Youth Works

What Youth Works does

YW (formerly YouthWorks) is an independent, founder-led creative advertising agency founded in 2017 by Serhat Gürcü and Seden Gürcü in Istanbul, with a second studio based at the Television Centre in London (WC2E 9LA). The agency serves enterprise and mid-market consumer brands across FMCG (P&G, Eti, Tchibo, Eczacıbaşı, Daio Paper), technology (Microsoft, Meta, Huawei), beauty (Maybelline), fintech (Papara), retail (Gratis, Kiğılı), watches (Casio G-SHOCK), and electronics (Grundig), and since founding has produced more than 200 campaigns across Europe, MENA, and the Gulf, accumulating over 100 industry awards.

YW's central technology is its proprietary Creative Intelligence System, a multi-agent AI workflow that routes every brief through specialized agents for consumer research, strategy, creative development, performance/media planning, and presentation before human teams intervene. Internally, the agency also built Adin.AI — an enterprise AI marketing infrastructure product used by Fortune-class advertisers and ranked #1 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Türkiye 2025. AI-generated film, image, and copy production are delivered through Studio Brave, YW's AI production partner studio in London, with art directors and copywriters operating the latest generative tools (Runway, Kling, Midjourney, Manus.ai) as authors of the work rather than as tool operators.

Revenue is generated through creative campaign and project fees priced to outcomes rather than to billable hours, together with annual retainer contracts. Pricing is not publicly disclosed; prospective clients submit briefs via the website or [email protected] and receive a senior-team response within 24 hours, with the first interaction framed as a 30-minute strategic introduction. YW runs a sales-led, inbound-only distribution model with no channel or reseller layer, operating from Istanbul (Akaretler, Beşiktaş) and London, and actively serving brands in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman in Arabic and English.

Name

Youth Works

Legal name

YW

Website

https://ywistanbul.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

YW is an independent, founder-led AI-native creative advertising agency in Istanbul and London serving enterprise consumer brands across FMCG, tech, fintech, beauty, and retail via its proprietary Creative Intelligence System and Adin.AI marketing infrastructure.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Advertising Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (54143), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Titling, Graphics & Finishing (Lower Thirds, Supers, End Cards) (MPAHAAAH)

Keywords

• Creative advertising agency
• Brand strategy services
• AI-generated production
• Performance creative
• Digital marketing campaigns

Headquarters

HQ city

Istanbul

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Creative campaign and project fees: YW bills for creative outcomes rather than billable hours. Project-based fees for 360 ad campaigns, always-on campaigns, brand strategy, and AI-generated productions. The agency explicitly rejects the hourly billing model, positioning itself as priced to the outcome. Also offers annual contract arrangements.
2. Annual retainer contracts: YW works on project basis or annual contracts with brands in Turkey, GCC, and globally.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

YW (formerly YouthWorks) is an independent AI-native creative advertising agency that delivers end-to-end brand strategy, creative campaigns, digital and social management, performance creative, and AI-generated film/image/copy production. Every brief runs through the agency's proprietary Creative Intelligence System — a multi-agent workflow that handles consumer research, strategy, creative development, performance planning, and presentation before senior creative teams intervene. Work is delivered on a project or annual contract basis, priced to outcomes rather than billable hours.

Product overview

YW (formerly YouthWorks) is an independent, founder-led AI-native creative advertising agency founded in 2017 by Serhat Gürcü and Seden Gürcü. The company operates from Istanbul and London serving brands across Europe, MENA and the Gulf. Its core offering is an integrated creative agency with six disciplines: Brand Design, Communication Strategy, Creative Campaigns, AI-Generated Production, Digital & Social, and Performance Creative — all powered by the proprietary Creative Intelligence System. The company has also built two named products: Adin.AI (enterprise AI marketing infrastructure, #1 on Deloitte Fast 50 Türkiye 2025) and Studio Brave (AI production partner studio in London). The agency positions itself as an 'AI Creative Agentcy' where AI agents run through every brief alongside senior human teams. The portfolio is unified under founder-led leadership, with strategy, creative, and production in one room.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Studio Brave: AI-native creative production studio in London, YW's production partner for generative film, image and copy.

Products and services

• YW (YouthWorks) Full-Service Creative Agency AI-native creative advertising agency offering end-to-end brand strategy, creative campaigns, digital and social management, and performance creative. Runs every brief through its proprietary Creative Intelligence System, serving enterprise and mid-market brands across FMCG, tech, retail, fintech, beauty, and fashion from Istanbul and London.
• Creative Intelligence System Proprietary agentic AI workflow that runs on every brief through five specialized agents (consumer research, strategy, creative, performance, presentation) before human teams intervene. Functions as the agency's operating system for research, insight, and creative development.
• Adin.AI

Quantifiable outcome

• 200+ campaigns produced since 2017 across 3+ continents
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability9 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Studio BravecoreTechnology or IntegrationStudio Brave is YW's AI production partner studio based at Television Centre, London (WC2E 9LA). Through this partnership, YW delivers generative AI film, image, and copy production at velocity — eliminating traditional live-action time and budget barriers. Art directors and copywriters lead projects end-to-end as authors of the work, not as operators. The partnership is described as YW's production muscle for AI-native creative output.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• WPP: World's largest advertising holding company. Relevant because it competes with YW for the same global advertiser brands (P&G, Microsoft, etc.) through Ogilvy, VMLY&R, Hogarth and WPP's own "Team X" AI platform — the structural benchmark YW must differentiate against.
• Publicis Groupe: Global advertising holding company with Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi and Publicis Sapient. Directly comparable: Publicis has launched CoreAI as an enterprise-level AI marketing platform that competes head-to-head with YW's Adin.AI for Fortune-class advertiser marketing budgets.
• Dentsu Creative: Dentsu's creative network within a global holding company structure. A key competitor for the same enterprise advertisers YW serves, particularly with MENA and European operations where YW positions itself.
• Interpublic Group: One of the major advertising holding companies with McCann, MullenLowe, FCB and IPG Mediabrands. Competes for the same global-brand creative budgets and is investing in proprietary AI creative tooling similar in spirit to YW's Creative Intelligence System.
• Monks (S4 Capital): Digital-first advertising and marketing services business. Comparable as a tech-enabled, integrated creative/ production alternative for the same Fortune-advertiser CMO segment, with overlapping AI-in-production messaging.

Direct peers

• Dept Agency: Mid-sized global digital creative and technology agency with comparable size, integrated creative+tech model, and similar mix of enterprise and mid-market clients. Closest direct head-to-head peer for YW's boutique AI-native positioning.
• Codeword: Tech-forward creative agency specializing in campaigns for technology brands (Microsoft, Meta, etc.). Overlaps with YW on enterprise tech and B2B-adjacent brand work and shares a similar independent, narrative-led positioning.
• Mother: Independent creative agency founded in London with a craft-first reputation and global roster of large advertisers. Shares YW's independent, founder-driven model and comparable scale — a benchmark for boutique creative quality at enterprise scale.

Emerging players

• Tool of North America: Generative-AI-first creative production studio focused on AI-driven ad campaigns. Closest emerging comparator for the AI-native production thesis that underpins YW's Studio Brave partnership and Creative Intelligence System.

Others

• Jasper: Marketing-focused generative AI platform used by enterprise marketing teams. Comparable not as an agency but as adjacent infrastructure that YW/Adin.AI overlaps with in serving brand-side AI marketing workflows.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/youthworkstr
• Instagraminstagram.com/ywistanbul
• Xx.com/youthworkstr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Youth Works