Employer Brand Summit 2025 and the Gift that Speaks Volumes

What Does Trust Sound Like?

Sharing our handcrafting and design processes within companies, so they can be used to improve the lives of employees - is one of our most valued distribution channels.

That’s why we’re proud to announce that Bitti Gitti Design Studio’s “the Wooden Sound System” was chosen as the official keynote speaker gift for this year’s Employer Brand Summit 2025, a gathering of People & Culture highly influential leaders in the MENA region.

Some Gifts Lubricate Better Than Others

Corporate gifting has always had strategic weight. For thousands of years, tribes and kingdoms exchanged handcrafted relics to avoid war and encourage trade. Today, some gifts still lubricate the wheels of collaboration more than others.

At Bitti Gitti, we see the best corporate gifts as handcrafted and functional.

The Wooden Sound System is both: A German Design Award winning smartphone speaker that functions without requiring extra power. Specially carved tunnels inside the wooden body, plus amplifying rings on the exterior - provide a surprising amount of sound boost. The audio tone is also improved, thanks to the properties of birchwood.

Picture this: You drop your phone into this carefully carved piece of birchwood, and suddenly your music gets a warm, amplified sound that'll make you forget about your Bluetooth speaker.

No charging required. No pairing. Just wood doing what wood does best.

Each unit was custom engraved with the speaker’s name and the Employer Brand Summit logo. Handcrafted by our founder in our workshop, using birchwood harvested from renewable forests.

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The Employer Brand Summit: A Gathering of Trustmakers

The 12th Employer Brand Summit took place under the well kept trees of Maya Life Resort in Polonezköy, far from the concrete density of Istanbul. This year’s theme: “In Human We Trust.”

Top companies were represented, from industries like banking and defense to FMCG and tech. The subject was trust. How do we build cultures people can trust in, in a time when AI is blurring the lines?

Key speakers included:

• Simon Barrow, originator of the Employer Brand concept
  
  
• Cenk Akıncılar, CHRO at QNB Finansbank
  
  
• Burcu Cantekinler Koç, HR Director at Unilever
  
  
• Cansu Ateş, Culture & Capabilities Director at BAT
  
  
• And global companies like Yemeksepeti (part of Delivery Hero), TEI, Boehringer Ingelheim, Toyota, Nestle, Nespresso, TFX and more.
  
  

Together, they painted a vision of trust as something built daily—through psychological safety, visible leadership, and environments that match the values they preach.

Take a Tour with Us

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The event space was clean and compact - which we appreciated. Since small spaces are better to create an intimate atmosphere. Walking around, we had a chance to be involved in good conversation and random meetings.

The stage was set up next to the pool. On the other side of the pool was a big booth belonging to QNB Finansbank. As the main sponsor of the summit, and the highest valued company in the Turkish stock market; the booth projected brand power.

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We had a nice chat with Simon Barrow - inventor of the employer brand - in the shade of this booth.

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Walking slightly uphill, we crossed a small wooden bridge to arrive at the Nespresso booth.

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A barista greeted us and listed options for cold coffee cocktails. At the end of the day, having tried all options - our favorite coffee cocktail was the Amaretto with almond milk.

Lunch was served in the restaurant, with a back-up option of slice pizza for those who preferred to indulge. Red Bull also had a booth with drinks and a maze ball game.

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A potential way to make the free range networking section of events more awesome: Opening a Bitti Gitti screen printing station.

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A fun and budget friendly way to interact with participants! Here’s a video of how H&M used us to impact 1,000 people in just 3 hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_NawLdHL8&ab_channel=BittiGitti‍

‍What We Heard at the Summit

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The summit wasn't just about employer branding and corporate culture, though those keywords were the main anchors. It was about tangible ways to show human connection.

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Every speaker kept coming back to the same point: Trust isn't fluffy. It's structural. It shows up in how you onboard people, how you communicate during crises, and yeah – even in what you give to your speakers.

Here’s our notes from each talk below:

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🎙 Alper Girgin (Host & Moderator)

Theme: Trust is felt, not just spoken.
He opened with a reminder that trust is built through consistent actions, not merely words, setting the emotional tone of the day.

