Marketing transcreation, the secret ingredient to your localization strategy

Marketing transcreation is half translation and half a creative process. When you’re trying to reach audiences across borders, a simple translation doesn’t always cut it. You also have to move the meaning, emotion, humor, nuance, intent, and all that jazz. Transcreation is there to help you rebuild your message so it feels like it was born in the target culture.

Overview:

• When you really need transcreation
• Transcreation vs translation vs localization
• How marketing transcreation enhances localization
• The process of marketing transcreation
• Keep these in mind when you’re transcreating
• How to work with transcreators
• Brands that nailed marketing transcreation

When you really need transcreation

If you’re working on anything meant to persuade, inspire, or entertain, transcreation should be your go-to. Things like:

• Taglines and slogans.
• Social campaigns.
• Video scripts.
• Product names.
• Billboards.
• High-impact web copy.
• Emails that rely on tone or personality.
• Anything with a pun, joke, rhyme, or poetic structure.

This is the type of content where you can’t force a literal translation because the original language carries part of the meaning.

Transcreation vs translation vs localization

Now, let’s start with some concepts which may be a bit difficult to differentiate at first. Translation, localization, and transcreation are all key processes in adapting content for different languages and cultures.

Translation is the process of converting text from one language to another, keeping the original meaning as closely as possible. Localization is a bit more than that, as you’re adapting content to fit the cultural, social, and technical norms of the target audience. Transcreation is the most creative of the three, as you’re reimagining the content to evoke the same emotion and intent in the target language.

Aspect	Translation	Localization	Transcreation
Goal	Accurate language conversion	Cultural and technical adaptation	Emotional and creative adaptation
Changes	Minimal, preserves meaning	Adapts references, visuals, formats	Rewrites, reimagines, creative liberties
Use	Manuals, technical docs	Websites, software, product collateral	Marketing, ads, slogans, creative content
Creative level	Low	Medium	High
Cultural focus	Language only	Language + culture + technical details	Language + culture + emotional resonance

How marketing transcreation enhances localization

Transcreation transforms your brand’s messaging, and here’s how. First, it deepens the cultural connection. When you adapt all your communication, the chance of actually connecting with your audience at a deeper level increases significantly.

And when your content feels native, you’ll also see it in your engagement metrics. Transcreated campaigns are more likely to be shared, liked, and acted upon, so you should see a boost in website traffic to conversion rates. Statistics show that culturally aware campaigns result in higher engagement and sales.

So if you want to streamline your localization and make the process smoother, transcreation is the answer. It’s a great way to create content that’s accurate and shareable, and you can also accelerate your time-to-market this way. No more miscommunications and rework.

The process of marketing transcreation

Let’s see what happens behind the scenes.

It starts with the brief

Before anyone touches your copy, a transcreator needs context, the deep kind. They need to know why the brand chose certain words, what reaction are they trying to provoke, and so on. The intention has to be preserved. So if a transcreator doesn’t know the intention, they are simply working blindly.

A good transcreation brief usually includes information like the target audience, campaign purpose, brand voice, cultural sensitivities, the emotion you want people to feel, the story behind the headline and visuals, what must stay and what can go, and competitor or industry norms in the target market.

Then you immerse into the culture

The transcreator must also put on their cultural strategist hat. They must think about what resonates emotionally in the culture, how bold is too bold, if the humor lands differently, what references feel natural and what feels forced, if the culture prefers direct messaging or subtlety. Basically, in this stage, the campaign is saved from cultural faux pas.

Where the writing happens

Once you have everything figured out, the transcreator has to build something new. They play with multiple versions, rewrite or reimagine lines, change rhetorical structures, swap metaphors, adapt idioms or invent new ones, and so on.

Transcreators often deliver “options” instead of a single line, because creativity isn’t linear. They explore different angles, tones, and intensities to find the version that carries the same impact in the target culture. You might get a safe version, a bold version, a playful version, one that mirrors the original structure or one that departs from that structure entirely.

Internal review

A second linguist or in-market reviewer often evaluates the creative options. Their role is not to judge the grammar; they’re judging authenticity. These reviewers need to make sure the content sounds native, that it aligns with the cultural norms, and that it feels like marketing and not a simple translation.

