Sami Can Besceli is the Founder and Director at INTG.Strategies in London, United Kingdom.
From an industry perspective, he’s interested in themes like cultural and societal trends, design thinking, emerging technologies, AI ethics, and so on and so forth.
Strategy in the age of experience
Today, brand communication strategies should be performed in a fully integrated way – transcending solely traditional advertising. Herein, the rise of CX offers new opportunities whilst experience is dominating the marketing agenda. If experience is the new high ground for brands, CX can be seen as a ‘liberating’ strategy as well as creating opportunities to develop the ‘brand experience’ as cited in Warc’s “The Future of Strategy 2019” report.
That being said, today there’s a need for a new breed of strategists who strive to have several core skills and lateral thinking. Because the future of planning requires strategists to lean into complexity while investing in cross-channels and technologies.
So as a brand strategist and now a consultant, I’ve established my company INTG.Strategies in that spirit and by having a more “generalist” approach, following my years in the creative agency networks and my master’s education, Design Strategy and Innovation MA at Brunel University London.
MY JOURNEY
INTG.Strategies
2019 – current
I founded INTG.Strategies in London, UK to provide strategic consultancy services based on integrated advertising (conventional, digital, shopper), CX and growth marketing to various stakeholders e.g. creative consultancies, ad agencies, design agencies, start-ups, universities, publishers and so on in the UK and across the world.
I took a year off and moved to London to fulfill my master’s studies which I was willing to do for a long-time. At the end of 2018, I graduated with 'merit' and my thesis entitled "Humanizing AI with Design Thinking and Its Importance for Brands" also got awarded with grade 'A' — which is an exploration of the intersection between technology/innovation, marketing communication/advertising and design thinking with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The vision I gained over the course of my master’s degree and my thesis-writing process laid the foundation of my business venture in the UK following my graduation.
Brunel University London / MA Design Strategy and Innovation
2017 - 2018
Freelance Strategist
2013 – 2017
As a strategist, I provided strategic communication services across multi-, cross- and omni-channels for local/global creative, digital and media agencies based in Istanbul/Turkey as well as in different markets such as Dublin/Ireland, Warsaw/Poland, Dubai/United Arab Emirates.
FCB Artgroup / FCB Red
2016 – 2016
I returned to my first agency, FCB Network by becoming a senior strategic planner after having gained experience in various agencies in between. I was responsible for the whole strategic planning process of both creative and shopper agency clients as well as working on new business ventures.
Cheil Worldwide is the in-house agency of Samsung. As a strategic planner, I worked on the strategic planning process of Samsung the main account, and existing clients alongside new business ventures. I also led Cheil WW Turkey’s strategic planning services and its positive development for the creative, retail and event teams as well as involved in global pitches and various projects (e.g. regional trend reports, competitive analyses) of Cheil WW network.
Cheil Worlwide
2015 - 2015
By being the only strategic planner of the agency, I worked on the strategic planning process of the existing clients and prepared the new biz presentations that resulted in winning. Drive Dentsu Istanbul was reporting to the MENA network — so I was involved in the projects of regional clients within the network as well as managing the D.I.A. (Drive Dentsu Intelligence Alert) for our market and attended the planning workshops held in Drive Dentsu Dubai (Headquarters) together with regional planners.
Drive Dentsu
2014 - 2014
As a planner by being part of a much-structured strategy department where brands were allocated to 2 teams, I worked on the whole strategic planning process of the well-known global and local brands under my responsibility together with my head of planning.
Publicis Yorum
2012 - 2013
When I moved to UltraRPM, I had a chance to take my strategic skills and knowledge to the next level by working with renowned strategy and advertising gurus in the sector. I again engaged in the whole strategic planning process of both existing clients as well as working on new business pitches that resulted in winning.
UltraRPM
2011 - 2012
I landed my first full-time strategy role at FCB network where I started to fulfill the main strategic planning processes such as writing creative briefs and concept boards as well as preparing the competitive analyses of the existing clients. I also worked on various new business pitches with the agency team that resulted in winning. Plus, I contributed to DraftFCB’s International Matter(s) Team with regional insights regarding specific categories on a monthly basis.
DraftFCB
2010 - 2011
CLIENTS
(PAST/PRESENT)
“The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. … No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.”
— Richard Feynman, Physics Nobel Prize Winner