What will the future of localisation mean for copywriting?
A copy-related perspective on the relevance of localisation for a global brand.
As someone born in the 90s, my generation has experienced living with and without the internet. With and without social media. With and without constant access to news platforms. The fast and constant flow of information and digitalisation gives the idea of having permanent access to information from all around the world — exciting, right?
As a copywriter, localisation processes are important to my everyday work. At Wayfair, the content we create needs to appropriately reflect the Wayfair brand across different markets. We translate and edit different types of copy to fit our target groups. However, when I first got into copywriting, I often wondered whether localisation was really that important for a global brand, given the almost endless access to social media, websites and products from foreign cultures and markets around the world.
One could argue that the ever-growing connectedness and access to global information has made localisation somewhat redundant. We’re seeing 24/7 what different markets around the world have to provide. Is localisation still important for global companies?
What is localisation?
But let’s step back: What is localisation anyway? From a copy perspective, localisation is a process where we adapt information, for example relating to a product, to suit the characteristics and language of target markets. Different aspects have to be considered when localising, including translations of language and culture and/or adjusting to current political and economical conditions of certain localities.
Why isn’t mere translation enough? As a copywriter in Berlin, I learned that “translation” doesn’t always equal “translation”. In Wayfair’s Berlin office, we operate for the German, UK and Irish market. For promotional campaigns in particular, we align where it makes the most sense — after all, we’re a global brand.
For me, localisation most of the time includes translating from English to German, while my English-speaking colleagues localise from American English to British and Irish English. This does not make their work easier. English and German copywriters both have to consider local aspects and find the right words. Being consistent with British and Irish English while still being aligned on all platforms for all localities is a complicated matter. Really! I mean, I have never seen so many different names for “Winter Sale” and “Christmas Sale” before working at Wayfair.
Let’s get the concept more clear: Almost half a year ago, I moved from North Germany to Berlin. Here, everyone knows what a “Späti” is. It’s similar to a convenience store, open every day and at very late hours. In my hometown we know “Kiosks”, which is not entirely the same as a Späti. Spätis have more personality and invite customers to hang out for a little while. Kiosks are normally for people making a quick stop to buy, for example, snacks, magazines or cigarettes. Some are open at late hours, but not necessarily.
Let’s look at a scenario. Say I was asked to adapt an existing copy for a billboard ad to make it work in my hometown. The original copy was already out in Berlin and contained a Späti word play. This copy worked just fine in Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden — all cities where you can find Spätis. However, the copy would probably not work as well in my hometown, where not everyone is familiar with Spätis. The word play would be lost. I’d have to become creative and clear to still get our message across, while making it relevant to the customers of the target city.
How can we make copy work?
Let’s take another example: Most Americans will know what “doorbuster deals” are. Is everyone else familiar with it too? Retailers employ doorbusters as a marketing and sales approach to draw a lot of people into their stores. Certain items are sold at a special discounted price for a brief period of time during a doorbuster sale — metaphorically, you want to “bust the store’s doors down” for these sales.
Well, I’d actually never heard of it before last year’s Black Friday campaign. And neither had some of my English native colleagues. Neither name nor concept. Our final asset for Germany was a sort of new creation of the original: “Premium Deals”. Our German customers could understand what it meant without needing the intrinsic knowledge and attachment our US customers have for the doorbuster phrase.
Through localisation, we generally find solutions and ways to adjust to obstacles, such as using different terms to introduce the doorbuster concept into our markets outside the US. It opens up ways to make what would otherwise be unfamiliar, familiar to new audiences. By localising, we’re taking something foreign and making it something you can connect with. In turn, customers can connect better with the brand and its products.
Not every message works for every market. Certain jokes might not make sense. Certain holidays are not relevant or as important in Germany compared to the US, UK or Ireland. Some furniture pieces don’t really fit the average German interior style. Possibly, British or Irish customers enjoy different interior styles. So, we try to message or implement different words, décor, colours or images across our platforms for different geos to best represent the Wayfair brand. It was fun to learn how much creative localisation is needed on a daily basis to keep a business running.
Are today’s markets so different from each other after all?
At the end of the day, customers want content that is directly relevant to them. While there is a steady flow of information online, do we really access all information? No. Eventually we only access what is relevant to us: our cultures, places and systems. We simply value proximity to news, products and services and make sense of them in that way.
For instance, at Wayfair we regularly notice and analyse what is perceived as interesting or good quality across different European markets. Copywriters face the challenge to align on copy by addressing different markets and making it relevant to them. This demands localisation, especially for growing companies.
In the end, we can’t ignore the fact that foreign mentalities and cultures interpret or accept trends differently. Therefore, we shouldn’t shy away from highlighting different aspects for different geos to successfully meet all our customers’ needs.
What does this tell us? From my experience, localisation will remain an important part of copywriting and a key factor to entering new markets. In times of digitalisation, we will have to adapt our strategies. Qualitative and quantitative interpretation is needed along the way so we can reach our individual customers in the best way possible.
