Chief Executive Officer, TBWA\Group Istanbul
After graduating from Istanbul University, Burcu Özdemir started her career at Manajans/J.T. Thomson before moving to Güzel Sanatlar/Saatchi & Saatchi. Burcu then joined TBWA\Istanbul in 2002 where she started in account management before climbing the ranks to CEO ten years later .
Since then, Burcu has played a large role in the number of global accolades received by TBWA\Istanbul, including the most awarded agency at the Crystal Apple Awards since 2017, MediaCat Magazine’s Creative Agency of the Year in 2022, Campaign Turkey’s Agency of the Year in 2023 for the 6th year running, Capital Magazine’s most admired agency of the decade & of 2022; voted by professionals from the business world, and The One Show’s Reputation Builder Agency of the Year 2023 and bronze winner of Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year 2023 Middle East & Africa.
Burcu currently serves as President on the Board of Directors of Advertising Association, and as a member of the board of OMD and the American Chamber of Commerce. Burcu was celebrated as part of the “Inspiring Women of the Year” list in 2017, was selected as one of the 13 professional women on Turkey’s “Woman to Watch/Women Making a Difference” list in 2017, was named The Stevie Awards “EMEA Female Executive of the Year” in 2018, earned Gold in “Most Innovative Woman of the Year – Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations” in 2019, and was listed on Ekonomist Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful 50 CEOs in Turkey in 2022 and 2023.
