MARKA 2005

The 6th great MARKA meeting was fabulous!
The MARKA Conference is now an international "brand"

Readying to become one of the world's most extensive brand conferences and host to numerous creators of "star" brands worldwide, MARKA 2005 made a mark with its renewed format and international identity. With exciting brand stories, interesting and provocative presentations, attitude that adds energy to your brand, know-how to help you make a difference, and amazing surprises, MARKA 2005 has still not been forgotten...


BJ Cunningham
Conference Director

Brand genius, creator of unusual ideas...



He is the founder and owner of the Enlightened Tobacco Company... And the fixed director of the MARKA conferences. The world knows him by a maverick idea: Marketing cigarettes under the brand "Death"... Thanks to his extraordinary personality, BJ is able to add a lot of himself to the smallest presentation. With his colorful character, sense of humor and energy, BJ was a must at MARKA 2005.


Michelle Moone

Expand the brand while expanding the business...



Moone had to leave school at 15, but was determined to push bad luck aside and make it big. Of Scottish origin, Moone worked at many jobs before creating her own miracle. One day, she made a brassiere. She never doubted that it was a product that all women would appreciate. Today, she manages a leading firm in the lingerie industry that generates $200 million in sales annually. The queen of Ultimo Bra mesmerized everyone at MARKA 2005 with her success story.


Concetta Lanciaux

The Human Factor in Luxury Brands



One of the architects behind the dizzying success of the largest luxury brands group of companies in the world... The human resources expert of Italian origin ranks 6th on Wall Street Journal's list of most powerful 30 businesswomen in Europe. She considers the human resource to be an irreplaceable strategic function in the success of luxury brands. At MARKA 2005, she talked about the power of people in brand management.


Tyler Brûlé

Trends that Guide Brands



Originally from Canada, Brûlé is considered one of the most important trend gurus in the world, and has the power to dictate the symbols of ideal living. Brûlé acts as style consultant to many brands through his company "Winkreative" that he presides over. His understanding of design, architecture and branding, is admirable. At MARKA 2005, he talked about how future trends will influence brands.


Sahar Hashemi

Anyone Can Make It!



Originally from Iran, this young entrepreneur, dared to completely change her business life, quit being a lawyer, and followed her dream. Very quickly, she garnered the admiration of the business world with her coffee shops that spread all over Britain. At the 2004 World Economic Forum at Davos, she was chosen the Young Global Leader. Her inspiring and exciting story of the "Coffee Republic" was at MARKA 2005.


Tim Waterstone

Creating Brand Empires



Waterstone is one of Britain's most respected businessmen. His determination and unshakable ambition for success make him the hero of a truly unique business adventure... Through his chain stores Waterstone not only changed book-purchasing habits in Britain, but turned his efforts into an empire. Tim Waterstone talked about the secret to making it over and over again, at MARKA 2005.


Kubilay Qb Tuncer

Neither Magic Nor Miracle



Branding is similar to working magic. It requires you to read life differently. How are perceptions shaped? How do conscious and subconscious messages work? How are concepts used to establish hypnotic dependencies? Tuncer, founder of Acik Tiyatro [Open Theater], has an academic background in cognitive psychology and the philosophy of science. Now his plays and shows are performed on stages worldwide. Participants of MARKA 2005 enjoyed a "backward reading" session with the talented magician.


Michel Van Tongeren

Retail Branding



The Dutch company SVT Branding + Design Group is considered the international leader in retail branding and design. The Group developed new retail formulas for many brands including King Fisher, ABD AMRO and Vodafone. In his book Retail Branding, Michel says, "retail is a reflection of society; and in a changing society, you can either take action, react, or suffer the consequences." At MARKA 2005, he explained how this challenging system works, and how to deal with it.


Ilse Crawford

Modern and Emotional – Why is Design a Must for Brand Identity?



For over a decade, Crawford has been bringing new directions to design. Crawford began product development and rejuvenation projects at the time she became vice president of DKNY and Donna Karan Home Products, and in 1989 became the editor of Elle Décoration. Since 2000, she has been Department Head at Design Academy Eindhoven. Her company Studioilse includes clients such as Sooho House New York, Babington House, and the restaurant Cecconi's at Mayfair. Crawford is also the author of two books considered the bible of modern living, Sensual Home and Home Is Where the Heart Is. At MARKA 2005, Crawford talked about how emotions and thoughts generated by your brand, are shaped by design.


