A Brand That Has Always Pushed Boundaries

Turkish Airlines holds a record that speaks for itself: more countries served than any other airline in the world. This geographic reach isn’t just a logistical achievement — it reflects a brand philosophy built on the belief that boundaries exist to be crossed. In its marketing history, Turkish Airlines has consistently found ways to reach audiences through unexpected channels, whether through iconic sports sponsorships, Hollywood collaborations, or global ambassador programs.

In 2026, that boundary-crossing instinct found a new frontier: in-game advertising. And Portuma was the platform that made it possible.

The Challenge: Reaching the Unreachable Audience

The digital-native generation — broadly, those who grew up with smartphones and broadband internet as given conditions of daily life — presents a genuine challenge for traditional advertisers. This audience doesn’t watch live television in meaningful numbers. They subscribe to ad-free streaming tiers. They scroll past sponsored content with trained instincts for what is organic and what is paid.

Yet this same audience plays mobile games. Extensively. Mobile gaming is one of the few remaining contexts where digital-native consumers voluntarily engage with immersive experiences for extended periods of uninterrupted time. The attention is there. The challenge is accessing it without alienating the user.

This is precisely what Turkish Airlines sought to solve through its partnership with Portuma.

Campaign Objectives

The collaboration was structured around three clear strategic goals. The first was to deepen connection with digital-native audiences — consumers who are potential high-value customers for Turkish Airlines but who are increasingly difficult to reach through conventional media. The second was to drive meaningful brand awareness within gaming environments in a way that felt native to the experience rather than interruptive. The third was to establish Turkish Airlines as an early mover in innovative advertising channels, reinforcing the brand’s identity as forward-thinking and globally oriented.

The Multi-Format Approach

What distinguishes this campaign from a simple banner placement is the deliberate use of multiple complementary formats, each serving a distinct function in the overall media strategy.

Visual ads delivered over 2 million impressions through in-game surfaces, placing the Turkish Airlines brand in front of engaged players at key moments in the gaming experience. These placements were designed to feel contextually appropriate — part of the environment rather than an intrusion upon it.

Audio ads, also exceeding 2 million interactions, extended the campaign’s reach into the sonic dimension. In-game audio advertising reaches users even when visual attention is partially occupied, creating an additional layer of brand contact that complements the visual formats.

Push notifications, delivered to over 180,000 users, extended the campaign’s reach beyond the active gaming session. These notifications created touchpoints during moments when users were away from the game but still reachable on their devices, maintaining brand presence across the full arc of the user’s day.

Email marketing rounded out the campaign with 12,500 targeted interactions, providing the most direct, personalized channel in the mix and enabling messaging tailored to specific user segments and behaviors.

Why the Multi-Format Strategy Matters

The decision to deploy four distinct formats rather than concentrating investment in a single channel reflects sophisticated media planning. Each format reaches the user in a different psychological state — deeply engaged in gameplay, passively exposed during audio consumption, receptive during a notification moment, or actively reading an email. Together, they create a surround-sound brand presence that no single format can achieve alone.

This approach also generates richer data. By observing which formats drive the strongest engagement, recollection, and conversion signals, Turkish Airlines and Portuma can continuously refine the media mix for future campaigns — turning each activation into a learning opportunity as much as a brand-building exercise.

The Broader Significance

When Turkish Airlines commits advertising budget to in-game inventory at this scale, the message to the wider marketing industry is unambiguous: this channel has arrived. A brand of this stature — with the media buying sophistication, the creative resources, and the strategic discipline that comes with operating globally for decades — does not invest in experimental channels on a whim.

The Turkish Airlines x Portuma case study will likely become a reference point for brand managers and media planners across Turkey and the region who are evaluating in-game advertising as a channel. It demonstrates that the format works for aspirational, globally recognized brands as well as it works for digitally native consumer apps.

The Takeaway

In-game advertising is no longer a question of ‘if’ for major brands. The Turkish Airlines x Portuma partnership makes that clear. The question that remains — the one every CMO and media director should be asking right now — is how to enter this space in a way that respects the gaming experience, delivers measurable results, and positions the brand as a genuine participant in the culture rather than an uninvited guest.

Portuma has built the infrastructure to make that possible. Turkish Airlines has demonstrated the courage to use it. The rest of the industry is watching.