What Is Transcreation, and Why Does Your Brand Need It?
As a brand, you’re probably looking for ways to connect with diverse audiences and build meaningful relationships across different markets. But, when expanding into international territories, ensuring that your brand’s messaging resonates with local cultures is crucial.
This is where transcreation comes in. It combines translation with creative adaptation to produce content that feels natural, authentic, and culturally relevant.
But what exactly is transcreation, and why is it essential for your brand’s success in international markets? In this blog post, you’ll learn what transcreation is and how it can help your brand stand out in different markets.
What Is Transcreation?
Transcreation is a combination of the words “translation” and “creation”. You take a piece of content, and adapt it so that it suits the cultural and emotional expectations of the target audience, whilst staying true to your brand. It’s basically reimagining the content to ensure that it resonates deeply with the local market.
So you don’t focus on the meaning of the words so much, but on the intent and the effect it should have on the audience. It’s about making sure that your message feels just as powerful and impactful in the target language as it did in the original, while also ensuring it aligns with cultural sensitivities and preferences.
Take your brand’s tagline or slogan. While a direct translation might seem easy, it often falls flat. The rhythm, wordplay, or cultural nuances that make it memorable in the original language may not translate effectively, resulting in a phrase that feels awkward, uninspiring, or even confusing. To truly capture the same impact, the message needs to be adapted creatively so that it remains just as catchy and engaging in the target language.
Or think of your latest social media campaign. Chances are it works because it taps into your country’s culture, humour or trends that the audience connects with. And those will be very different in another region.
For example, the comedy movie “The Pacifier”, starring Vin Diesel, became “Un canguro superduro” (A super tough babysitter) in Spain. A literal translation would have given the impression that it was a movie about peacemaking, maybe in an international conflict situation, and it would have lost the double meaning of the English. But the transcreated title was playful and funny in Spanish, which goes well with the movie’s advertising campaign featuring Vin Diesel, usually considered a tough guy. And it also rhymes, so it had a nice ring to it.
Why Does Your Brand Need Transcreation?
It’s simple: the more your content connects with your audience, the more likely they are to engage with your brand and become loyal customers. Transcreation ensures your message feels natural, impactful, and culturally relevant.
It can help you:
👉 Build Stronger Emotional Connection
People buy based on emotions, and transcreation ensures your message triggers the right feelings. Your brand will resonate deeply with local consumers.
👉 Maintain Brand Identity
A direct translation can dilute your brand’s personality. Transcreation keeps your voice, style, and values intact while making them feel natural in the new market.
👉 Increase Brand Awareness
A message that feels native to your audience is more likely to grab attention and be remembered. Transcreation helps your brand stand out in new markets by making your content engaging and culturally relevant. This will give you a competitive edge.
👉 Avoid Cultural Missteps
What works in one culture might be confusing or even offensive in another. Transcreation helps you avoid potential issues by adapting your message to fit local sensitivities.
👉 Improve Marketing Effectiveness
A catchy slogan or campaign might lose its impact when translated word-for-word. Transcreation ensures that your marketing materials are just as persuasive and memorable in every language.
👉 Get Higher Engagement and Conversions
When content feels native to an audience, people are more likely to engage, trust, and buy from your brand. Transcreation helps you increase brand loyalty.
When Do You Need Transcreation?
Translation is great for things like technical manuals or legal contracts. But if you have content that requires a creative approach and needs to resonate emotionally with the target audience, you should consider transcreation.
It’s great for things like:
✨ Taglines and Slogans: Short and impactful phrases that need to evoke the same emotional response in different languages.
✨ Marketing Campaigns: Ads, email newsletters, and other promotional content that needs to be adapted to local cultures.
✨ Product Names: Adapt brand names to ensure they resonate with the target market while staying true to the brand’s identity.
✨ Social Media: Adapting social media content, ensuring it maintains its relevance, tone, and appeal across different cultures.
✨ Website Content: Ensuring landing pages, brand storytelling, and call-to-action elements resonate with local audiences.
Some Good Examples of Transcreation
✅ Haribo
Original (English): Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo!
Spanish (Spain): ¡Vive un sabor mágico, ven al mundo Haribo! (Experience a magical flavour, come to the world of Haribo!)
Why it works: The Spanish version keeps the playful, inviting tone while adapting the rhyme and rhythm to sound catchy in Spanish.
✅ Coca-Cola
Original (English): Coca-Cola
Chinese (China): 可口可乐 (Kěkǒu Kělè)
Why it works: “Kěkǒu” means “tasty” or “mouth-watering,” which reflects the product’s appeal and encourages the idea of a pleasant taste. “Kělè” means “happy” or “joyful,” which conveys the idea that drinking Coca-Cola brings happiness or enjoyment. You could say the brand name translates as happiness in the mouth, whilst the pronunciation is similar to the English name. Very clever adaptation!
✅ Apple
Original (English): Comes in Black. White. And Pow.
Spanish (Spain): Viene en negro. En blanco. Y olé. (Comes in black. In white. And olé.)
Why it works: By using the word “olé,” which is very Spanish, and it’s associated with celebration and excitement, Apple added a local flair that immediately connects with Spanish speakers. The adaptation not only preserves the original’s impact but also feels natural to the Spanish market. It totally feels like the slogan was created in Spanish!
And Some Not So Good
These companies thought they could get away without transcreation:
🚫 American Airlines
Original (English): Fly in leather
Spanish (Mexico): Vuela en cuero
Why it failed: American Airlines created a campaign to announce its new leather seats in first class. But the slogan was translated literally and it’s almost identical to the phrase “Vuela en cueros”, which means “fly naked”. The campaign went viral, but not how the company wanted.
🚫 Pepsi
Original (English): Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation
Mandarin (Taiwan): Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead
Why it failed: Maybe it would have made a funny Halloween story, but for a large brand this was a massive fail.
🚫 Purdue
Original (English): It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken
Spanish (Mexico): Se necesita un hombre duro para enternecer un pollo (It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate)
Why it failed: Do I need to explain it? 🙈
Conclusion
When done right, transcreation will help you connect with your audiences on a deeper level. When your message feels natural, relevant, and emotionally engaging, your audience is more likely to trust your brand and become loyal customers.
Transcreation ensures your brand stands out, speaks with authenticity, and leaves a lasting impact. It’s the difference between simply translating words and creating content that feels like it was made for your audience.
Ready to make your brand’s message connect with your audience in Spain? Get in touch today to learn how I can help you with Spanish transcreation and take your marketing campaigns to the next level.
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