Alper Tunga Yazgan Mercan. Copywriter and content strategist. I live in Istanbul, work in both Turkish and English, and I am used to working remotely.

Brands hire me to sound like themselves.

Coffee is a matter of patience. Knowing the bean, knowing the roast, getting the timing right.

Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye, 8 March post, translated from Turkish

I write social and LinkedIn copy and develop campaign concepts. Executive ghostwriting and SEO and GEO content are part of the job too. The brands I have worked with run from coffee to insurance, from real estate to energy and technology.

  • 1.1M+ views on a single editorial reel.
  • 405+ reactions on one executive LinkedIn post.
  • 18 SEO and GEO articles shipped for one insurer.
  • Part of the team that won the Toshiba Türkiye pitch.

Open to projects

Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye

From the Barista's Eyes: one idea, built to keep publishing.

A format rather than a post. Every post is a city, every city is an observation seen through a barista's eyes, and every observation finds its own way to a Gloria Jean's product. The naming, the posting rhythm and the editorial calendar all sit under one concept, so the client could run the series without me in the room.

The concept was well received but not taken into production. It is included here for the system behind it: the format, the naming and the calendar are the work.

  1. Opening. The atmosphere of the city, in the barista's words.
  2. Observation. A habit or a rhythm specific to that city.
  3. Product link. A natural bridge to a Gloria Jean's product.
  4. Close. One warm sentence that lands the post.
  5. Hashtags. Three to five, natural Turkish, consistent across the series.
Work
LinkedIn series concept
My part
Concept and copy
Design
Contenthink team
From the Barista's Eyes concept deck cover for Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye
Concept deck. Cover.
Concept slide stating that every city has a rhythm and baristas see it every day
The idea in one sentence. Every city has a rhythm, and baristas see it every day.

Mehmet Dinçerler

Leadership posts that read like a person wrote them.

I write the personal LinkedIn posts of the chairman of Dinçerler Group, in his voice. Every sentence goes out under a real name, which keeps the bar high.

The aim is the same every time: give a dry announcement a point of view. Five new stores were told through operating standards. A cup made with a children's education charity became a low key social responsibility post. On 8 March the chairman's post went out the same morning as the brand posts, in a more measured tone.

Work
Executive ghostwriting, LinkedIn
My part
Copy, in his voice, cleared for brand risk
Reach
405+ reactions on a single post
Mehmet Dinçerler LinkedIn post announcing five new Gloria Jean's Coffees stores in Istanbul, Ankara, Mardin, Şanlıurfa and Manisa
Five new stores. 264 reactions, 5 reposts.
Mehmet Dinçerler LinkedIn post about the TEGV Penguin Cups campaign for children's education
Penguin Cups with TEGV. 405+ reactions, 14 comments, 9 reposts.
Mehmet Dinçerler LinkedIn post for International Women's Day
8 March. 120 reactions.

On the journey we began last year with our teddy bear sleeves, we contributed together to children's access to quality education. This year we are taking that story one step further.

Our Penguin Cups, developed together with TEGV, arrive in every Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye store from 23 April. The revenue from every cup sold goes to education projects for children.

Published copy, translated from Turkish. Mehmet Dinçerler on LinkedIn.

Dinçerler Group

What I learned from my mother. A Mother's Day campaign across five accounts.

On LinkedIn everyone announces their achievements. In this campaign, everyone told one lesson their mother taught them. That was the idea. On top of it came posts for each brand account in its own voice, separate texts for the chairman and a board member, and a publishing schedule.

Work
Multi brand Mother's Day campaign
My part
Concept, campaign structure and copy
Design
Contenthink team

I have read a great deal about leadership. I have watched many people closely. But looking back, I can see that the first place I learned it was not a meeting room. The person who taught me that lesson held no title. She was simply my mother.

She made decisions, quickly. She took responsibility, without stepping back. She trusted us, her team, but she never let the standards slip. And she did all of it quietly. Without waiting for praise, without asking for credit.

