28 Jul Transcreation Nation: Translating Culture, Not Just Copy
Look – the face of America is constantly changing. That means different communities, backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages in droves – all deserving of accessible, tailored, and relevant communication. So how do we apply our marketing knowledge to multicultural consumers while honoring their unique circumstances?
We transcreate. Transcreation is a process Mendoza has developed to translate not just language, but the meaning of general market communications. Translation is pretty one-to-one – converting the literal English to another language. At Mendoza, however, we’re reassessing the content entirely to fit the needs of our target audience based on a number of factors; that’s transcreation.
“Once you understand where your target audience is coming from, you’re ready to reach them where they live.”
One aspect of our process is starting on the ground when we can. Once you understand where your target audience is coming from, you’re ready to reach them where they live. That’s not always in front of a TV, radio, or laptop. Getting a grasp of your audience’s social habits makes one-on-one personalized contact especially effective and profitable. Grassroots marketing to some, relational marketing to us. And using this approach needs a long-term and relevant plan.
When you know who and where your audience is, what do you tell them that proves you understand? You deliver messages designed to move them. With any consumer, you aim for their hearts, not their heads – a tactic that requires some extra legwork when getting hyper-specific culturally. We make sure our messaging aligns with a few key points about our audience: who they are, what they value, and how they communicate (and yes, that can also mean brushing up on cultural slang).
“With any consumer, you aim for their hearts, not their heads – a tactic that requires some extra legwork when getting hyper-specific culturally.”
Accurately translating English into another language means more than simply converting copy; it requires translating the complete meaning behind your message. That begins with an analysis of the cultural context your message will appear in as well as an evaluation of the English idioms and colloquialisms that may not translate.
We’re still not done… getting from one language to another with nuance and understanding is a great start, but as mentioned before, location is key, especially in the States. We’re talkin’ bilingual homes, language combos (e.g., Spanglish), hyper-local colloquialisms – we’re considering the whole nine. When multicultural audiences become intercultural audiences with more than one culture coexisting within the same segment, you have to juggle many more insights to ensure a truly inclusive marketing strategy.
And after all that, we’re still cooking. Graphics and imagery need to go through the transcreation machine (our brains) as well. Does the photography used in an ad depict the people, places, and even colors (yep, that’s a thing) your audience would resonate with/relate to? Do the products you’re marketing appear in contexts that make sense for the consumer based on their cultural background, with consideration for the places, people, and items shown?
Grabbing and retaining multicultural and intercultural consumers means paying attention to the relationship you’ve formed with them – face-to-face, through effortless and accessible communication, or both. You’ll build a lifelong bond with consumers just by demonstrating an ongoing interest in their lives; that means making an effort to meticulously understand backgrounds different from your own.
Much to consider, and we’re proud to have mastered it from copy to design with a diverse team of dedicated transcreators, targeting an everchanging general market more effectively. Need a hand? Drop us a line. We got you.