This presentation outlines the many challenges companies face when deciding to take their brand global. The presentation features several case studies and an in-depth look at how localization drives branding and vice versa.

1. Localization and Branding
Chris Raulf
Marketing Manager
ENLASO Corporation
craulf@translate.com
Tel: (720) 259-8524
www.translate.com
March 2010

2. Overview / Agenda
1.
1 Definitions
2. Branding and Localization
3.
3 Case Studies
4. Using Social Media and MSEO to
Support your Brand

3. Localization: Definitions
Globalization • Locales – Combining place
place,
culture, and language.
Internationalization • Globalization – Establishing a
Localization
Locali ation plan to take a message or
product to different locales.
• Internationalization – Creating
the “product” so that it can later
be easily applied to each locale.
• Localization – Modifying the
source product for each locale.
• Translation – C
l i Converting text in
a source language to text in a
target language.

4. Branding: Definition
• BusinessDictionary.com
Entire process involved in creating a unique name and image for a
product (good or service) in the consumers' mind, through
advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish
a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and
retains loyal customers.
• Brand = Experience
• Everybody / everything communicates… positively or negative
• Known brand vs. no-name brand
• Higher profit margins / premiums
• Loyal following -> corporate profits / corporate value
>

5. Expert opinions on branding and
localization…
l li ti
• “Coming from an Arabic speaking country, sometimes international
g p g y,
businesses use the same brand image or logo using the exact translation
from English to Arabic and most of the time it doesn't make sense and
causes confusion.”
• “Will a product or brand name resonate, offend or make sense to multiple
market segments?”
• “Legal claims can d l
“ l l delay schedules if not approved or adjusted ahead of time
h d l f d d d h d f
(can I say such-and-such in Canada?).”
• “Know your regulatory facts related to additional or new markets.
Know markets.”
• “Do images and art used meet multicultural needs, or do I want
market-specific versions?”

6. Pepsi’s “Come Alive With
the Pepsi Generation”
Generation
was translated into
“Pepsi Brings Your
Ancestors Back From The
Grave” in Chinese.
“Bite the wax tadpole” or
“Female horse stuffed with
Female
wax”
“tasty can make you happy
tasty, happy”
or “so mouthwatering it makes
you happy”

7. Overview / Agenda
1. Definitions
2. Branding and Localization
3. Case Studies
4. Using Social Media and MSEO to Support
your Brand

8. Branding and Localization
g
• “Guarding the Brand”
– ~150 C-level executives worldwide
– Industries: Finance, Technology, Professional Services, and Manufacturing Sectors
• Globalization is making brand management harder, but more vital than ever
– 9 out of 10 generate at least 10%, nearly 50% generate 1/3 or even more revenue
from outside of home market
– Executives say cultural differences (63%), along with language and translation issues
(44%) are the two primary barriers to maintaining their brand effectively in international
markets
– Two thirds of survey respondents agree that efforts to localize brands, through translation
and cultural adaptation, do pay off. Efforts had a positive impact on sales in those
regions.
• Technology is helping to facilitate better brand management
– Getting information technology right is not always without challenges (CMS, GMS, etc.)
– 10% said global, regional and country specific Web sites are inconsistent
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/308_SDL_Guarding_the_Brand_June_6_2006.pdf
htt // b d h l /i / /308 SDL G di th B d J 6 2006 df

9. Branding and Localization
Tools / processes to ensure consistency in branding, localization, and translation.

10. Pay Close Attention to the Use of Colors,
Imagery, and Icons when Developing
g y p g
Content for Global Use
Red
Africa – Death and bloodshed
China – Communism, celebration, good luck, joy and fertility
Greece – Love and good luck
India – Birth and fertility
Mexico – Religion and vibrancy
Scandinavia – Strength
United Kingdom Authority, government and power
United States – Warning, passion and spicy
Purple
Italy – Color of the church, authority
y , y
Latin America – Death
United States – Nobility, law and bravery
Source: http://getinternationalclients com/the impact of color and its different associations in multicultural marketing/
http://getinternationalclients.com/the-impact-of-color-and-its-different-associations-in-multicultural-marketing

11. Pictures and Imagery Can Be
Offensive in Some Markets

13. Overview / Agenda
1. Definitions
2. Branding and Localization
3. Case Studies
4. Using Social Media and MSEO to Support
your Brand

14. Case Study
Web Sit L
W b Site Localization
li ti
• Launched on April 21, 1995.
• Brought online dating into the mainstream in the US.
• L
Localized Web site in 18 l
li d W b it i languages i 32 countries
in t i
over 6 continents.
• Full I18n effort: Support the various languages, fonts,
pp g g , ,
formats and customization required to take the site
global.
• In 15 years Match com has grown to more than 20
years, Match.com
million members with profiles posted and 1.5 million
paying subscribers.

