Business Builder: Why Language is Important in Advertising
You might think that advertising in another language is easy; it's just about getting a good translation, right? Well, not really. If you translate adverts from your language into English, without thinking about tone and culture, you will find your ads looking like my examples pictured here - scary and inappropriate. Don't worry though, I'm here with some tips about advertising in English for the UK.
Cultural Differences in Tone
English is a much less direct language than most. When you might say, "Smoobies, it's great for healthy skin," in German, in English that sounds extremely old-fashioned and too basic for a modern English-speaking audience. English speakers expect advertising to be more indirect. Humour and more aspirational marketing techniques usually work better with people in the UK.
Aspirational (this product will make your life better) - “Smoobies, bring your light to the party."
Humour - “There are so many reasons not to date Derrick, but dry flaky skin isn’t one of them.”
Focus on ethics - “Protect what’s precious with Smoobies - 100% recycled packaging.”
Avoiding Cultural Mistakes
There have definitely been some times in the past when companies should have hired an English teacher for an hour before launching their new product in the UK. Let’s look at some of the accidents you can make if you aren’t familiar with UK or English culture:
Soylent - Soylent sounds ok as a name for a new drink, but not when you realise the name comes from a science fiction story where Soylent is edible (you can eat it), green slime made from humans.
Cocaine Energy Drink - well… it definitely doesn’t have cocaine in it, so it’s false advertising.
Nintendo Wii - it was supposedly (people have said) named after the sound people make when they are excited (weeeeee!), but in English, it is unfortunately a common way of talking about urinating (going to the toilet and letting liquid out).
Fanny packs and bum bags - even between the UK and the USA, there have been a number of embarrassing names. “Fanny” means bottom, or bum, in American English, but means vagina (a woman’s sexual organs) in UK English. And just to make sure it was a total disaster, we also have “bum” meaning bottom in UK English, but meaning homeless person in the USA.
Summing Up
Basically, if you are going to try and launch a product, service, or company in an English speaking country, it is a smart investment to pay for 2 or 3 hours of a cultural expert’s time. That doesn’t mean £300+ ($340+) per hour from a consultant; it only needs to be a native English speaker in the target country with expertise in the language. Or, if you want to make the world more interesting, you can release products made of human beings, that say they are full of illegal drugs, or that remind people of going to the toilet.
