Marketing & Media Translation Services

Marketing translation occupies a unique space where linguistic accuracy meets creative effectiveness. Unlike technical or legal translation where precision is paramount, marketing translation must achieve emotional resonance and persuasive impact in the target language. A technically perfect translation that fails to connect with local audiences is a failed marketing translation.

This is why the industry distinguishes between translation and transcreation. Translation conveys meaning accurately across languages. Transcreation recreates the creative impact, adapting concepts, humour, cultural references, and emotional triggers to work in the target culture. A British advertising campaign built around irony and understatement may need complete reimagining for markets where directness and aspiration drive consumer behaviour.

Our marketing translators are not just linguists — they're copywriters who happen to work across languages. They understand brand positioning, audience psychology, and the mechanics of persuasion. They know when a headline needs complete recreation, when a tagline should be adapted, and when direct translation actually works best. This judgment comes from experience in both marketing and translation.

UK brands expanding internationally face a translation challenge shaped by the global dominance of English. While English-language content reaches much of the world, research consistently shows that consumers prefer to buy in their native language and are more likely to trust brands that communicate with them locally. The choice is not whether to translate but how thoroughly to localise.

Key marketing translation requirements for UK brands include:

• European markets — Germany, France, Spain, and Italy represent major opportunities for UK brands, but each requires distinct localisation approaches. German consumers expect detailed product information; French audiences respond to lifestyle positioning; Spanish markets vary significantly between Spain and Latin America
• Global campaigns — Multinational campaigns require coordination across languages whilst maintaining brand consistency. Master creative concepts need adaptation for each market, with centralised brand governance ensuring coherent global identity
• Digital content — Websites, social media, email marketing, and app content need continuous localisation rather than one-time translation. Content calendars, seasonal campaigns, and reactive marketing all require rapid multilingual production
• B2B marketing — Business-to-business content including white papers, case studies, thought leadership, and sales enablement materials need translation that maintains professional credibility and technical accuracy

Maintaining brand voice across languages is one of the most challenging aspects of international marketing. A brand's personality — whether it's friendly and approachable, authoritative and professional, or playful and irreverent — must translate into languages with different conventions for formality, humour, and communication style.

Our approach to brand voice localisation includes:

• Brand voice analysis — We begin by understanding your brand's personality, tone of voice, and communication style. We review existing brand guidelines, analyse successful content, and identify the key attributes that define how your brand sounds
• Language-specific style guides — For each target language, we create style guides that translate your brand voice into local conventions. These address formality levels (tu vs. vous in French, du vs. Sie in German), punctuation preferences, and market-specific tone adjustments
• Translator training and consistency — We assign dedicated translators to each brand who become expert in your voice over time. New translators undergo brand familiarisation before working on your content. Regular quality reviews ensure voice consistency across projects
• Terminology management — Brand-specific terminology, product names, and taglines are documented in translation memories and glossaries. This ensures consistent handling of key brand elements across all content types and campaigns

For brands with substantial ongoing localisation needs, we recommend periodic brand voice audits to ensure translated content continues to reflect brand evolution and market learning.