Oscar Pena

Is Innovation an Old Idea?



Pena includes "serious game principles" and the importance of the human factor in design in all his endeavors from conceptual markets to mass markets, and today, enjoys intercontinental fame... Prior to joining Philips in 1987, he worked with names such as Bill Stumpf & Associates and Seitz Yamamoto Moss. He designed over 25 mass market products, including cell phones, digital cameras and kettles. At MARKA 2005, Pena posed the question "is innovation actually an old idea?" and argued that innovation cannot be achieved only with new ideas or big technological advances; he talked about how design that employs this "old but new" line of thinking can be used to create a visual language.

Turkish Brands That Became Stars in 2005

Berna Erbilek
Berna Erbilek

The Story of the Brand that Brought the Turkish Bath and Ceramic Culture to the World



Vitra, an important international brand in bathroom architecture, embarked on its journey 60 years ago, in Istanbul. Today, Vitra offers a wide range of products and boasts over 2,000 dealers and 150 showrooms in over 75 countries. While advancing on its path to becoming a successful global Turkish brand in the field of bathrooms and ceramics, Vitra was never afraid of brandishing its Turkish identity. By combining extremely aesthetic concepts that conform to the spirit of traditional Anatolian ceramic arts with modern-day technology, Vitra redefined the relationship between humans and water, and led to the rediscovery of the bathroom culture.

The Vitra story told at MARKA 2005 was courageous and inspiring.


Lale Saral Develioğlu

Young, Turkish, successful: gnctrkcll



Turkey's population of youth over 15 is approximately 20 million, and statistics show that one fourth of them are gnctrkcll members. That is, every one young person out of four is a gnctrkcll member...

Turkcell formulated gnctrkcll, the club for young people, together with them; planned every step with them, and had 5,500,000 members at the end of five-and-a-half months; this success story was also at MARKA 2005... Focusing on moving beyond classic marketing techniques and finding ways to keep tabs on the target group's constantly changing desires, the gnctrkcll journey offered new horizons to the audience...

Again, due to popular demand!

The most well liked speakers of MARKA Conferences returned to MARKA 2005, and had new things to say!


Jim Dion

The Resurrection of a Brand


Harley Davidson

Brand Loyalty—do your customers tattoo your brand on their body? How did Harley Davidson, a brand spanning more than a century, bounce back from the brink of bankruptcy to become an internationally respected brand? Jim Dion, faculty member of the MBA program at Harley Davidson University in the US, employed true-life stories to explain how the Harley brand regained its former glory and maintains its attraction power today, during the exciting and surprising presentation he delivered at MARKA 2005.


Simon Anholt

Saving Brand Turkey



Simon Anholt is an expert in national brands, and in the "Anholt-GMI Nation Brands Index" that he developed, Turkey ranked 25th out of 25 countries in 2005! In developing the survey, the views of 18,000 consumers from 18 nations on issues such as tourism, governance, the public, culture, investment potential and exports were taken into consideration. Can the problems in Turkey's image be resolved? At MARKA 2005, Simon Anholt discussed the problem-solving proposal that he calls "policy-based branding."


Ali Taran

There's advertising, then there is wannabe advertising.



"I've been making ads for over 35 years (I've also made a few wannabe ads myself, obviously), but I've never seen so many wannabe ads as I have been seeing in the last 2-3 years." Have advertising agencies, stuck between media agencies, production companies, the media itself and ad owners, lost their past power? Who manage communications for different brands? How will the EU process impact advertising? Will wannabe ads continue to reign? In the advertising industry, where foreign words abound, does the expression "advertising pie" actually mean "advertising macaroni?" What do I think about all this? Why should you listen to what I think? Ali Taran left his mark at MARKA 2005.

The MARKA 2005 Award
The award is presented each year to the brand that best reflects the theme the MARKA platform determines each year.
The MARKA 2005 Award was presented to Guler Sabanci, a brand that grew stronger with change.

The MARKA 2005 Party
The Conference was followed by the MARKA 2005 Party. Playback Music Company and a memorable light show livened up the evening. Hot wine and music played by surprise DJs warmed up all MARKA 2005 participants on the cold winter's eve.