🎙 Alper Çakıroğlu – Founder, 3İK Ajans

Key Point: Trust makes organizational values like sustainability and engagement tangible.

• Emphasized the need to see every employee as part of a “symphony.”
  
  
• Urged reflection on:
  
  
  
  • Is trust embedded in your culture?
    
    
  • What is your role in building it?
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🎙 Cenk Akıncılar – QNB Türkiye

Talk: First Trust, Then Happiness
Key Themes: Psychological safety, adaptive leadership, empathy in action

• Highlighted alignment across 80 workshops post-COVID, rooted in “Human–Adaptation–Trust.”
  
  
• Described trust as built through listening, empathy, and consistency.
  
  
• Introduced the Trust–Compassion–Hope–Stability leadership model.
  
  
• Advocated for “servant leadership” and emotional intelligence in leadership.
  
  
• Discussed the candidate journey: “Attract–Engage–Retain.”
  
  
• Noted: Flexibility = Understanding = Loyalty
  
  
• Shared that QNB now uses a hybrid model: 3 days in-office, 2 remote.
  
  
• Quote: “Derdi dertlenince güveni pekiştiriyorsunuz.” (“When you share their burden, trust deepens.”)

Fun fact: Mr. Akıncılar has more than 30,000 followers on Linkedin, and is one of the most influential CHRO’s on the platform. His book club recommendations and employee visits always make his output worth checking out - and he is kind enough to regularly interact with his followers.

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🎙 Burcu Cantekinler Koç – Unilever

Talk: Resilient & Caring Leadership in Transformation Times
Key Themes: Culture transformation, future-focused leadership

• Emphasized: No organizational change without cultural change.
  
  
• Asked leaders to reflect: “What is your role in this transformation?”
  
  
• Led workshops with 600 employees around:
  
  
  
  • Tell–Internalize–Live the culture
    
    
  • “Where are we strong?” and “How can we evolve as a boutique organization?”
    
    
• Focused on: Personal branding, manager interview training, mentoring.
  
  
• Shared their AI chatbot UNA, designed to adapt info for local/global needs.
  
  
• Explained future of HR expertise via global hubs (India, Egypt, etc.)

Wisdom: Ms. Koç did an undergrad in psychology in one of the highest rates universities in Turkey, she knows what she’s talking about. Though we didn’t have the chance to verify with her, she most likely even knows about Flow State - which we help employees enter through handcrafting.

🎙 Cansu Ateş – British American Tobacco

Talk: A Better Tomorrow Starts With Trust in People
Key Themes: Empowerment, feedback, work-life balance

• Clarified the term "empowered" as truly feeling trusted.
  
  
• Anchored trust in: integrity, feedback, recognition, transparency.
  
  
• Rolled out dynamic employee surveys every 3-4 months.
  
  
• Shared career support initiatives:
  
  
  
  • Tailored plans, international projects, mentorship.
  • BAT is great at facilitating transfers to anyone who wants to work abroad. Turkish executives have become so prominent in certain regions that they have become celebrated for their work ethic.
    
    
• Flex@BAT policies include:
  
  
  
  • Remote work, school leave, social responsibility days, birthday leave.

Cool story: BAT has been so successful in relocating those who want to work in other countries - that there are now some regions in Europe where a majority of the top executives are Turkish. This has become a legend in company circles, and a point of pride to the local office. Most companies lose people who move abroad, BAT is doing an excellent job at retaining them.

🎙 Aşkın Bostancıoğlu & Ezgi Efe – Yemeksepeti

Talk: Transforming With Trust: The Never-Ending Journey
Key Themes: Adaptability, inclusive HR practices

• Used the sailing metaphor: Shift – Adapt – Catch the Wind.
  
  
• Highlighted initiatives:
  
  
  
  • Transparent pay
    
    
  • Welcome and report card leave
    
    
  • HPV vaccinations (They are literally saving lives with this one)
    
    
  • Pet-friendly offices
    
    
  • Store Manager Academy
    
    
  • Well-being benefits extended to first-degree relatives
    
    
• Stressed that every leader is also an HR leader, and every employee should be empowered to lead their own role.

