TurkcellCopied

By late 2011 Turkcell served 34.4 million subscribers, a vast and varied audience for a single brand. In November the operator unveiled a new logo after what MediaCat called a comprehensive project, together with a new brand line, Hayat paylaşınca güzel, roughly life is beautiful when shared. The logo was designed by Landor, which MediaCat noted had created many logos in Turkey and Ideallyfree also credited.

Deputy general manager Emre Sayın explained both halves of the change. Turkcell, he said, exists so that everyone can connect with loved ones at any moment, carry the world in their pocket and share life even from far away. Sharing was a concept that suited people in Turkey and was in the nature of the company's business, so it became the focus of the brand voice. PR trade site halklailiskiler.com reported that future communications would focus on sharing, given new dimensions by mobile technology.

On the design, Sayın said the aim was to simplify the logo while preserving the heritage and essence that made Turkcell what it was. The new mark places the company's antennas inside a sun, the source of life, which he said symbolised the dynamism, warmth and sincerity of Turkcell's service; the antennas stood for uninterrupted, fast communication and pioneering technology. He added a striking ambition: the next step would be to represent Turkcell with the emblem alone, without the wordmark, as strong global brands do.

The launch film by the agency Alametifarika, directed by Bahadır Karataş with music by Nil Karaibrahimgil, was shot over seven days in Istanbul, Mardin, Çanakkale and Konya with real families rather than actors, Ideallyfree reported, and invited people to send photos of billboards carrying words of love by text for free.

The sun is a warm, simple idea and an easy one for a mass market to read, and placing the antennas inside it keeps a thread to the technology. Saying out loud that the emblem should one day stand alone is ambitious; few telecom symbols earn that. But the sharing platform gave the mark an emotional story to carry, and the simplification makes it easier to use at any size.