Does Brand Personality Translate?

 


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What does it mean to say that a brand has personality?  Does personality reside in the 
features of the products of a particular brand?  Or does it reside in the kinds of 
customers the brand attracts?  Or perhaps somewhere else entirely?  Most importantly, 
does an attractive personality in one culture mean that the same personality will be 
attractive in another culture?

Harley-Davidson's brand has always projected an aura of wildness and danger.  That 
aura was established early on when those most likely to be driving Harley's were the 
wild bunch of society.  Today the aura lingers and still appeals to something deep in 
the psyche of the young professionals who buy most of the brand's products.  The brand 
personality is not in the tires or engines or other tangible features, it is in the 
raw sound of the Harley that evokes a sense of outlaw in the most law-abiding rider. 

But how does a company with a distinctive personality in its native market translate 
that ineffable charm in a foreign market?  Does personality translate?  It does if it 
finds the right niche and the right voice in the target foreign market.  It does if it 
speaks to that niche in a seamlessly correct accent in a seamlessly correct jargon.  
It does if it feels like the personality is familiar - if there is something about it 
that closely resembles its equivalent in the target culture.  Those nuances come about 
only when native speakers are used in the development of foreign market marketing 
strategies.  Your translators need to be native speakers and trained professionals, who 
are steeped in the culture and customs of the target market you are trying to reach.

Some stereotypes themselves are bound up in cultural characteristics that are not consistent 
beyond the bounds of their culture of origin.  Is the "creative type" represented  the 
same way in Spain, for instance, that it is represented in the USA?  If not getting it 
wrong could destroy the effectiveness of an entire marketing campaign.  It pays to work 
with your favorite translation services consultancy before you start.

The brand personalities that work best and last longest are those that emerge from the 
kinds of real connections that customers make with a particular product rather than 
those that are artificially imposed on them by advertising - which means that brand 
personality is best developed by a deep understanding of the relationships customers 
have with your brand rather than how various features should affect them.  Those 
relationships can be nourished by advertising and marketing but only real connections 
can be sustained over time.  And real connections mean that your messages sound as if 
they were crafted by native speakers because they are.

I passionately believe that we at Galindo distinguish ourselves from other translation 
services providers by providing a personal service that goes beyond a superficial 
understanding of our clients' businesses; that we seek to understand and develop 
foreign-language customers' relationship with our clients' brands.  That 
understanding comes about most easily with clients who allow us to participate in 
their ongoing foreign-language marketing development efforts.  When that happens, 
brand personality develops and real customer relationships begin to happen as naturally 
as a native speaker saying, "Wow."


Martha. 

 

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About the Author, if using, please include:

Martha E. Galindo, President and CEO of Galindo Publicidad, Inc.
A multilingual translations agency, selected twice as a Florida 100
company by the University of Florida. Author of “How Do You Say…?” an 
eNewsletter designed to help you improve your business communications 
in other languages,
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