Stay Cool, Perform Better
180 Amsterdam is an award winning advertising agency and as their name suggests, they are based in the heart of Amsterdam amongst the hustle and bustle of the city’s famous canals, bars and coffee shops. Our relationship with 180 was forged back in 2004 and over the past 8 years they have frequently approached us for an array of adaptations and translations for some very famous brands.
When top sportswear manufacturer Adidas developed their new range of Climacool apparel, 180 was chosen to brand, market and advertise the product in 8 key countries around the world. Part of this major campaign was the Adidas Cool Magazine, a business to business publication aimed at promoting the new Climacool fabric to large sports stores with the strap-line ‘Stay Cool, Perform Better’.
How we answered the brief
Working for a demanding end client such as Adidas calls for a team who can be really flexible and customer-focused in their approach to a project. A global audience recognises Adidas for their original and flawless advertising campaigns. Our translations for audiences in Russia, Latin America, Korea, Brazil, China, Germany, France and Japan needed to reflect this high level of quality.
One project manager closely managed the Livingword adaptation team and liaised regularly with the team at 180 to ensure that the work went smoothly.
We put our heads together to assess the individual skills and experiences of our creative translators, to come to a decision on the best professionals for the job. With the help of the creative team at 180, we put together a portfolio of reference documentation for use on the Adidas project. As well as the English text to be adapted, this included texts used for previous campaigns and the artwork for the new magazine. This meant that the creative translators got a good background on the client’s style and how the new campaign would integrate with previous ones. In addition, query centres were set up so that each member of the team could insert their own concerns and queries about the job. Then in a final review process the adaptation and proofreading of the texts was done by us, and Adidas themselves made amends according to their personal preference which then went back to everyone involved for use on the next project in the campaign.
Any concerns or comments from Livingword at this stage were communicated to Adidas through 180, who made their final decisions.
The creatively adapted texts for each country were finalized and ready to undergo the typesetting process by 180’s in-house designers.
The results
Our team of translators thoroughly enjoyed their part in the project and this came across in the creative style of the texts provided. The client was extremely happy with the end results and were pleased that we were able to provide texts which were appropriate to their campaign and brand image.
“Being a creative agency with global clients such as Adidas and Amstel, we are under significant pressure to produce excellent and creative language adaptations within tight deadlines. Living Word always have a ‘yes’ for any requests we may have, and are always within budget. We are happy to work with Living Word as I know we get quality in a timely manner.", 180 Amsterdam
