St.Valentine’s – the Shanghai connection
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, International marcoms | No comment yet
Famous last words, on my last post: “Oh yes and just to complete matters the year of Tiger also began on February 14, 2010!”
I knew it was such a strong coincidence that someone, somewhere would seize the day.
In this instance it was BBDO, Shanghai that came up with up an immaculate synthesis of two cultures for Gillette.
You can read the the whole article on Adage Global News.
Timing is everything: Chinese New Year and St. Valentine’s day only comes around once every 50 years. So by the time we have another opportunity like this we will probably all be fluent in Mandarin.
Valentine’s day..or not?
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, International marcoms | No comment yet
We are safely past what seems to have become a global love-fest every year on February 14. However, not everybody is so keen to celebrate a day named after a Christian saint said to have been martyred by the Romans in the 3rd Century.
Indeed, the Saudi Religous Police and State media take a dim view of anyone even displaying anything red never mind hearts. Associated Press recently reported that, “Those who don’t comply will be punished,” according to the official statement, without going into detail of the precise measures that would befall the offenders.
Smacks more of trans-plagiarism
By Gordon Husbands | Conquest | No comment yet
Advertising breaks during the US annual Superbowl – American Football – continue to generate huge attention and publicity – often for the wrong reasons.
The wardrobe malfunction
Witness the infamous and shocking (was it really?) Janet Jackson exposed nipple incident at Super Bowl XXXVIII with Justin Timberlake in 2004!
Accident or deliberate?
This year’s commercial break has again got the ad. industry buzzing – LinkedIn was awash with comment almost immediately and Adage soon ran the story.
“Does Coke’s Super Bowl Ad Look a Lot Like Old Israeli Dairy Spot?“
To many Israelis this ad and the music look very similar to an ad run in Israel for Yotvata, a dairy in the Israeli desert. And yes, it was for another cold, refreshing drink.
Transcreation – now you’re talking my language!
By Gordon Husbands | Transcreation | 8 responses so far
Well it will neither offer salvation to the planet nor the sinner. If you are an international marketer, working on global advertising or brand development or in the localization business you may have come across the term before.
Here are a few random definitions from around the ‘net:
“…a packet of services aimed at those operating in the advertising sector, including translation, localisation and copy editing services.”
“…is a form of translation, closer to copywriting, resulting in a text linguistically and culturally adapted for its intended audience. Transcreated material is supposed to have the same impact on the target audience as the original source text.”
“… a bundle of services designed for clients operating in the advertising sector. It consists of the complete set of translation, localization and copyediting services. Transcreation is a more complex service as it involves the creativity and discipline of professionals whose core activity is content adaptation.”
Almost Happy Birthday -BLOG!
By Gordon Husbands | Transcreation | No comment yet
Cheesy smile no.1
WARNING – Under Construction
I will soon be up and running once I get the hang of WordPress. On the basis I still have sufficient gray matter to achieve this end before Hades freezes over.
The aim is basically what it says on the label – topics, news and points of contention regarding the sometimes tricky, often alarming and frequently funny world of transcreation, adaptation and translation of marketing messaging across all media.
I promise unashamedly to introduce historical references, trivia, quotations – real and imagined, constructive opinions, anecdotal digressions and the occasional movie review. I would also hope that the production quality will improve progressively as I rise to a WordPress conscious competent .
I am looking forward to your comments, contributions and (inevitable) spam – when and if this isolated spiral of the world wide web is discovered.
I leave you with this great ad. to ponder….