Published copy, translated from Turkish. Mehmet Dinçerler on LinkedIn.

Mehmet Dinçerler Dinçerler Group Mother's Day quote card
The chairman's post. As published.
Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye Mother's Day LinkedIn post
The Gloria Jean's post. Because good coffee, like a mother's love, cannot be rushed.

Magnolia Bakery and Gloria Jean's

Same morning, same occasion, two voices that never touch.

I write for several brands under one group. The hard part is making sure brands that post on the same day, for the same occasion, do not sound like each other. Two posts from the same morning, 8 March.

The bakery marks the day with its founding story. The coffee brand says thank you through patience, the craft behind the cup.

Work
LinkedIn copy for both brands
My part
Copy, and keeping the voices apart

Magnolia Bakery Türkiye

New York, Bleecker Street, 1996. A small bakery opened by the passion of two women.

Today Magnolia Bakery lives on around the world with that same excitement. For the women on our team who carry that heritage forward in Istanbul every day, with sweet and patient work, we made a short film.

Happy International Women's Day.

Published copy, translated from Turkish.

Gloria Jean's Coffees Türkiye

Coffee is a matter of patience. Knowing the bean, knowing the roast, getting the timing right.

We grow alongside the women on our team who show that patience every day, in more than 240 stores across more than 50 cities. Today we wanted to thank them with a short film.

Happy International Women's Day.

Published copy, translated from Turkish.

Magnolia Bakery Türkiye, employer brand

Today we hosted some very special guests at our Central Kitchen. Students from the Yıldız Technical University Food Club came to see our production processes and kitchen operations up close.

On a day spent talking about how theory meets practice, the students' curiosity brought fresh energy into our kitchen.

Published copy, translated from Turkish.

A routine kitchen visit becomes worth reading because the post describes the students' curiosity instead of the company's process. 69 reactions, 7 reposts.

Magnolia Bakery Türkiye LinkedIn post about hosting Yıldız Technical University food club students
As published. Magnolia Bakery Türkiye on LinkedIn.

Toshiba Türkiye

A red ring over the Bosphorus, and the pitch our team won.

Toshiba Türkiye put its roadshow campaign out to pitch, and we won it as the Contenthink team. I worked on the activation's content pillars and messaging alternatives, and had a hand in the influencer strategy.

Work
Roadshow campaign pitch, with the Contenthink team
My part
Content pillars, messaging alternatives, influencer strategy
Result
Pitch won, as a team
Toshiba campaign visual: a glowing red ring floating beside the Bosphorus Bridge at sunset, with the hashtag DetaylardaUstalik
#DetaylardaUstalık. The ring over the Bosphorus Bridge.
Toshiba campaign visual: a large red ring encircling Galata Tower in Istanbul, with the hashtag DetaylardaUstalik
Campaign visual. The ring around Galata Tower.

Raku Coffee Roastery

A roastery's voice, built from the research up.

At Raku things went in the right order. A competitive landscape report on Turkish specialty coffee first, then the brand strategy built on it, then the content. The Tadım Notu series (Tasting Note) takes the words printed on every bag (strawberry, chocolate, caramel) and asks the same question each time: are they really in the cup? The Sekki: 24 Seasons series follows the Japanese microseasons.

For the brand video I wrote the flow and the edit plan: the order things arrive in, and how long each beat gets.

Work
Research, brand strategy, content series, video flow
My part
Strategy and copy, plus the flow and edit plan for the video

Polat Enerji

Two films for an energy company.

I wrote the text and the flow of the Kurban Bayramı (Eid al-Adha) film. For the 8 March International Women's Day film I was on the creative team. Both are on the brand's channels, and you can watch them from here.

Work
Brand films
My part
Text and flow for the Bayram film, creative team on the 8 March film

QNB Sigorta and AXA

Written to rank, to be quoted by machines that answer, and still to be read.

