The TV series Söz (The Oath), airing on Star TV, entered its second season as a ratings leader but was in need of fresh communication ideas. We saw this as an opportunity to go beyond the usual preview clips and episode trailers, and introduced a new dimension to the show's communication by stepping into the Söz universe with our special content.
The Turkish TV industry has now evolved into an international powerhouse, exporting series and captivating audiences around the globe. Söz, produced by two of the industry’s most prominent figures, Timur Savcı and Burak Sağyaşar, quickly built a devoted fan base in its very first season thanks to its large ensemble cast and action-packed storyline. As one of the top-ranking shows in Turkey in terms of total social media followers, we set out to find ways to further mobilize this growing community.
Our strategy focused on tapping into the unseen layers of the Söz universe—highlighting details that never made it to the screen and delving into the subtext of the script. Drawing inspiration from characters' backstories, fan reactions, and of course, the script itself, we developed ideas that would expand the world of Söz.
In this expanded universe, Söz transformed from a once-a-week TV series into a living narrative that continued between episodes. The first example of this approach was inspired by the moment when Keşanlı shared a tragic memory about his father—a character who had never appeared on screen before. We brought this previously unseen character into the spotlight through our content.
Another moment we brought into our communication strategy was March 8th, International Women’s Day. We created a special video titled “Söz Kadınların” (“Women Have the Say”), where the show’s cast members directly addressed their fans, delivering empowering messages.
One of the biggest developments in Season 2—written by Ethem Özışık—was the introduction of a new villain. We launched our “Who is Derman?” campaign to introduce the new character, Derman, and the actor portraying him. The hashtag #WhoIsDerman even made it to Twitter Turkey’s trending topics list and served as a powerful way to introduce Timur Acar to the audience.
When news broke that Mustafa Yıldıran, who played one of the show’s core characters, Hafız, would be leaving, we launched the campaign “Turkey Bids Farewell to Hafız.” In a strategic move, we announced the character’s death in advance using the hashtag #FarewellHafız.
The couple Yavuz and Bahar, portrayed by Tolga Sarıtaş and Aybüke Pusat, had become fan favorites under the nickname “YavBah.” During a rough patch in their on-screen relationship, we released off-script, fictional text conversations between the two as social media posts, offering the audience additional content beyond the usual episode time slot.
While creating all this special content, we also built a unique ratings analysis system to better understand the dynamics of the television landscape. This system included comparisons with rival shows like Çukur and Survivor, and helped us make long-term predictions as well as evaluate the digital performance of our content in depth.
From crafting the weekly hashtag strategy to developing the most innovative and engaging content, we truly lived and breathed the Söz project. We hope we were able to share the same sense of excitement and enjoyment with the audience.
