We’ve worked with communications agency VCCP on many occasions and always find them to be a great partner. A recent collaboration during the spring of 2023 was no different, as we had the pleasure of taking on the transcreation and adaptation of a new campaign for Canon.

The campaign, based on the two concepts ‘Work & Play’ and ‘For the Stuff of Life’, illustrated in a creative way how a Canon printer slots into your day-to-day life and helps make everything from fun and games to life administration and school projects a breeze.

The challenge, then, was the fact that everyday life can of course look quite different in different cultures, something we had to consider not just in the localisation of tag lines but also in preparation for film sets with appropriate props.

Bunting, for example, was one term that puzzled one of our linguists. Turns out, the decoration that’s so widely used in the UK is barely a thing at all in some parts of the world – so even if you manage to find an appropriate translation for it, it won’t make much cultural sense, and it certainly wouldn’t suit a campaign like this one.

A mention of “granny’s gravy” also needed revision, since gravy isn’t a staple on the menu of grannies in all countries, as did a reference to GCSEs, an abbreviation that’ll leave most non-Britons with a blank stare on their faces.

Even Elton John, who you might argue is a global icon, ended up being substituted in one of our proposed French transcreations – not because he isn’t known in France, but because a legendary local singer was deemed a potentially better match in the context, conveying the message and vibe of the source seamlessly.

At the less exciting end of the everyday life spectrum are admin and things like filling out tax forms. But then different countries have different revenue systems with their own forms and ways of doing returns and similar. Indeed, some don’t use printed forms at all, making the reference redundant in the context of a campaign for a printer.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: this is why localisation is so very important. If you don’t know your audience and understand their culture inside and out, your message might just go over their heads, no matter how well translated it is in a literal sense.

What was great about this project was the fact that VCCP was so on the ball from start to finish, sharing a creative presentation to provide our linguists with as much context as possible and keeping on top of communications in a clear and open manner at all times. All our copywriters found it a sheer joy to work on the campaign, as they got to make the most of their expertise and let their creativity flourish.

Here’s hoping we’ll get to work on plenty more truly creative transcreation projects in 2024!