Search is no longer just a list of links. The same article now has to convince a reader, Google's featured snippet and AI tools like ChatGPT at the same time. Two long form projects here: insurance blogs built as a system, and a foresight report brought into Turkish.

Work
SEO and GEO content, localisation
Samples
Client articles available on request

QNB Sigorta. An SEO and GEO blog system.

18 articles across three product lines, built to rank on Google, win featured snippets and be quotable by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Each one opens with a real problem in plain language and gives the answer early, so a machine can lift it cleanly, then earns the rest of the reader's attention with context. Headings are written as the questions people actually type.

Accuracy is the part clients underestimate. Every claim is checked against the insurer's live product terms before it reaches a draft. On one project I found an outdated state contribution rate for private pension plans on the client's own product pages, and flagged it before publishing.

AXA Sigorta. A foresight report, crossing into Turkish.

I worked on the Turkish edition of a long foresight report and on newsletter localisation for AXA Sigorta. The text went through several passes: terminology first, then structure and register, with rewrites wherever the English did not sit naturally in Turkish insurance language.

Also on the desk

  • Keller Williams TürkiyeRecruitment campaign: a carousel series, template kits for branch managers, and recruitment focused social content.
  • Magnolia Bakery TürkiyeLaunch content suite for the Banana Pudding Bar.
  • Dinçerler Group brandsA Father's Day campaign written across multiple brand accounts, each in its own voice.

What I do

Brand voice and social copy

LinkedIn and Instagram copy in Turkish or English, written so several accounts can post on the same day without sounding like the same person.

Campaign concepts

One idea turned into a repeatable format, a naming system and a publishing calendar, so a campaign outlives its launch week.

Executive ghostwriting

Leadership communication for founders and board level executives: LinkedIn posts and thought leadership pieces, written in their own voice and cleared for brand risk before they go out.

SEO and GEO content

Articles built to rank on Google, win featured snippets and be quoted by ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

Turkish localisation

Global brand material adapted into Turkish so that it never reads like a translation, with terminology, register and cultural references checked line by line.

Editorial and research

Competitive landscape reports, category language audits and long form features, usually the groundwork a content strategy is built on.

Short form video editing

Reels, TikToks and Shorts that are easy to follow, cut for the feed: from the hook in the first second to the caption on the last frame.

Before copy, there was a camera

I studied radio, television and cinema at Marmara University, and my early twenties went by behind a camera: stills on a feature film set, stage photography for a musician, and a short film of my own that came back from Galatasaray High School with an award.

Music journalism took me from the camera to the keyboard, and in time I became an editor. Today I work as a copywriter and content strategist.

From 2027 I will be in Stuttgart for an MA at Merz Akademie. Until then, and from there, I work remotely.

  • 2019Stills photographer, The Death of Black Horses, feature film directed by Ferit Karahan
  • 2019Images With Hearts of Stone, short film, writer and director. Awarded at the Galatasaray High School Short Film Competition. Finalist at the Seyfi Teoman Short Film Competition and the 10th Sinepark Short Film Competition
  • 2019 to 2020Stage photographer, alternative musician Brek
  • 2022Young jury member, 41st Istanbul Film Festival
  • 2023DIVE'23, EU funded arts and culture project, Kaunas. Music and media contribution
  • 2024 to 2025Erasmus+ exchange in journalism, Károli Gáspár University, Budapest
  • 2026BA, Radio, Television and Cinema, Marmara University, Istanbul
  • from 2027MA Research in Design, Art and Media, Merz Akademie, Stuttgart
Alper Tunga Yazgan Mercan, hands on his cheeks, looking to the side, in a room lined with books
That's me.
Poster of Taş Kalpli İmgeler, a short film written and directed by Alper Tunga: two faces in blue over a pink and turquoise background
Taş Kalpli İmgeler, 2019. Short film, writer and director. Awarded at the Galatasaray High School Short Film Competition.