Brand Partnerships · Friend of the Brand
A rare authority profile for brands built on trust, precision and control.
Serdar is a referee. That means no shirt sponsor, no club, no camp, and no following to keep entertained. What he carries instead took a decade to earn: correct decisions at the highest level of European football, made in front of millions and reviewed frame by frame.
The distinction
Both teams trust the same man.That is the middle of the frame.
The ambassador profile that does not exist anywhere else.
Most ambassadors arrive with something attached: club colours, a camp, a competing endorsement, an old quote waiting to resurface. Serdar arrives with none of it. Behind him is a decade of calls made under maximum scrutiny and upheld on review, and a level of trust that took years in public to earn. The cleaner fit was on the pitch the whole time.
Zero conflicts
No competing
endorsements
UEFA Elite since 2022. On the FIFA International List since 2012. No club affiliation, and no competing commercial endorsements to work around. The job itself requires that he stays neutral, which is exactly what makes the position rare.
Earned authority
Cannot be
manufactured
Ten years of decisions made in public, under maximum scrutiny, and defended afterwards on review. A PR campaign cannot reproduce that, and a brand deal cannot shortcut it.
Category fit
Precision and
control
If your product is sold on precision and reliability, a watch, a car, a financial promise, the fit is real rather than something a campaign has to paper over.
Premium programme
Friend of
the Brand.
One brand in the category, for at least two seasons.
A standing, long-term relationship · minimum two seasons
Part of the brand's own story over time, rather than a face booked for a single campaign
Editorial and event presence aligned to brand calendar
Category exclusivity protected for the full term
Structured and managed exclusively by Apex
Structural programme
Category Exclusive
Partner.
One brand per sector, twelve months minimum, with a full activation plan.
Category exclusive partnership · one brand per sector
Minimum twelve months · long enough for the work to build on itself
Campaign integration, social presence, and event activation
Speaking and executive session tie-in available
No competing brand conflicts within the portfolio
Full activation plan built by Apex before signature
One partner per category. For years at a time.
Apex builds every partnership around category exclusivity. One brand per sector, no conflicting associations, nothing that muddies where Serdar stands. A position held over several years, so it grows in value instead of resetting each time a deal ends.
Category
One brand per sector. No competing brands within the same category for the full term.
Duration
A multi-year horizon. Held long enough that the association keeps building rather than resetting each year.
Conflicts
Zero brand conflicts across the entire portfolio. No near-misses waved through because they were convenient.
Structure
Apex is engaged for ongoing representation and compensated on closed partnerships. We are paid when a partnership is signed, which keeps us pushing for the right brand rather than the fastest one.
Management
All partnerships structured and managed exclusively by Apex. One point of contact. End-to-end.
Intake
Confidential. First conversation is thirty minutes. No deck. We start with whether the category fits.
450+
Eredivisie
matches
Volume of work at the highest level of Dutch football.
100+
International
matches
A track record that spans UEFA Elite, FIFA international list, and Champions League.
22
Champions League
matches
Knockout football under the heaviest scrutiny the game has.
29K
Instagram
followers
Deliberately quiet on social. The following is small on purpose: decision-makers and professionals, the audience a brand wants in the room.
2006
Public profile
since
Zero controversies. Zero reputational noise.
4×
Eredivisie
referee of the year
Voted the league's best referee four times.
Executives, brands and decision-makers, with hundreds of reactions on a typical post and clear room to grow.
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Three markets. One profile. No conflicts.
Netherlands
Primary market. Eredivisie recognition. KNVB structural partnerships. Access within government.
Turkey
Regular coverage in Hürriyet and Daily Sabah. A Turkish-Dutch background that reads as home in both countries. A sizeable following among higher-spending consumers.
Europe
Champions League and UEFA Elite matches broadcast across Europe, with his name known to the outlets that cover them.
"Most sponsorship buys a place beside elite sport: a logo on the shirt, a backdrop behind the interview. A partnership with Serdar buys a place with the one person the whole match answers to. That is the middle of the picture."
Apex Partnerships & Advisory
Amsterdam · Istanbul
A bridge that already exists.
One profile, trusted in Amsterdam and Istanbul alike.
Serdar is a known name in both countries. For a European brand, that helps open the door in Turkey; for a Turkish brand, it lends credibility in Europe.
Or book the first conversation directly
Thirty minutes. Confidential.
