As the author of cultural, educational, and sport-related projects that contribute to the cultural assets of society as a whole, Ziraat Bank is committed to constantly and methodically advancing the social responsibility mission that it has undertaken.

In 2015 Ziraat Bank continued to engage in a multidimensional array of social responsibility and public relations projects.
Ziraat Bank undertakes activities that seek to improve both individuals and society as a whole in the areas of culture, art, education, and sport.

Especially as the author of projects that contribute to the cultural assets of society as a whole, the Ziraat Bank is committed to constantly and methodically advancing the social responsibility mission that it has undertaken.

Public relations in 2015
As in the previous six years, Ziraat Bank once again served as the Turkish Cup name sponsor for the 2015/2016 season. Since the 2007/2008 season the Bank has been the sponsor of a team that has been successfully representing Ziraat Bank in the Aroma Men’s Premier Volleyball League and it continued to support the team once again in the 2015/2016 season as well.

Popular, attention-getting advertisements and commercials
Four Ziraat Bank advertisements released in 2015 were highly popular, attracted considerable attention, and strongly enhanced the Bank’s visibility in the various channels in which they were appeared all year long:

• “Dev Projeler”, which showed how Ziraat Bank finances major investment projects around the country and also drew attention to the “Turkey’s oldest new bank” slogan;
• “Likapa”, which highlighted the added value that Ziraat Bank creates for its agricultural customers;
• “Mobil Bankacılık”, in which an elderly retired couple demonstrate how convenient Ziraat Bank’s mobile banking app is;
• “KOBİ Lades”, which focused on Ziraat Bank’s “SME Branch” concept.

Ziraat Bank’s “Likapa” was voted one of the year’s top ten advertising films by YouTube users in 2015.

A publicity film broadcast in conjunction with the Bank’s 152nd anniversary provided a chronological panorama of the reasons why Ziraat Bank has been “More Than Just A Bank” for more than a century and a half. This film attracted considerable attention in both traditional and social media.

Protecting the cultural heritage
Informed by its spirit of social collaboration, Ziraat Bank provides ongoing support for culture and art.

In keeping with this and as a component of its social responsibility policy, Ziraat Bank continued to support health, education, service, and sport-related activities in 2015 as well.

Supporting the arts is a Ziraat Bank tradition.
The support that Ziraat Bank has been giving to art and artists since the day it was founded is summed up in its slogan “Through Art For Art”. The Bank continues to take part in and support artistic activities in a variety of ways.

In the 1990s Ziraat Bank began adding new landmarks to its support for the arts by opening its Mithatpaşa, Kuğulu, Tünel, and Kızıltan Ulukavak art galleries and with the inauguration of the Ömer Nafi Güvenli Exhibition Hall.

Twenty-one exhibitions mounted in the Bank’s Ankara Kuğulu and İstanbul Tünel galleries attracted more than 25 thousand visitors during 2015.

Ziraat Bank’s support for culture and art also extends into the domain of theater. Under an agreement with the General Directorate for State Theaters, the resources of the Bank’s Mithat Paşa Cultural Center are made available for State Theaters company performances as the “State Theaters at Ziraat Stage”.

The Ziraat Bank Museum
Located in the ceremonial hall of the Bank’s original headquarters building in the Ulus district of Ankara, the Ziraat Banking Museum opened its doors to the public on 20 November 1981. Turkey’s first museum devoted to banking, the Ziraat Banking Museum provides a panoramic view of a corporate history that is intimately associated with that of nearly every aspect of the Republic of Turkey. Besides displaying the commercial, economic, political, cultural, artistic, and educational progress and transformation that Turkey has undergone in the course of more than a century and a half, the Ziraat Banking Museum also houses examples of objects used in the Turkish banking industry in a historical setting.

Digital platforms and field research
As part of Ziraat Bank’s efforts to ensure that its corporate identity is used in accordance with bank-specified standards so that its brand image is correctly perceived among customers, that its corporate identity is properly integrated into all appropriate environments, and that any misapprehensions of the Ziraat brand and identity are avoided, all branches were visited and checked for their compliance with the Bank’s Visual Identity Standards in 2015.

The Ziraat Bank Secret Customer Program continued in 2015, with every branch being visited at least once. These visits are conducted in order to obtain performance evaluation input by determining such issues as the degree to which employees are complying with business targets and standards, the adequacy of employees’ efforts to acquire new customers for the Bank, and how effective employees are in imparting their product knowledge to customers.

Ziraat Bank and social media
Ziraat Bank makes active use of social media as a way to interact with its stakeholders. The Bank maintains a social media presence on every platform where its customers are likely to be found in order to satisfy their wishes and expectations in the best way possible and to maximize customer satisfaction.

• The 764 thousand “Likes” received by the Bank’s Facebook page as of end-2015 made it one of the most active of those owned by any member of the Turkish banking industry.
• Ziraat Bank’s effectiveness in other social media continues to grow steadily. In 2015 the Bank had more than:
  71 thousand Twitter followers
  27 thousand Instagram followers
  10,000,000 YouTube views.

According to the results of a survey conducted by Roamler Türkiye measuring and analyzing brand perceptions among Turkish consumers, Ziraat Bank ranked among the top three banks regarded as being “the most social” in Turkey in 2015.

Other activities
In 2015 Ziraat Bank once again took part in the conduct of projects of significant national importance as a sponsor at numerous fairs and similar events in Turkey and abroad.