Experiencia
When global brands speak local
Cultural fluency turns global campaigns into human ones—helping brands sound local without losing their global voice.
Words translate, but meaning connects
Your global message might be getting lost in translation. The strongest global brands don’t just translate words. They translate emotion. They connect.
But not every brand gets that right.
Take Dolce & Gabbana’s 2018 campaign in China as a reminder that language isn’t the only thing that can get lost in translation. The fashion house released ads showing a Chinese model struggling to eat Italian food with chopsticks. What was meant as playful came across as patronizing. The backlash was swift and global, costing the brand credibility and consumer trust that took years to rebuild.
When marketers treat localization like a checklist—language, grammar, dialect—they risk building campaigns that sound right but don’t feel right. Because translation captures what’s said.
Transcreation captures what’s meant.
Transcreation goes beyond mere translation
Transcreation—a fusion of translation and creation—adapts tone, style, and intent from one culture to another. It’s how marketers preserve the essence of a message while ensuring it feels native to every audience.
For example, when we helped launch a Baxter ICU tool in South America, we faced a challenge: “ICU” translates differently across languages. In Spanish, it’s Unidad Cuidados Intensivos (UCI); in Portuguese, it’s Unidade de Tratamento Intensivo (UTI).
Our solution? Two names, one idea: EvolUCIona for Spanish-speaking countries and EvolUTIon for Brazil. The campaign maintained meaning, unity, and emotional impact across both languages. That’s the difference between translation and transcreation. Go beyond converting language to recreating meaning.
Context is everything
Spanish is often a starting point for Hispanic audiences, but it’s far from universal. Spanglish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages all intermingle with Spanish to create regional dialects that feel uniquely “local.”
That’s what cultural fluency sounds like: a message that belongs everywhere it’s heard. That means:
- Partnering with market-specific creators, writers and strategists
- Localizing tone and emotion
- Testing ideas with real audiences before rollout
- Designing adaptable assets that travel authentically from one region to another
Because when a message lands right, it never feels imported.
Cultural fluency applies to local partnerships as much as international ones. When we partnered with Central Falls High School in Rhode Island to rename its career and technical education (CTE) program, we wanted something that would resonate with students, many of whom are bilingual. The result was REAL CTE, a name that feels natural in both English and Spanish and taps into the cultural momentum of “real” in reggaeton culture, where being real means being confident and unapologetically yourself. The result was something truly bilingual and authentically theirs.
Speak human
Cultural fluency is how global messages become human ones. It’s how brands earn trust, attention and emotional connection across borders, without losing their voice.
Your audience doesn’t want you to sound perfect. They want you to sound like you mean it.
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