Umut Vural — Adgager

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Adgager is an AI-supported market research platform founded and led by Umut Vural as CEO. Through its verified member community, the Gagers, it gives brands fast, transparent, end-to-end research.

  • Starting point: traditional research being expensive, slow and open to manipulation.
  • Products: AdQ (ad effectiveness score), AdQ Index (monthly in Marketing Türkiye), AdQ PreTest (pre-launch testing), AdTeams (brand-specific mobile community).
  • Ecosystem: the 90,000-member Gager community and the blockchain-based GAG Token.
  • Growth: 420% in 2021, 200% in 2022; investment at a USD 6.6M valuation in 2023; 200+ brands today.
CVLinkedInUmut Vural's statementadgager.com
200+
brands
adgager.com
420%
growth · 2021
adgager.com
$6.6M
valuation · 2023
adgager.com
858
ad films · AdQ Almanac 2025
CV

Journey

  1. 2016
    Founded with İTÜ support; İTÜ Çekirdek and TÜBİTAK BiGG incubation, Big Bang investment. A 5,000-member community and the first study in year one.
    LinkedIn · adgager.com
  2. 2017
    Started delivering research to leading Turkish brands.
    adgager.com
  3. 2019
    STARTUP100: among Türkiye's 100 most successful startups.
    CV · LinkedIn
  4. 2021
    420% growth; client portfolio and solutions expanded.
    adgager.com
  5. 2022
    200% growth; global market goals set.
    adgager.com
  6. 2023
    Investment at a USD 6.6M valuation; work on a new version of the platform.
    adgager.com
  7. 2024
    GAG Token's listing on LBank announced.
    adgager.com
  8. 2025
    AdQ Index published monthly in Marketing Türkiye; 858 ad films in the AdQ Almanac; Silver Taktisyen Baykuş; two awards at GSA South Europe.
    CV · LinkedIn · adgager.com
  9. 2026
    Global Startup Awards final: #2 worldwide in the public vote, Top 10 Best Fintech, Top 16 Founder of the Year.
    CV · LinkedIn

What clients say · adgager.com (translated from Turkish)

“The first word that comes to mind with Adgager is agility… When we need to decide fast, their fast and reliable solutions make them the voice of the consumer for us…”
Reckitt Benckiser · Irmak Nal, Consumer Marketing Insight Manager
“Adgager organised quickly and met our research need in the fastest, smoothest way. Despite a brief that came on Friday afternoon, the project went live on Saturday and we had the results that evening. Many thanks to the whole team, Umut first of all, for your effort and support!”
ING Bank · Hasret Güneş, Market Research Manager
“Working with Adgager means practicality and saving time and budget for me. I can reach the database I want instantly and get a report very quickly.”
L'Oréal · Peren Pelis, Market Research Director
“Besides being fast and cost-effective, Adgager stands out for being highly reliable in both data and team. Working with a team that understands the need and designs the research around it, rather than one that delivers a project just to deliver it, is very valuable.”
Oriflame Türkiye · Tolga Şanlı, Head of Marketing
“With Adgager we achieved great things in very little time: we reached our consumers fast and developed products with their ideas, gathered app ideas, made ads and even chose the celebrity to star in them.”
Nestlé · Defne Yağcı, Brand Manager, Nescafé Xpress
“Especially in a category like dermo-cosmetics where there is little data, running several studies let us get data quickly. Thanks to Adgager we reached reliable, fast results very economically.”
Bioderma · Hande Ediz Nahit, Product Manager
“Since I met ADGAGER in 2017, it has always helped us solve our business needs by creating actionable insights from fast, accurate, high-quality data.”
REM People · Ali Dedei, Director of Customer Success
“Adgager met our needs with effective solutions in a short time. This fast, adaptable and highly communicative team set an example for us with its agility.”
Katılım Emeklilik · Bahadır İçel, Corporate Communications Manager
“Adgager helped us reach reliable data in a short time. Their positive, solution-oriented and collaborative attitude throughout the process was very valuable.”
Evyap · Büşra Tepebaş, Consumer & Market Insights Manager
“Thanks to the detailed, meaningful data we obtained, we shaped our campaigns more effectively and understood user behaviour better.”
Tatildekirala · Sezal Kaya, Marketing Director

You can ask

Company

What is Umut Vural's role at Adgager?

Responsible for strategy, product development, business development, partnerships, sales and corporate growth; he also led the commercialisation of AdQ's AI capabilities.

