**We are increasingly working for more and more clients who operate internationally – from the USA, Japan and Germany, to France, China and Russia. **
Now, we of course don’t speak all of those languages! However a little bit of cultural knowledge and a lot of company knowledge act as a common ground, and help to establish a good level of communication between all parties – whatever the language.
Designing for a client who has employees, customers and prospects all over the World does however require a high level of research and attention.
You not only have to consider if the concept you have created works in one country – but you also have to carefully examine whether the message can be transferred and translated to other cultures and languages.
This is no mean feat, and something which even some of the biggest brand names in the World have on occasion underestimated. Here we take a look at some of the international errors made by the companies who should know better!
– KFC came into difficulty in 1987 when they opened their first restaurant in Beijing; their tag line ‘Finger lickin’ good’ was mistranslated into Chinese as ‘Eat your fingers off’, not quite as appetising.
– ‘They won’t embarrass you’ claimed Parker Pens in one advertising campaign… Until the ads were launched in Mexico and they translated the word ‘embarrass’ as ‘embarazar’ – which actually means to impregnate. The ads now had a whole new meaning and we bet they wished they used a translator.
– Bacardi launched a drink aimed at the younger market named ‘Pavian’, a French ‘chic’ sounding word. Then they released the drink across the rest of Europe and found that in some countries the word means baboon!
– Now here is an example where understanding the culture of a country – or continent is key! It is said that the people of Africa are used to food labels featuring pictures of the product that is inside the packaging. You can imagine what they thought when Gerber – who are now owned by Nestle, featured a picture of a baby on the jars of their baby food product…
– Cereal giant Kelloggs had to rename their product ‘Bran Buds’ when they launched in Sweden because it translated as ‘burned farmer’.
– There have been endless slip ups in the Automotive industry, especially amongst the naming of vehicle models – just search for the Honda Fitta in Scandanavia!
It is easy to laugh, and you will without a doubt ask yourself ‘how on earth did they let that happen’! So let’s learn from the experiences that the big shots have kindly made for us, and take them as a lesson in how not to handle your international marketing!