Why Brands Must Redefine Their Communication Playbook
The legacy of truth is shaken, and trust along with it. In such a world, brands try to build a trusted, credible identity, to create and drive sustainable income and sales, and to convince potential customers to become clients or brand ambassadors.
But this time, time is an ally of brands, if only they invest in authenticity, earned media, content, and patience.
Do you remember when the first celebrity started developing their own product? It was the 1910s, and Irene Castle was the first celebrity to begin developing her own product.
But these days, being a celebrity is no longer enough to develop and sell a product. Unfortunately, the celebrity world is facing its own form of inflation. What a coincidence.
Turkish Society: Always Online
With the changing trend lines accelerating, the playbook has changed too.
If you are a celebrity, you need to convince the audience that your product is authentic and genuine.
In a broader perspective, driven by the enormous impact of technological change, the evolution of advertising and public relations tools and methods has also sped up.
When we look at the Turkish media landscape and Turkish audience, we see a strongly online society.
It’s clear that this adaptation has different dimensions. However, in this article, I’ll focus on how this adaptation affects Turkish people’s media consumption habits, and what brands need to do to capture their audience’s attention in an age of information overload.
Watching a Live Performance Through a Smartphone
A close friend of mine, who is passionate about electronic music, told me last week that we should definitely go and listen to Zhu, Steven Zhu, an American DJ and singer active since 2014. I’m quite conservative when it comes to electronic music, but our friendship, the plan to enjoy a Sunday evening at the seaside just 15 minutes away on foot from home, and the opportunity to observe people socially convinced me to go.
That single performance was enough to illustrate the level of technological adaptation among Turkish youth.
At certain moments, I found myself watching the performance through the smartphones of audience members who were recording it, either for their memories or to post on social media, essentially signalling to their followers: “Hey, I’m at this popular beach listening to a DJ who played Coachella.”
Today’s Turkish Audience Consumption Habits
In July, the new edition of the Reuters Institute Digital News Report (DNR) was published. There’s nothing particularly new for Türkiye compared to the previous report, but what repeats itself lets you understand the structure of the Turkish media landscape. Reading the Reuters report alongside Metropoll’s Turkey’s Pulse research on social burnout, trust and expectations for 2026 together gives you a significantly clearer picture.
This year, I had the chance to speak about the Turkish communication landscape and the state of public relations at two different events in two different countries. During my presentations, I highlighted how media consumption has changed, what kind of communication architecture Turkish society has been experiencing, and why brands need to review their current communication playbook for the Turkish market.
The Five-Part Communication Framework
In the present and in the days ahead, brands will need these five elements, call it a Voltron, more than ever.
- Trust
The first page of the playbook addresses the most common problem: trust. Trust is now the strongest and scarcest currency. If you lose it once, it takes years and millions to rebuild.
Turkish news brands have a serious trust problem. According to the DNR, only three media brands in Türkiye have trust scores exceeding 50%, while overall trust continues its declining trend, recording 28% in this year’s report, a 5-point decline compared to last year. The global average stands at 37%.
- Quality
The second page is where quality meets the redefined playbook.
This is a tried and tested strategy. I personally implemented it for two clients, one from the Turkish valuation sector, and another from a Dubai-based NGO, recently. The results were impressive: a carefully curated number of high-quality content pieces captured the attention of media outlets, generating additional earned media opportunities.
- Simplicity & Solution-Based Messaging
The third page introduces simplicity and solution-based messaging, two elements brands must implement in the age of information overload.
I had the chance to work with sharp, highly skilled journalists during my media career. Yes, some things never change, but they’re often forgotten, they always emphasized simplicity. Simplicity is precisely the word communicators tend to forget most. Today, solution-based messaging is an added advantage from the audience’s perspective.
This is further supported by research: particularly among younger audiences and women, demand is expected to grow for content that offers short, restorative escapes from an overwhelming news agenda, micro-moments of well-being, life-simplifying information, and practical, actionable guidance.
- Generative Engine Optimisation
Before closing the playbook, Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) steps forward. The Turkish market hasn’t yet reached its full demand for this, but that will change quickly. This isn’t wishful thinking; it’s simply about which platform or medium brands want to be seen on and used to reach their audience.
In other words, this is an opportunity for invisible public relations. There are plenty of figures circulating that indicate how many people consult AI for almost anything. I used to reference reports from major consultancy firms such as PwC,Deloitte, and EY; however, I’ve become increasingly hesitant to rely on them due to growing hallucinations over the past year. It seems 2025 will be the year that puts the credibility of those firms’ reports to the test.
What We Are Social and Meltwater’s Digital report says about AI and Türkiye is worth noting: Türkiye leads the world in AI-driven web traffic, with 94.49% of its artificial intelligence traffic attributed to ChatGPT, far surpassing the global average of 80.92%. Monthly ChatGPT usage stood at 39.7%.
- Relationship Architecture
In the closing remarks, Relationship Architecture is the key that gives you the opportunity to build a long-term, trust-based, quality-oriented relationship with content producers.
It begins with the first brick, in this case, an email or a WhatsApp message, and may last indefinitely, depending on the communicator’s ability and knowledge. This is a continuous, sustainable approach with high stakes and significant upside. The stake is the time you invest; the win is a wealth of opportunity that extends well beyond earned media alone.
Redefine Your Playbook
If you’re looking for quick visibility, paid media is always an option, and it’s worth remembering that its primary role is to support the outlet itself, which is a necessary and legitimate function.
But for the brand, quick visibility isn’t the same as durable trust. As Warren Buffett put it, the stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.
The same applies to communication: you can’t win in the long run, and you’ll remain fragile against crisis, if you invest only in short-term or temporary strategies.
Key Takeaways
- Trust is Turkish media’s scarcest asset, only three brands score above 50%, and overall trust fell to 28% this year, a 5-point decline, well below the 37% global average.
- Curated, high-quality content still outperforms volume-based PR, proven in client works.
- Younger audiences and women are increasingly seeking short, restorative content, simplicity and solution-based messaging are what cut through information overload.
- GEO is a largely untapped opportunity in Türkiye, the country already leads the world in AI-driven web traffic, with 94.49% attributed to ChatGPT.
- Long-term relationship-building with content producers outperforms short-term paid media.