Case Studies Drop Down Menu  Brochures Drop Down Menu 
 
 
Case Study - Advertising and Marketing

In order for a company to launch its products or services internationally or to expand to other international markets, it is vital that Marketing materials are professionally translated and adapted for their target markets.

This shows that a company is serious about doing business with the particular target market and, in some industries, notably in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices sectors, it is a legal requirement to have any instructions translated into the target market language.

We have all heard the horror stories about companies who have got it wrong! It wouldn't be easy for an automobile manufacturer to sell a car called a "Nova" in Spain. (Nova means no go!)

At Comms Multilingual, we have a wide range of experience in handling advertising and marketing materials. From simple business cards through to corporate information videos, we can help you with any level of project.
Marketing Materials

We regularly provide translation and localisation of the following marketing materials:

  • Web sites
  • Monthly re-seller newsletters
  • Data specification sheets
  • Exhibition materials
  • Product or corporate information videos
  • Advertisements
  • Press releases
  • Brochures
  • Manuals
  • Packaging
Web sites

We regularly translate web sites in many different subject areas for our clients. If you send us the original files, we can handle HTML, XML and other such files and return the web site to you completely ready to publish. We will also need to have the original layered files for any images that need to be localised and the originals of any PDF documents, such as fact sheets, that are included on the site.
Localisation and Cultural Adaptation

Because of our experience in this area, we fully understand that it isn't enough just to translate marketing materials - they also need to be properly localised.

When we are localising materials, we look out for the following and consult you with suggestions for alternatives where appropriate:

  • Proper names: e.g. John, Emma
  • Company names: if it is a fictitious name, such as may be used in training courses, then we will suggest a suitable alternative
  • Colour scheme: will the colours used convey the correct message in your target market? As an example, red is a very lucky colour in China.
  • Are there any references to things that may not be meaningful in the target market? As an example, are there specific sporting references to things such as cricket, which isn't a worldwide game?
  • Is the content culturally acceptable in the target market?
  • Is the content legally acceptable in the target market?

Comms can provide Expert consultancy on the above items and check with local in-country lawyers whether the content is legally acceptable. We can also carry out in-country market research to test the acceptability of adverts.

 

Copywriting and Design and other services

Our extensive partner database means that we can offer you a comprehensive service for marketing materials covering not only translation, but the entire process as follows:

  • Copywriting - We can provide experts in many different subject areas, who will work to your brief and produce the copy for any of your marketing materials.
  • Design - If you need to have the instruction manual, advertisement or brochure designed from scratch, we can provide this service for you.
  • Expert Review - Please see the information above.
  • Translation - For all of our projects, we select native-speaker linguists from our extensive database, and these linguists offer expertise in the vocabulary of the particular subject area. All of these projects are translated by one linguist and the translation is then independently proof-read by a second linguist in order to ensure quality.
  • Typesetting / Compositing - We can handle many different file formats, including Quark XPress, Adobe Illustrator and InDesign and Publisher, using both Macs and PCs. As an example with advertisements, our clients' requirements vary from newspapers to magazines to hoardings, in colour or black and white and therefore they can need many different sizes.
  • Printing - No matter how complex the script, we will provide your marketing materials back to you completely ready to print. The printing company that you use won't need to have any special fonts or software in order to complete the printing side of the project for you. If you would like us to handle the printing for you, we will be happy to do so.

 
Quotation

If you would like a translation and typesetting quotation, please let us have the following information:

  • Which languages do you need to have translated?
  • How many words are there to be translated? (We can work this out for you very quickly if you send the documents to us by email).
  • In which format will the text for translation come to us? (Word, Excel, HTML, Quark XPress etc.)
  • In which format would you like it to be returned to you?
  • Do you need to have some or all of the languages typeset and/or printed?
  • What is your deadline?
  • Please email the documents to us so that we can ascertain if there is anything else we need to know before we can provide you with a quotation.

If you would like a web site localisation quotation, please let us have the following information:

  • Which languages are required?
  • Does the site already exist? If so, please let us have the URL.
  • What is the target audience?
  • Please send us the site either by e-mail, or on CD or via FTP. We need to have the full site from you so that we can be sure that we have found all the pages that need to be localised and we can then do an accurate word and page count.
  • Please send us the original of any graphics files, including the buttons that need to be localised.

We have produced a document entitled "Information required for a web site localisation project". This contains details about the information that we will require from you, and also tells you about things that you will need to consider for a project such as this. Please Click Here to request this information sheet.


Please contact us for a discussion about your particular requirements.