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74. Localisation
by iKnow
74
LOCALISATION
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Do your brand values translate into other cultures? Localisation experts check that they do. Localisation includes translation, but it’s much more than that. We’ve all read translations that have been done on the cheap, word for word, without taking into account any of the deeper cultural meanings or stories behind the stories. Localisation takes a basic translation, puts it into fl uent mother tongue, and checks that the references are appropriate, or changes the ones which aren’t.
The idea When I working was with Lush, based on Poole, on England’s south coat, they brought out a Mothers Day gift called Mum, and the northerners amongst the creative team begged for a local version called Mam. Because it would sell better. In America they call theirs Mom.
Our Canadian colleagues wrote that we could take our Lush solid shampoo with us “to the lake in summer”. The British adapted that “to the beach on holiday”.
There’s an infamous localisation story which circulated around the advertising industry. It concerned a brand of baby food, which came packed in tins with pictures of smiling happy babies on the labels. The UK advertising industry had moved over to depicting the benefi ts of their products rather than the features.
In Africa, the baby food wasn’t selling. It turned out that the local languages didn’t all exist in a written form, so the tradition was to show the contents of the tin instead. Result: One huge misunderstanding, that Europeans ate babies. Generally, localisation issues aren’t quite this dramatic, but mistakes can make you look a bit silly. Obviously this is bad for your brand.
In practice • When you venture into new territory, even if it’s only as far as County Durham is from Dorset, check that what you’re saying about your brand means the same thing to a different market. • Translation isn’t good enough when you’re taking your words from your own language into a new one. Use localisation too. • Your basic brand values will probably translate more easily into a new culture than everything you say about them, and the local brand stories you tell. Make sure that you get your values across, then encourage your new partners to create their own material.