Adaptation across all channels

The final stage is adapting the transcreated copy to every channel it will live on. It needs to consider things like social media character limits, formatting in UI or UX, timing in video voiceover, pacing in motion graphics, SEO elements for web, and layout constraints in print. The adapted message has to read well and perform just as well.

Keep these in mind when you’re transcreating

When you’re diving into marketing transcreation, there are a few things you absolutely must NOT let slip through the cracks. The main thing, we’d say, is to never let the core message of your campaign get lost in adaptation. The essence of your brand and the key takeaway for your audience should remain clear and intact, otherwise you risk diluting your brand identity.

While it’s true that creativity is at the heart of transcreation, be careful. Being overly creative can make your message unclear; your goal is to strike a balance between innovation and clarity. As you expand into multiple markets, you need to do your best to keep your brand voice consistent.

Another advice would be to not rely solely on machine translation or skip quality assurance. Automated tools do save time and money, but they are known to miss a lot of things. Don’t skip human review! Always involve native speakers and cultural experts to review your transcreated content before it goes live.

Let’s recap:

• Don’t over-transcreate ✅
• Keep you core brand message ✅
• Always review with human linguists ✅

How to work with transcreators

If you ever team up with a transcreator, you’ll quickly learn they’re part translator, part copywriter, part strategist, and part cultural insider. The more you share with them, the better they can do their job. You’ll want to give them things like the creative brief, brand voice guidelines, the intended emotions and outcomes, explanations behind your metaphors or wordplay, as well as the non-negotiables and open-to-change elements.

One of the hardest parts for marketing teams is usually letting go of the original phrasing. You may experience this too. But you should learn to trust your transcreator. A professional will warn you when your punchline won’t work in another market, when the tone feels too formal or too casual, when your reference is unfamiliar, and more. You’ll often have to let go of the original ideas.

Brands that nailed marketing transcreation

Here are a few corporations that subtly fine-tuned their core messaging to connect with their international consumer bases.

Coca-Cola

A prime illustration of this principle is the Coca-Cola “Share a Coke” campaign. First appearing in Australia in 2011, this initiative, which substituted the iconic Coca-Cola logo on bottles with common first names, affectionate nicknames, or popular terms of endearment, became a worldwide phenomenon through strategic adaptation.

The success of “Share a Coke” lies in its mastery of cultural localization. As the campaign expanded, the company meticulously ensured that the names printed on the packaging were culturally relevant and widely recognized within each specific local market. Going beyond mere names, the central slogan, “Share a Coke,” was itself frequently transcreated.

People can spot a foreign brand trying too hard. They see the odd phrasing, the tone that feels off, the “translated-ness.” With marketing transcreation, you show your potential clients that you didn’t just copy-paste your global campaign. You show them that you took the time to understand your audience.

Toyota

The “Let’s Go Places” initiative by Toyota provides another excellent illustration of transcreation’s impact, this time within the automotive sector. Although the original English message embodies a universal call to explore, Toyota understood that for the Japanese market, the emphasis on discovery and movement needed to be expressed a bit differently.

The chosen transcreation for the Japanese audience was “いつでも、どこでも、GO” (Itsu demo, doko demo, GO), which translates literally to “Anytime, anywhere, GO.” This adaptation masterfully preserves the adventurous and open-ended spirit of the original campaign, but it utilizes Japanese phrasing to make the message sound more enticing to local drivers.

McDonald’s

Yet another classic illustration of creative translation is the global adaptation of the recognizable McDonald’s slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It.” The process involved significant linguistic adjustments to align the message with specific cultural perceptions.

In Spain, the slogan was rendered as “Me encanta,” which translates to “I really like it” in English. This modification was essential because Spanish-speaking consumers generally view the verb “to love” (amar) as carrying an intensely strong, often romantic, connotation.

In France, the phrase became ‘C’est tout ce que j’aime’ (meaning ‘That’s All I Love’). This phrasing mirrors a common idiomatic expression used by the French to enthusiastically describe things they genuinely enjoy. But for the French speakers in Quebec, the adaptation was closer to the original concept, translating as “C’est ça que j’aime” (‘This is what I love’).

Wrapping up

People can spot a foreign brand trying too hard. They see the awkward phrasing, the tone that feels off. With marketing transcreation, you show your potential clients that you didn’t just copy-paste your global campaign. You show them that you took the time to understand your audience. And they’ll notice.