Imagine you’re a marketing or advertising creative, and you’ve spent months preparing to launch
a product into a new market.

A lot of hard work has gone into building the look and feel of the product packaging, the advertising campaign, and all the messaging across the various channels you’ve bought media on to really make an impact with your new audience.

And then you start thinking about translating everything into a new language. Any old translation. That carefully crafted brand name and slogan you spent countless hours and thousands of dollars perfecting gets translated word-for-word.

No energy, no emotion, no cultural context to the inner meaning in the amazing slogan you wrote…just a cold word swap between two languages.

How does it feel? Just ask international Scandi-vacuum brand Electrolux, who tried to conquer
America with “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” I think we know what sucks here.

At LinguaLinx, as a Language Services Provider (LSP), we know how devastating this can be
to a business, but also how easily it can happen. Translation as an afterthought. This scenario
calls for transcreation, not translation. What’s the difference? Let’s take a look.

How is Transcreation Different from Translation?

Transcreation is the art of creative translation that focuses on being faithful to the original
message while ensuring it’s culturally appropriate to the new audience. As you can imagine, this
is often a considerable step away from a word-for-word translation.

Coke is a master of transcreation. They always enter markets ready to change, but what
doesn’t change is their core message of refreshing the world and bringing happiness.

When Should Transcreation be used?

If you have creative content, you should have it transcreated. Simple as that. Here are some
examples:

• Marketing and advertising copy – Anything that’s been written to launch or promote your
  product that is part of a creative campaign or about your brand. From strap lines and
  slogans to even the product names themselves. It all needs to be considered in line with
  the new market.
• Moving image and photographic content – TV ads, brand or product films, social content, or other forms of image-based messaging. This could involve making sure subtitles, on-screen graphics, calls-to-action, and even the script for voiceovers and dubbing are accurate and culturally appropriate.
• Websites, online platforms, and apps – These are commonly your shop window, and they house not only information about your brand and your product but also advertising and sales material. Transcreating your messaging will improve click-through rates and customer engagement.

Can all Translators be Transcreators?

People well-versed in transcreation are much more than just translators.

They’ll have a background in marketing, advertising or the creative industries and a deep understanding of what resonates with your new audience in your target market.

What’s the Transcreation Process Like?

It starts with a strong brief and getting the right people onto the team. People who understand
the creative world and have deep knowledge of the target market.

After that it’s fairly similar to working with an LSP to do your translations. There’s an initial stage where the work is begun by the team, then checks and balances along the way from editors and proofreaders.

All along the journey is a client feedback loop, which ultimately ends with project sign-off.

Is Transcreation More Expensive?

Yes and no. The “yes” is it depends on the project, and transcreators tend to have higher rates,
creativity isn’t usually charged by the word, after all.

But the “no” comes from considering the cost of getting it wrong. Imagine “Finger-Lickin’ Good” becoming “Eat Your Fingers Off” (which actually happened to KFC in China), leading to significant brand damage, the need to recreate costly assets, and entering a market with a tarnished reputation.

Transcreation Seems Obvious, Right?

Sure, when you think about it, transcreation makes perfect sense. But we’ve shown that even
the biggest brands in the world get it wrong.

Our final example is Pepsi. When they entered the Chinese market their “Pepsi brings you back to life” slogan was translated, instead of transcreated, to “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. It’s a great drink, but not that great.

So, to get it right, whenever you have creative content that needs to maintain its emotional
meaning, anything that’s supposed to talk to the audience’s heart, have it transcreated.

Get A Quote for Your Transcreation Project

If you’ve got transcreation requirements that you need help with, we’d love to sit down and talk
with you about it.

Consultations are free, and there’s no obligation.

With LinguaLinx, you won't ever have to worry about your message getting lost as it’s interpreted or translated. You know you're in good hands as we’re ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 compliant, have over twenty years of professional translation experience, and have earned the trust of organizations around the world.