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🎙 Onur Ozan - Turkish Finance Bank

Talk: We Are Family
Key Themes: Building vs. losing trust

• Trust breaks when:
  
  
  
  • Actions don’t match words
    
    
  • People are abandoned in hard times
    
    
  • Listening is performative
    
    
  • There’s over-control
    
    
• Called for “clear, actionable spaces” for empowerment.
  
  
• Raised digital trust issues: “Digital discrimination exists.”
  
  
• Closing Challenge: “In what good-faith behaviors might you be losing trust?”
  
  

🎙 Boğaçhan Karatepe – Nestlé

Talk: Human-First Flexibility: Trust at the Core
Key Themes: Values-led culture, demographic shift

• Reiterated Nestlé’s cultural anchor: “We work for good.”
  
  
• Core values: Respect, honesty, transparency → all rooted in trust.
  
  
• Shared employee survey questions:
  
  
  
  • Are you respected?
    
    
  • Can you speak freely?
    
    
  • Do you want to stay?
    
    
• Highlighted flexible working, including full-remote summers and dropping “Flexible Fridays” due to lack of demand.
  
  
• Observed rising Gen Z ratio in workforce (11% → 18%).
  
  
• Said retaining young talent is now key.
  
  

🎙 Sedef Akbulut – Nespresso

Talk: Premium Touch on Work Life with Nespresso
Key Themes: Consistency, customer trust, sustainability innovation

• Spoke on the challenge of delivering the same trusted aroma both at home and in the workplace — a subtle but powerful brand promise.
  
  
• Highlighted how technology simplifies flavor diversity, ensuring every cup delivers both quality and experience.
  
  
• Positioned trust as a dual responsibility: to innovate reliably, and to align that innovation with sustainable practices.
  
  
• Shared examples of recycling partnerships and environmental commitments, reinforcing that customer trust extends beyond product to purpose.
  
  
• Framed Nespresso’s role not just as a coffee provider but as a sustainable lifestyle partner trusted by modern consumers.

🎙 Sinan Yorulmaz – TEI (TUSAŞ Engine Industries)

Talk: The New Value of Human Focus: The Trust Economy
Key Themes: Strategic trust, employee value, future-proofing culture

• Positioned trust not as a soft skill but as strategic capital that feeds performance, engagement, and sustainability.
  
  
• Argued that in a world of more fragile relationships and digitized communication, trust must be redefined.
  
  
• Emphasized that brand value is now shaped as much by internal trust as by external products.
  
  
• Suggested companies that grow this trust capital are those steering the future of business.
  
  
• Delivered a forward-looking message: understanding trust is not just interpreting a trend — it’s preparing for the future of work.

Wow Moment: Mr. Yorulmaz put up a slide showing all the airplane types for which their company produces engines. The list was long and included popular models like the Boeing 747. The crowd went silent when they realized that almost all planes flying globally relied on TEI products.

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🎙 Gamze Aşçıoğlu – Toyota Türkiye

Talk: We Respect, We Kaizen
Key Themes: Lifecycle experience of the employee

• Focus: Candidate–Employee–Alumni experience
  
  
• Key initiatives:
  
  
  
  • Equal opportunity
    
    
  • Respectful interviews
    
    
  • Exit rituals (we were particularly impressed that each ex-Toyota Türkiye employee received flowers at the first day of their new jobs)
    
    
• Internal promotion rate: 85% / Resignation rate: only 6% voluntary / Staff satisfaction: 98% - yet, even with all these great results, Ms. Aşçıoğlu always stayed humble by crediting her team and the Toyota Way for these results. And leaving room for improvement.

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🎙 Kübra Dağlı – Red Bull Taekwondo Athlete

Talk: Wings for Human Power
Key Themes: Sustained trust helps win championships

• Visualization: A mind exercise to help you trust yourself when starting out
  
  
• Loyalty is rare:
  
  
  
  • Red Bull stood by her side for years when she was injured and not even able to participate in tournaments.
    
    
  • Seeing their dedication led her to push herself harder.
    
    
• When receiving the Wooden Sound System, Ms. Dağlı told us that she loves wood and that she is always on the lookout for a cool new wooden design for her home.

