Translation of advertisements - adapting and localising
by Lingo24, 15th October, 2007
Localisation or adaptation of a company’s advertising campaign requires attention to the minutest detail in order for it to be successful in the target country.
When companies create advertisements the primary aim is, of course, to substantially increase sales or market share via brand penetration. The core methodology regardless of the translation medium is the use of a ‘hook’, either a memorable catchphrase (such as Beanz Meanz Heinz), a memorable music score (such as the tune by Percy Sledge on the Levi 501 advertisements) or a memorable vignette (such as the spy character from the Milk Tray chocolate advertisements). The is ‘hook’ will be created specifically for the target audience’s country and the medium of formulation of this ‘hook’ will necessarily involve the manipulation of collocations, seminotic adaptations and the semantics of the intended country of distribution. With increases in the possibility of international market penetration, aided by the rapid spread of digital media such as satellite TV and the internet, the opportunity to do business in foreign markets has risen dramatically. This has in no small way, also been aided by the increase in international distribution channels, such as the worldwide penetration of international supermarket chains (Tesco, Wal Mart, Carrefour etc). A successful company will naturally wish to take full advantage of this opportunity by establishing a presence within these new markets via an advertising campaign. In order to do this, however, a company’s existing campaigns must be localised or adapted. Localising is the process of changing an advertisement into a format more in keeping with another country’s language, customs, humour and social mores whilst still passing on the intended ‘core message’. When developing an international strategy a company may be faced with a quandary; whether to retain a consistent, standardised product format across all markets, or to completely adapt their product to gain acceptance within certain markets. Looking at commonly advertised products on international television, magazines and satellite TV, cosmetic and hair products stand out as a good example of the former option. Many of the brands are internationally recognised and the marketing strategy is identical in every country…even to the extent of using the same TV advertisements, but overdubbed in the local language (I’m sure everyone has recognised the brands that do this) Conversely there are some products, but especially services, that would not stand this kind of treatment and would most certainly require careful localisation. Prime examples of this would be websites containing technical content such as the websites of engineering companies, but the most prominent examples would be those of financial and legal firms. These types of companies would require full localised translations due to the importance of avoiding financial and legal liabilities due to misstatement (negligent misstatement being a Tort in the UK and many European countries). More importantly perhaps, faultless localisation would be required in these cases because financial reporting standards and legal systems often differ between countries. Let us now consider the other possibility regarding international campaigns, that was briefly mentioned earlier…that of having to adapt a product and its associated advertising campaign to avoid jeopardising its image. There are generally two main reasons why an adaptation might be necessary: pronunciation and semantics. Almost certainly, everyone will recall the kitchen cleaner formally called Jiff and now called Ciff. It was eventually re-named due to difficulties across Europe, in pronouncing the product’s name. We, of course, pronounce the J as in the word June; in Germany, however, the J would be pronounced as the Y in the word yet, and in Spain would be pronounced with a throaty CH as in the word Lough. This is a classic example of adaptation due to pronunciation. An example of adaptation due to semantics is that of the Chevrolet Nova. There is nothing wrong in calling a vehicle a Nova in English speaking countries, however, there would be a problem in Spanish speaking territories; Nova in Spanish means ‘doesn’t go’ - clearly a disaster if uncorrected. As can be seen, localisation or adaptation of a company’s advertising campaign requires attention to the minutest detail in order for it to be successful in the target country. Products, services and strategies must be successfully harmonised with the local realities. In the final analysis, a company has only one chance to achieve this successfully!
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