Advertise in Russian or Pay the Penalty!
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, Transcreation | No comment yet
Moscow Times: words such as “sale”, “discount” and “free Wi-Fi”, which regularly appear in advertisements and signage in Moscow, are breaking the law. According to the Moscow Times, “The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service is planning to expand a crackdown on advertising using foreign words, with initial hearings in a spate of recent cases expected this week”.
They may think it's English but it looks like Italian!
In a recent case, the unfortunate owner of Japanese fast-food chain Yaposha got in to trouble for putting up a billboard that said “Happy New Menu” with the words “Happy” and “New” spelled out in English on a building facade. Other recent ‘outrageous’ examples were the use of “New Collection” and “Halloween”.
Хэллоуин is the word for Halloween, which, if you can read Cyrillic, is a straight transliteration of Halloween. There is no Russian equivalent of “All hallows’ e’en”, or the evening that dead spirits come back to walk the earth for one night. Although I wonder how many western kids actually know any more than that it’s a night when you can dress up in a scary outfit and go ‘trick or treating’. Yet another bourgeois, capitalist import adopted by teenage New Russians.
Volcanic Ash – what has transcreation go to do with it?
By Gordon Husbands | Cultural sensitivity, International marcoms | No comment yet
Oy Iceland, we said we wanted our CASH back!
We have had the global meltdown, a plague of free-loading politicians and now the subtle wrath of a Nordic god spraying a fine aerosol of pumice dust and glass fragments at the perfect altitude to inhibit the modern jetliner while remaining invisible to the naked eye. Thus, closing all northern European airways with, it seems a particular fixation on the UK.
With our airports closed, planes parked in the long-stay and runways being used for rollerblading and kite flying, London experienced a sunny and very tranquil weekend. Well for those UK residents not stranded abroad (some 100,000) anyway.
Does humour define a culture? Certainly you need to understand local tastes. For instance we Brits pride ourselves on an acerbic sense of humour with bonus points awarded for style as much as for substance.
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.