20. What’s in there???

21. McDonald’s Icons Case Study
Creating a New Visual “Language” of Nutrition
• 30+ years history of sharing nutritional information
• Make more consumers aware about nutrition information
• Existing icons / labels confusing
• Create images / icons in line with branding that communicate concept in a
g g
consumer- friendly way across the globe
• Nutrition Information Initiative (NII): Make information broadly accessible to more
consumers
• Meet EU minimum guidelines for nutritional information / expand concept beyond EU
• No existing / established “language-free” nutrient visuals

22. McDonald’s Icons Case Study
Some challenges:
• Packaging lacked room
• Original icons not
universally acceptable
i ll t bl
• Culture greatly impacts
interpretation of icons
• Many markets = Many
M k M
opinions
• Work in 109 countries w/o
evoking negative, socially
ki ti i ll
or politically inappropriate
connotations
• Print / display not only on
packaging
• Be available from a legal
standpoint

23. McDonald’s Icons Case Study
• S
Scope
– Understand findings from analysis at a glance
– Which icons were acceptable, which needed a few tweaks,
or complete revamping
– Examine each proposed icon in 109 markets for:
• Existing meanings for the visual
• Prevalence of the existing meaning(s)
• Existence, prevalence, intensity of NEGATIVE connotations
,p , y
• Existence, prevalence, intensity of POSITIVE connotations
• Existing similar symbols currently in use
• Interpretation issues caused by color variations
• Risk assessment of misinterpretation of the visual
• Overall acceptability of using a visual, based on expert
iconographer’s judgment
– A lot of data
• 109 countries
• 8 measurements, for
• 15 draft icons
• >13,000 data points to analyze
– ENLASO provided executive summaries to save McDonald’s team time
McDonald s

24. McDonald’s Icons Case Study
– Design / evaluation for key nutrients went ok
– Some supplemental nutrients more challenging
Icons for Calcium Negative Cultural Feedback
Dogs, dog food and low quality. Has potentially insulting
connotations in some Muslim regions.
Vague resemblance to milk cartons in some countries. More countries
associated image with buildings, and in some cases portable toilets.
buildings toilets
Two countries noted resemblance to phallic symbols or tombstones.
Milk bottles were often associated with mysterious, dark liquid, beer
or wine bottles. Some feedback that bottles could contain poison.
Although the “smiley face” was considered a positive image,
typically it was not associated with calcium. In Ireland this symbol is
associated with narcotics or medicine.

25. Key-findings: Goals:
- Green means “good” and red means “bad”, no - Create a new global language of nutrition
matter where you live. - Enhance the customer experience
- Common American symbols can mean something
very different elsewhere
elsewhere. - Provide nutritional information on food wrappers
- If you think a visual is completely harmless, think - Compliance with European Union minimum
again! guidelines
- If you think a picture can be interpreted negatively, - Reduced costs / icons are easy to print and distribute
it probably will be!
across multiple markets
- G i d a l t of goodwill among M D
Gained lot f d ill McDonald’s critics
ld’ iti
- Initiative supported their brand

26. “Suffer From Diarrhea”
(Turn It Loose)
“Are You Lactating?”
(Got Milk?)

27. US “Foreign” Market - Demographics
• Relative US population by language
• 100+ languages spoken in
the US
• 11 most important
languages from a
marketing standpoint
• ~50M non-English speakers
-> 50% limited English
skills
• Hispanics:
- 30% total non-English
speaking population in US
- Buying power in 2008:
$980 billi
billion
- Estimated buying power
in 2013: $1.3 trillion
Data: US Census Bureau, 2000

28. • US Hi
Hispanic online
i li
population: 20.3M
• 11% of total US online
market
• U.S Hispanic Internet
audience outpaced
total U.S. online
population in terms of
number of visitors,
time spent and pages
consumed
• Trend: Growing
Source:
http://comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Re
leases/2009/4/U.S._Hispanic_Internet_Audie
nce_Growth

29. Cricket Communications Case Study
• Wireless service:
month-to-month
contracts only
• No credit checks or
long-term service
contracts
• Flat rate billing / less
expensive than
competition
• ~20% of customers in
the US are of Hispanic
origin

30. Cricket Communications Case Study
• In-store mailers, point-of-
service displays, Web site
content, campaigns, legal
texts, surveys, etc.
• Spanish as creative as
English
• Dedicated team of linguists:
- Industry knowledge
- Creative writing skills to
convey branding
• Direct line with Cricket’s ad
agency
• Consistent branding:
- Approved terminology
- Bilingual glossaries
- TM maintenance

31. Source: http://www.loweslink.com/llmain/pubdocuments/Pack_Trans_Guideline.pdf

32. Overview / Agenda
1. Definitions
2. Branding and Localization
3. Case Studies
4. Using Social Media and MSEO to
Support your Brand

33. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

35. Multilingual Search Engine Optimization
• SEO goal
• MSEO often neglected, English sites
optimized
• Know your keywords / phrases
• MSEO= $, research, time, resources
• Options: MSEO firms, L10n vendors, In-
country team, reseller / distributor
• Before localizing site: MSEO strategy,
glossary, etc.

36. MSEO Best Practices
• Localize Key Web pages
• Optimize Meta-tags
O ti i M t t
• Multilingual Press Releases
• Multilingual eNewsletter
• Link exchange
• ecto es
Directories
• Bilingual Blogs
• Social Media
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM or PPC advertising.
I.e.: Google AdWords)

37. Thank you!
Any questions?
Chris Raulf (720) 259 8524
259-8524
craulf@translate.com