What is Transcreation and Why Does it Matter?

Ah, Pepsi. The thirst-quenching Coke competitor that gives you energy and revives your dead relatives.

Puzzled?

So were Chinese audiences when the drinks company expanded their market to China with the slogan, “Pepsi brings you back to life.” Little did Pepsi Co know at the time that the phrase translated to “Pespi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

This may seem like a funny blunder, but to Pepsi Co, it was a PR nightmare – especially in a country where ancestor worship is an important part of the culture.

And they aren’t the only ones who are guilty of underestimating the importance of good translation. When Coors Brewing Company translated its slogan “Turn it loose” into Spanish, it read as: “Suffer from diarrhoea”. Insert your own gag here.

When haircare company Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick” – a curling iron – into Germany, they learned the hard way that “mist” is slang for manure. But that’s not all. In South America, Parker Pens released a pen called “The Jotter”. After an unexpected backlash, they discovered the word was actually slang for ‘jockstrap.’

These hilarious but painful examples should serve as a valuable lesson: using cheap translators or online tools to launch your brand internationally is not a good idea.

So, why do brands still rush the process?

In most cases, brands simply underestimate the importance of translation and more importantly, transcreation.

What is transcreation?

Everyone’s heard of translation. Transcreation? Not so much. The term refers to the process of adjusting text from one language to another in order to maintain the specific tone, intent and meaning.

Haribo’s jingle is a great example: “Kids and grownups love it so, the happy world of Haribo” is catchy, memorable and sticks in your mind. It also perfectly captures the brand’s essence.

Haribo deliberately spent time and resource in communicating the same message in other languages. In Germany, “Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso” roughly translates to “Haribo makes children happy, and grownups too”. It doesn’t sound great when translated back into English, but that’s okay, because the result in German rhymes and even fits to the same melody.

Navigating cultural differences

While the examples we touched on are worst-case-scenarios, bad translation isn’t always dramatically disastrous. But it can cost you new customers. Because when the intent, meaning and tone aren’t conveyed in your translated copy, your audience can’t connect with it. So it simply flops.

Plus, it feels translated. So your audience doesn’t feel special or valued.

We all know that each language has its own cultural nuances – inside jokes, puns and plays on words that keep readers entertained.

For example, the word ‘tea’ in English has several meanings.

There’s the ‘tea’ that you serve with a slice of cake or a couple of biscuits for Elevensies. Then there’s the ‘tea’ you eat in the evening. Finally, there’s the ‘tea’ you spill when you’re giving your friends the latest gossip – as in “Spill the tea” – if you’re from my neck of the woods, at least.

That’s three meanings for one word, so a copywriter could have a lot of fun playing with this to come up with a strap line for an English brand. But the meaning might get lost entirely on non-native English-speaking audiences. Even when explained, their response won’t be as natural.

The core idea

In an ideal world, slogans would translate perfectly word-for-word. But they don’t. And that’s why I’d encourage you to move away from the wording and focus on the meaning.

That’s where the gold is, and that’s what transcreation is all about: translating a message, an idea, not a sentence.

The writer must move away from the original text and create copy capable of causing the same emotional impact for a target audience in their mother tongue. It goes beyond an understanding of grammar; the writer needs to appreciate the cultural differences, colloquialisms and conversational elements like slang and idioms.

And that’s why translation isn’t something worth rushing: it’s the difference between a thirst-quenching sip of an energising drink and a long-dead ancestor coming back from the grave. But it’s also the difference between connecting with a new audience and confusing them entirely.

While Pepsi’s accidental promise might be alluring to occultists among you, we can all agree that confused customers won’t buy anything. Nor will an audience who are treated as an afterthought.