International food marketing is a delicate task. If the messages are successfully conveyed in another cultural environment, the results can be spectacular. If they are not, the outcome can be devastating. The key factor here is transcreation.
When it comes to marketing, Nestlé did everything right, but their success in Japan is also partly due to serendipity.
When the company launched its KitKat chocolate bars on the Japanese market in 1973, the product quickly became a huge sales success. This was mainly attributable to a linguistic coincidence. The product name sounds almost exactly like the Japanese phrase “Kitto Katsu” – “You will succeed.” A coincidence that the marketing department gratefully embraced. Unlike in Europe, where KitKat is marketed more as a snack for breaks, Nestlé positioned the chocolate bar in Japan as a lucky charm that was supposed to help schoolchildren and students pass their exams.
This strategic move has since been rolled out in countless variations (and flavors). In 2009, for example, Nestlé collaborated with the Japanese postal service, allowing people to add a personal message and a stamp to the packaging and send it directly to students taking exams. The Media Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity the following year was well deserved.
Instead of translating an existing slogan, Nestlé turned the cultural significance of the brand name itself into a marketing tool. This is transcreation at the highest strategic level.
Language as the key to unlock emotions
Taste perception happens on the tongue. By contrast, purchasing decisions are made in the brain, and cultural codes, emotional associations, and linguistic nuances play a key role in this process. A lot of this usually happens on a subconscious level, which makes the impact even stronger in cases of indecision.
In international food marketing, language is therefore much more than a tool for conveying information. It is the key to whether a product is perceived by the target group as strange or desirable.
Linguistic expertise meets cultural competence
Food is deeply rooted in our culture. The way we talk about food reflects our values. However, food has also been the subject of the age-old dispute based on the dichotomy between indulgence and health.
In the US, health is often defined functionally in marketing with a focus on low fat, zero sugar, and high protein. Any product avoiding harmful ingredients and adding functional ones is considered healthy. Conversely, in the European food industry, health is more closely associated with natural and high-quality ingredients, or even longstanding tradition. Nutritional tables that are too complex tend to deter consumers there.
Indulgence can also have completely different connotations. Some cultures almost consider it a venial sin that should only be enjoyed on special occasions, while it is a completely natural and socially accepted lifestyle in other cultures.
These cultural differences pose a major challenge for translators. If they miss the subtext, they won’t be able to convey the emotional undertone.
Even professional translators fail sometimes
Wordplay is the nightmare scenario of any literal translation. It is based on double entendres, rhymes, or cultural references that often simply do not exist in the target language.
A slogan that flows perfectly in German (“Quadratisch. Praktisch. Gut.”) loses its power when it is translated into a language where the terms do not harmonize or the rhythm seems clunky. For example, the literal English translation of the slogan above (“Square. Practical. Good.”) isn’t quite as catchy. Idioms are even more perilous. Products sell “like hot cakes” in English, but in German, they sell “like warm rolls”. Both idioms express that something is selling fast because they are fresh out of the oven, but in some cultures, this figurative language doesn’t work at all.
For translations, this bears the risk of not only being incomprehensible, but maybe even ridiculous. A brand that tries to be funny but misses the cultural tone comes across as cringy instead of likable. In the food sector, where emotional appeal to customers is particularly crucial, this can be disastrous.
Can colors be translated too?
It’s not just marketing texts that need to be translated. Visual terminology often requires transcreation as well. For example, colors on packaging or labels trigger different, sometimes contradictory associations in different cultures.
- Weiß: In Western culture, white often stands for purity, freshness, and hygiene—perfect for dairy products or light products. In parts of Asia, however, white is traditionally the color of mourning and death. White packaging for
- Green: While green increasingly represents organic and natural products around the world, in certain contexts it can also be associated with unripe fruits or mold if the shade is not right. In some countries in South America or Africa, certain color combinations also have political connotations, which brands should avoid at all costs.ollte.
- Red: In China steht Rot für Glück und Wohlstand – eine hervorragende Farbe für Lebensmittelverpackungen, besonders zu Feiertagen. In anderen Kontexten kann Rot jedoch als Warnsignal (Gefahr, Stopp, hoher Zuckergehalt) interpretiert werden.
Images are another sensitive area. An image of a happy family enjoying dinner must reflect the ethnic diversity, cultural nuances, and family structures of the target market. Otherwise, consumers will not feel represented.
Different languages, different names
Perhaps the most critical point is the name of a food product. The history of marketing is full of anecdotes about brand names that had obscene or negative meanings in other languages.
The name is especially crucial in the food sector, where we literally consume products. It must sound aesthetically appealing and avoid evoking negative associations. A fictitious name that sounds enticing in German or English could phonetically resemble a word for waste or disease in another language.
Before entering any market, a professional name check by experienced native speakers is therefore crucial. The checklist includes:
- Is the name easily pronounceable?
- Are there any negative meanings in slang?
- Is the name reminiscent of competing products?
Translation, localization, transcreation: What is the difference?
At its core, marketing plays with emotions. And when it comes to emotions, literal translations simply won’t do the trick. What is the difference?
- Translation focuses on content. It conveys the meaning from the source language into the target language. This is perfect for user manuals, product descriptions, or ingredient lists.
- Localization goes one step further. Localization adapts texts to the respective regional preferences, such as date formats, currencies, or measurement units.
- Transcreation is the highest form of translation, especially in marketing. In this supreme discipline, translators depart from the source text. The objective is not to simply translate the original text word for word, but rather to evoke the same feeling.
If the original slogan conveys safety and tradition, but the target market is looking for innovation and lifestyle, transcreators will completely rewrite the slogan to preserve the brand positioning rather than the words.
International food marketing requires professional translation
Serious mistakes are extremely rare for major brands nowadays. Confectionery manufacturer Haribo is a great example of how to do it right. The German company has managed to translate its famous slogan perfectly into several languages from country to country. “Haribo macht Kinder froh und Erwachsene ebenso” (Haribo makes children happy and adults too) became “Kids and grown-ups love it so – the happy world of Haribo” or “Haribo c’est beau la vie, pour les grands et les petits” (Haribo makes life beautiful, for young and old alike). The transcreation managed to preserve the message, meter, and rhyme as well as the emotion. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The global food market is jam-packed. To stand out on the shelf, it’s not enough for the product to just sit there. It has to call out to the customer – and in a language that touches their hearts. Marketing campaigns in the food and beverage industry can fail for a variety of reasons. Translation into another culture should not be one of them.