strategy in-house or through an agency. Although company managers try to manage this process through marketing, sales or public relations departments, the results are usually weak and ineffective. This is because many marketers don't realize that it takes 10-12 quality brand interactions for a customer to remember a brand, that there is good and bad advertising, that incomplete or inaccurate messaging will lose customers, that only 25 percent of employees adhere to brand strategy, that strong brands outperform their competitors by up to 20 percent, or that brand perception accounts for at least 10 percent of a company's market capitalization. These insights and much more are found in communications agencies, where strategists, researchers, designers, copywriters, conventional and digital marketing experts work together. Since communicators serve many sectors, they are experts in market dynamics and the latest trends. They are also well versed in the theory of the business, so they are better able to design the practice of the business, and because they make more mistakes, they know what is right and what is wrong, what works and what doesn't. That's why brand managers should always have their communicators present at every meeting about their brand image, and they should conduct their dialogs with them without anyone else present. Because at the end of the day, the perception of their brand will be as strong as the people who design and manage its communication concept."

KOVID-19 CHANGED EVERYTHING
"A small strain of RNA that has forced the WORLD to stay indoors has turned us into actors in a blockbuster movie. Since there is no face-to-face and mutual communication, the function of socialization has inevitably weakened temporarily," Hun Bozkır said: "People, like countries, retreated to their own borders to protect themselves from the virus. The coronavirus soon forced us all to get used to new communication rituals, shopping behaviors and working methods. Together, we are witnessing the social change that this pandemic and the dizzying development of communications technology is transforming the world around us. It puts incredible pressure on brands to constantly change and adapt. Moments of change are moments of opportunity for smart business people, and they recognize that their brands are the tools to unlock the potential in people. Agile and innovative organizations, well led by these people, have seen unmet needs in the market, accelerated their digital transformation processes, and started to market their products and services on digital platforms. They have strengthened their brands across all digital touchpoints, provided the human connections their customers need, kept their communications up to date and strengthened their relationships. While their competitors were going through hard times, they increased their revenues and grew."

BUSINESS PEOPLE MUST BE ABLE TO MANAGE THEIR PERSONAL IMAGE
"Bosses and senior executives, who we assume account for almost 50 percent of a company's reputation, have a critical role for brands," said Hun Bozkır: "They have the power to influence the performance of the brand in every sense by affecting many indicators such as financial indicators such as sales, profitability and investment, communicative indicators such as creating a positive image, social performance, trust and reputation, and managerial indicators such as attracting qualified employees and retaining existing employees. In organizations, leaders' values, principles, behaviors and stories about them are key elements of the company's internal culture. Therefore, executives should invest time and energy in promoting themselves, making themselves heard, expressing themselves, and managing their personal image in the minds of all their stakeholders, using their resources and opportunities in the right way. Today's strong leaders are good storytellers who share their experiences, inspire and mobilize employees. They strive to seamlessly intertwine and integrate their values as human beings with their corporate identity. Just as they do with their companies, they invest heavily in building and promoting their personal brands, making themselves popular and being held up as role models by society. They know that their leadership performance will be reflected in the rise of their companies, and the performance of their strengthened companies will be reflected in their personal brands."

WE REVEAL THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF BRANDS
Sharing that Konseptiz, one of the leading branding agencies of our country, has served more than 100 brands from almost every sector in the global and national market, Hun Bozkır said, "As an agency, we believe that every successful brand has a unique story, just like every human being. We use art, psychology, sociology and communication sciences to reveal this story and create the planned emotions in the target audience. We have our own brand methodology that we have created over the years, which guides all branding processes. We sometimes spend months doing preliminary analysis work to get to know the people we serve, their brands, customers and markets. We then create the DNA, identity and architecture of the brand, create the communication strategy and offer end-to-end branding solutions from logo design to experiential marketing."