  • He is visible on the client side too: ING Bank's testimonial thanks the team, 'Umut first of all', for a project delivered over a weekend.
What are its mission, vision and values?

Mission: end-to-end solutions for every insight a brand needs. Vision: “No idea is too big or too small”; to be the future of market research through fast, transparent research.

  • Values: entrepreneurial spirit, continuous learning, consistent quality, honesty and equal treatment, team spirit.
  • Slogan on LinkedIn: “Change the idea, change the world.”
What sets Adgager apart from traditional research firms?

According to the sources, four differences stand out: its own verified panel, speed, independent measurement and a model that rewards the community.

  • Own panel: research runs with the selected Gager community instead of outside suppliers, online and transparently.
  • Speed: the most frequent theme in client testimonials is agility and short turnaround.
  • Independent measurement: AdQ measures ads brand-independently and builds an industry benchmark.
  • Community model: participants are rewarded with GAG; openly disclosing AI use in research is also a stated principle.

Products & method

What is AdQ and what does it measure?

AdQ is an AI-supported advertising effectiveness platform that measures TV and digital ad films on real users, brand-independently and automatically.

  • It produces an AdQ score from 13 evaluation dimensions and weighted averages, giving brands a benchmark.
  • The 2025 AdQ Almanac evaluated 858 ad films.
  • Results are published monthly in Marketing Türkiye as the AdQ Index.
What is the AdQ Index?

It rates ads on criteria such as recall, likeability, memorability and attention, and compares each ad with country, category, brand and competitor averages.

  • Designed as a monthly reference point for brands, agencies and advertising professionals.
What are AdQ PreTest and AdTeams?

PreTest tests an ad before launch with verified consumers and against benchmarks; AdTeams is an app where a brand talks continuously with its own audience.

  • PreTest method: combines structured research with one-to-one qualitative interviews.
  • In AdTeams users discover, ask questions, start discussions and vote; brands use it for continuous research and co-creation.
Which research methods are used?

The full range of qualitative and quantitative research; the website describes it as end-to-end methods 'from neuro to ethnography'.

  • Research types: purchase habits, concept tests, brand strength measurement, product tests, metaphorical evaluations.
  • For advertising: 13-dimension evaluation, benchmarks and one-to-one qualitative interviews.
  • Infrastructure: a nationally representative online panel (the Gager community) and brand-specific communities (AdTeams).
What ready-made reports and other solutions are there?

Adgager publishes ready-made reports that follow the industry agenda: Loyalty Programmes (Oct 2025), Sustainability (May 2025), Real Estate (Dec 2023).

  • The website's contact form also lists solutions named Adshorter, Adworker, Ad2facer, Adfocuser, Adfacer, Adshopper, Comgager and Adsendpic.

Gager community & GAG Token

Who are the Gagers and how does the community work?

Members are selected against set criteria; they give brands ideas, create content, join studies and earn GAG they can use inside the system.

  • The community works as a nationally representative online panel in Türkiye.
  • In its first year (2016) the community reached 5,000 people; according to Umut Vural it has 90,000 today.
  • A 10-point Gager manifesto is shared on LinkedIn: believe in change, be brave in giving ideas, be independent of place and time, be objective.

Clients

Which brands has he worked with?

According to its website, Adgager serves 200+ brands. Brands named in the CV and on the website:

  • CV: Turkcell, Garanti BBVA, Türkiye İş Bankası, Getir, Trendyol, sahibinden.com, MediaMarkt, Aktifbank, Hayat Kimya, Albaraka, Kumtel.
  • Client testimonials on the website: L'Oréal, Bioderma, ING Bank, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestlé (Nescafé Xpress), Oriflame Türkiye, Evyap, Katılım Emeklilik, Tatildekirala, REM People.
Which industries does it serve?

According to the client lists: banking and finance, telecoms, e-commerce, FMCG, cosmetics and personal care, retail, food and beverage, pensions and travel.

  • Finance: Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası, Aktifbank, Albaraka, ING Bank, Katılım Emeklilik.
  • Consumer goods and cosmetics: Hayat Kimya, Evyap, Reckitt Benckiser, L'Oréal, Bioderma, Oriflame, Nestlé.
  • Digital and retail: Turkcell, Trendyol, Getir, sahibinden.com, MediaMarkt, Kumtel, Tatildekirala.
  • The industry grouping is an inference from the client lists.

Answers are based only on Umut Vural's CV, LinkedIn profile and his own statements. Nothing outside the sources is made up.