Making Messages Culture Specific

sunandaC

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Making Messages Culture Specific


Cultural misunderstandings can raise havoc on the best business plans. Even though it is basic communication tool of advertising in foreign lands, advertisers often fail to develop even a basic understanding of foreign languages, much less master the linguistic nuances that reveal unspoken attitudes and information “even a good interpreter doesn’t solve the problem” e.g. business terms in English and Japanese often have different meanings.

Linguistic communication, no matter how imprecise is explicit, but much business communication depends on implicit messages not verbalized. In some cultures, messages are exploiting, the words carry most of the information.

In order cultures, less information is contained in the verbal part of the message since more lies in the context. The advertiser must achieve expert communication that is gained by a thorough understanding of the language for making messages culture specific.

Advertising copywriters should be concerned less with obvious differences between languages and more with idiomatic meanings expressed.

No generalized recommendation can be made about whether to adapt or standardize international advertising. It depends on the product, the culture, and user pattern and so on.

Advertising efforts are moving towards a centralized position, standardize where possible and adapt where necessary, which generally translates into pattern advertising.

Nescafe has a global brand but advertising messages and formulations vary to suit cultural differences. In Japan and UK tea is popular, in France, Germany & Brazil ground coffee is preferred.

Even in this situation there is some standardization all ads have one common emotional link “whatever good coffee means to you and however you like to serve it, Nescafe has a coffee for you.”

Markets are constantly changing and are in the process of becoming more alike but the world is far from being a homogenous market with common needs and wants for all products. Advertising strategies can be transferred but the creative execution must be changed to suit the local context.
 
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