1Please give us a brief bio of yourself, your company, job profile, etc.
Gricreative is an integrated service agency based in Istanbul that designs the interaction between brands and people. Since it was established in 2003, it has carried out over 1,000 projects with more than 60 employees, for over 200 brands. The agency has been granted 99 awards by 10 different national and international organizations with the projects it has implemented and won the “Reputable Digital Agency of the Year” at “The One” awards in 2018 by Marketing Turkey magazine, one of Turkey’s most distinguished marketing publications.
2Tell us a bit about your business and what you do.
Gricreative presents a wide array of end-to-end solutions that cover digital, conventional, and social media. At the foundation for its presented solutions sits the in-depth analysis of needs and user behavior and a strategic approach established over this.
Setting out from brand goals in the digital world, user experience analyses, and market and competition information, it develops a strategic plan for the presence of the products, services, and companies in the digital universe. It writes stories of success with measurable, results-oriented, and creative practices for the brands it serves.
In conventional media, it provides strategic planning, content and creative idea development, and application services for the marketing communications of brands, products, and services in all print and visual – aural media.
3Congratulations! As the winner of the 2019 Muse Awards, what does it mean to you and your company and team to receive this award distinction?
Thank you!
We were aware that the competition is a reputable one, and we’ve been following for a while now. We’ve applied for the first time this year. We’ve worked hard for Sompo Sigorta website and it is a proud moment for us to be the only receiver of the award given in insurance category by such a reputable organization.
4Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2019 Muse Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
The website we’ve launched for Sompo Sigorta is a very assertive user experience design project. We’ve set off on this journey to design an assertive structure which would contribute to the leadership mission of Sompo Sigorta, one of the leading companies in the industry with its innovative practices. We aimed to present the products and services of the brand in a more easily comprehensible manner while meeting the users’ needs, and thus, we’ve wanted to appear in the Muse Awards.
5What was the biggest challenge with this project?
User experience design stages of the project were actually very pleasant. Since we wanted this project to be a very special one, the idea of preparing the images, which we would include in the presentation of UI designs as part of the concept, as custom illustrations for Sompo Sigorta emerged. And our customer approved this idea. We’ve created over 100 custom illustrations describing the services of Sompo Sigorta.
6How has winning an Award developed your practice/career?
We’ve received many awards from various organizations since 2003. The biggest reward for us is to provide benefit to our customers with the work we do. These may be success criteria such as sales, increased reputation, increased traffic, creating interaction, etc. which were pre-determined before even we commence our works. Gricreative determines long-term collaborations based on such success criteria. We regard receiving an award from an organization as a motivating factor which assesses our work from different points of view.
7What are your top three (3) favorite things about our industry?
- New trends
- Technology
- Team work
One needs to constantly improve oneself and stay up to date to achieve success in all 3.
8What makes your country specifically, unique in the creative industry?
There are breakthroughs in our country in terms of product and service designs which are capable of competing in the world with design center applications. Gricreative office is one of those design center offices.
9Where do you see the evolution of creative industry going over the next 5-10 years?
A period in which the creative processes are integrated with technology awaits us. Many futuristic things we see in the movies and TV series become reality. This will lead to creative applications and opportunities in brand new media. To give an example from us; while we were recommending online chat applications to websites in which the visitors of the site were able to chat with people, we now integrate artificial intelligence chatbots which are capable of learning and making online transactions for us.
10If you were a student entering this industry or an aspiring Muse Award submitter, what advice would you give them?
You need to follow the sources related to your topics of interest. You need to improve your foreign language especially if you’re unable to find sources in your native language. I believe that internships during study and after graduation are important. Getting the chance to do internship in one of the places which is the best in the profession you choose will be important. And sometimes you can see the tricks of the trade during internship, and get the chance to answer the question “Am I making the right profession for myself?”
11Who has inspired you in your life and why?
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He is one of the greatest military geniuses of all time, and the founder of the Republic of Turkey who is capable of seeing ahead of his time. His strategic intelligence, creativity, reformist personality, vision, and the ability to implement the decisions taken and come through are most important exemplary characteristics
12What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
Enjoying what you do. Believing in success and knowing that achieving success is possible with teamwork.
13Do you have anything else you would like to add to the interview?
We got off on the right foot with Muse Awards. Thank you for everything! Hope to meet you in new applications and awards!