🎙 Özlem Kar - Boehringer Ingelheim

Talk: Forward with People
Key Themes: Well-being beyond work hours

• Emphasized that happiness and retention are complex but achievable with a true team effort.
  
  
• Highlighted hope and future orientation as a foundation of employee connection and well-being.
  
  
• We loved the uncrowded design of Ms. Kar’s presentation, which made it easy for us to follow along to her speech.
  
  

🎙 Nilüfer Aktaş - Impact Maze

Theme: Human-centered digital transformation

• Cited UNDP Human Development Report in detail
  
  
• Urged rethinking AI’s role in equitable, human-centric systems.
  
  
• Advocated for systemic change beginning with mental models.
  
  
• Her perspective reminded us of one of our favorite authors, Donella Meadows, known for Thinking in Systems and Limits to Growth.
  
  

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🎙 Berna Belkıs & Tunç Erman - Founders of the Virtual Job Search AI Assistant ONO

Ono – Talk: Are We Ready for an AI-Powered, Human-Shaped HR Experience?
Key Themes: Fairness, bias elimination, AI-human synergy

• Challenged the audience to rethink how AI can humanize rather than dehumanize the hiring experience.
  
  
• Introduced Ono, their AI-powered job search assistant, designed to reduce bias and level the playing field for candidates.
  
  
• Argued that fairness is no longer a “nice-to-have” in recruitment — it's a design challenge, and technology must lead.
  
  
• Showcased how an intelligent assistant can support both candidates and recruiters, ensuring consistency, transparency, and inclusion at scale.
  
  
• Left the crowd with a provocative question: “What if the fairest interviewer isn’t human?”
  
  

🎙 Simon Barrow – Creator of Employer Brand Concept

Talk: The New Challenges in Employer Brand Management
Key Themes: Experience vs. messaging

• Reinforced: Employer brand isn’t what you say—it’s what employees live and share.
  
  
• Looked at the future of employer branding: more internal alignment, authenticity, and trust at the core.
  
  
• Upon receiving the Wooden Sound System, Simon was extremely kind in offering support for it to reach more people in the U.K.
  
  

The Climate Reality Check - Gifting in a Warming Planet

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Here's something that hit different: It was brutally hot during the summit. Industrial fans running at full blast and everyone who wore a suit still wiping beads of sweat while grimacing level hot.

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Everyone there could feel it. This is the new normal. Each summer is getting more intense, and the electricity grid is under constant strain.

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A handcrafted speaker that doesn't need electricity, cables, batteries, and data centers hosting apps? That's not just sustainable marketing speak. That's practical.

It tells people: We don’t just say “We care about the environment”. We build it into our decisions.

That’s what we did for the Employer Brand Summit 2025. And that’s what we can do for your next gathering.

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Musical gift comparison table

We feel like digital speakers have too short of a lifetime to make a meaningful gift choice anymore. Here’s a comparison table to hopefully encourage our page visitors to switch to handcrafted.

Behind the Gift: From Workshop to Welcome Table

We own every step in the process, from material sourcing to manufacturing to laser engraving to shipping to final presentation.

Here’s how we handle every gift with care:

✅ End-to-End Supervision: We design, produce, personalize, and package every object ourselves. No drop-shipping. No middlemen. We touch every piece that leaves our hands.
✅ Custom Branding & Personalization: Logos, names, messages; each piece becomes unique. Try customizing with our tool: https://tws-customization.bitti-gitti.com/
✅ Gift-Ready Packaging: Every speaker arrived beautifully wrapped, ready to be handed over without extra steps. Our signature packaging is both minimalist and delightful - showcasing features and awards.
✅ Global Reach: From Istanbul to anywhere. We routinely ship custom orders across Europe, the Gulf, North America all the way to Australia and Brazil. Whether it’s 20 pieces or 2,000, we’ve got the logistics - and the discipline - to deliver on time and intact.

In short: We control the whole vertical manufacturing chain, to deliver handcrafted gifts as stories worth telling.

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Let’s Make Gifting Meaningful

If you're a brand that believes in long-term gifting,
Let’s talk about how we can help you give something that lasts.

kerem@bitti-gitti.com

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