In the world of marketing, advertising and branding, the concept of transcreation has experienced rapid growth during the last few years. Transcreation is extensively used to refer to the process of translation and creation. Although every translation is a creation, transcreation goes a little further. With heavier emphasis on creativity, transcreation can help you grow your business and expand to new markets by transcending cultural and linguistic barriers in every creative way possible. So if you are thinking of expanding your business to a global audience, transcreation is your go-to linguistic service. Keep on reading to see why.
Transcreation: A definition
Transcreation is not just translating a message into another language. Transcreation is the creative process of adapting content for a new and different target audience. It aims at capturing the meaning, tone and overall feeling of the original message and conveying them effectively in a target audience which holds different cultural values. A transcreation project may involve rewriting a marketing campaign, a slogan, an ad, a tagline, or even a pun. In order to deliver the original message in a way that it’s engaging to the target audience, the transcreator rewrites the source message taking into account the target context, culture, language, values and visuals.
Transcreation’s benefits
Going global by thinking local
If you are looking to improve your company’s position in the global market, you may want to consider hiring a transcreation service. Transcreation reshapes marketing materials carefully targeting local markets. One great example of this is the transcreation of the slogan of German confectionery company Haribo for English-speaking local markets. The original slogan reads “Haribo macht Kinder froh und Erwachsene ebenso,” which would simply translate to “Haribo makes children and adults happy.” The impact of the rhyme gets lost in translation. So as to maintain the playful rhyme for kids, the transcreator recrafted the original slogan into “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo”. Effective, right?
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Connecting and engaging with your audiences
In the last few years, engagement has become a key goal for businesses seeking to thrive and reach a wider audience. By means of transcreation, you can maintain strong ties with your target customers by appealing to their emotions and feelings. Transcreation makes an originally foreign message sound close to home. Take Apple for example. In 2014, they released a deeply touching Christmas commercial. A granddaughter finds an old record by her grandmother, and uses her Mac to add vocals and a guitar. When the grandmother listens to the new song, they share a happy intimate moment. The same ad was released in China, and in the process of transcreation, a major and essential change was made: instead of Christmas, it’s Chinese New Year. Details are different, but the concept and the sentimental value are kept. Also, both commercials have the same impact, as they successfully showcase the emotional bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
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It improves SEO
SEO, also known as Search Engine Optimization, is the optimization of your web content to increase the organic, unpaid traffic to your site. What SEO basically does is helping your website rise up to the top results in a search engine. When expanding your business globally, the transcreation of your marketing and website content is essential if you want to succeed in different regional markets. You want to make sure your content is compelling and readable for your new target audience. Transcreation then optimizes your content for search engines to guarantee higher click-through rates from search traffic and, ultimately, helps your business reach a wider target audience.
A boost to your brand image
The visual identity of your business matters because marketing is all about image. People are more likely to buy products from a company whose marketing and advertising campaigns represent who they are and what they value. Transcreation can help you sustain brand awareness and a loyal customer base in different parts of the world. As it includes the adaptation of any type of visual content, like images, colors, logos, and symbols, transcreation helps you personalize your content to successfully reflect the local preferences of your target audience. In China, for example, Red Bull cans are completely different. They are offered in a color palette that represents luck, wealth, and good fortune, all concepts that are highly valued by Chinese consumers.
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Transcreation is a highly creative process that requires superior language and cultural skills. Whether you need to transcreate web pages, ad campaigns, press releases, white papers, or other high-profile content, it is important to hire an experienced and qualified translation company. If you’re in need of transcreation services for your company, contact us. We can help you expand your business and reach global success.
Ocean's Services
Breaking language barriers comes in various shapes and forms and recurring to text translation from one language into another one is the best way to reach more people and enter new markets.
