Picture this: You’re a marketer, sitting in HQ, crafting the perfect brief for an upcoming campaign. You’re spotlighting a product that’s available globally. The campaign is shaping up great, and your team is on board. The project is greenlit and the campaign goes live in 10 countries!
2 weeks post-launch, engagement rates and favorability metrics are the lowest you’ve ever seen. You’re confused. The brief was leadership-approved, the tagline was snappy, and it tested well in research. Everyone around you loved it.
What went wrong? Here’s a small hint:
Most marketers build for a global audience, but their thinking is influenced by the cultural context of their preferred language. In this wonderful essay, Polina Marinova explores how the language you speak shapes your worldview:
Research shows that the language we speak can influence our thinking, giving us wildly different perspectives of the world. As the Roman Emperor Charlemagne once said: “To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
Our perception of the culture associated with a given language can impact our behavior. In a 2006 study, Mexican-Americans were asked to take a personality test in both English and Spanish. The study found that subjects scored higher in extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness when they took the English version of the test. The authors speculate that it’s because of the premium individualistic societies, like the U.S, place on assertiveness, achievement, and superficial friendliness.
What is a ‘global’ audience?
Traditional marketers link languages to countries. Modern marketers know that it is far more nuanced. For example, the US, like many English-dominant countries, had millions of people who spoke one language growing up - English. But that's no longer the case.
Gen Z will be the most racially diverse generation in US history. In 2018, almost half of young people in the US were from ethnic minority groups.
The 2011 US Census reported that “the use of a language other than English at home increased by 148% between 1980 and 2009.”
Globally, English might be the most common language spoken worldwide but the proportion of ‘English native speakers’ is smaller than Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and Bengali. This means people who can speak English are likely to think and emote in different languages.
Today, many brands use English to communicate with customers or simply translate (without context) in an effort to reach as many people as possible. In reality, brands might not be connecting with customers at all. In some cases, it results in branding gaffes that range from hilarious to downright offensive. Here are a few noteworthy examples:
Coors translated its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it is a colloquial term for having diarrhea.
KFC made Chinese consumers a bit apprehensive when "finger-licking good" was translated as "eat your fingers off."
The American Dairy Association replicated its "Got Milk?" campaign in Spanish-speaking countries where it was translated into "Are You Lactating?"
(Source)
Building language and cultural context into marketing
Let’s face it - we can’t learn multiple languages for each campaign. But we can learn from data and from people who speak different languages. The earlier you incorporate this feedback, the less you need to worry about translation errors.
Sometimes, learnings from other languages can influence your global strategy. Alex Schultz (CMO, Facebook) gives a great example of how a CTA in French was reverse translated to English resulting in a 40% bump in Facebook’s Advertising acquisition channel.
Coca-Cola has nailed the playbook of adapting a single concept to multiple markets. The food at McDonald’s differs by region and this shows up in how they market it to customers. Brands are still navigating how to be inclusive while accounting for cultural sensibilities. In 2016, Apple courted controversy when they removed a lesbian couple from international versions of its ad.
To navigate multilingual audiences:
Build your brand with a global audience in mind (Link)
Understand linguistic effects on consumer behavior [Long Read]
(Virtually) step out of your echo chamber / HQ and get to know your audience - your customers, your colleagues, and your community
If you decide to learn a new language, immerse yourself in the culture too. When you learn a new language, you’re not just memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules—you also have a chance to tap into new parts of your identity.
Perfection is an Illusion
The next time you write that beautiful brief, remember that it’s perfect in English, but imperfect in another language. And that’s okay. The first step to writing a good brief is understanding your audience. Your marketing strategy needs to account for that diversity. And while you’re immersing yourself in new cultures and languages, here’s a history lesson with a side of Check Your Privilege:
Until next week,
Shrikala