It started trackside.

During university, I worked on national motorsport events for the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation—from the 2007 Isparta Rally and the televised 2008 Turkish Autocross Final to the 2009 Solargard Mediterranean Championship. With the Ankara Automobile Sports Club, we organised the Hitit Rally for four consecutive years and received awards for best organisation, best club and best race. I also worked on Formula 1 Turkey from 2005 onward as a chief marshal and senior official.

The stage changed. The pace did not.

In Istanbul, I led digital teams at Youthholding, Celsius, Pharos Digital and Golin Istanbul. I managed digital communications for brands including BP, Burger King, Turkcell Superonline, Fizy, Knorr, Rexona, Magnum, Axe, Signal, Netflix Turkey and Mandarin Oriental Bodrum. The production and launch of Magnum’s “Haz” project brought home both Crystal Apple and Effie awards. At the end of 2021 I said a fond farewell to Golin, and in early 2022 I founded makeR.İstanbul. The R in our name comes from everything we learned on the track, on stage and in agency life: a grounded team that works in the field and finishes what it starts. Our first clients were defence-industry companies at METU Technopolis. We built their positioning, identities and sales stories. Then came Anatolium Marmara, BTech Innovation and BabyStar; NIVEA’s summer activations; About Nights for Pernod Ricard; a new proxy brand and launch party for The Deacon; the Reis Jewellery × Ali Elmaci collection; and Pawlook Design × Fenerium, from product design to launch film. Today, our motion designers, videographers, art directors, digital brand managers, content managers and performance specialists work alongside more than ten brands. We find the idea, draw the route and get into the field. MakeR it happen. — Onur Aslan, Founder