We produce ads in five languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Italian. The most common request we get from brands expanding into a new market is some version of “Can you translate our best ads?”
We can. We just don’t recommend it. An ad that works in Manchester often works for reasons that don’t survive the trip to Munich or São Paulo. Here’s what we do instead.
Translate the idea, not the sentence
Start by asking why the original ad works. What’s the tension it names? What’s the promise? What’s the proof? Then rebuild the ad around that same idea, written by someone who thinks in the target language.
The finished ad may look quite different from the original. That’s fine. It should feel to a German reader the way the English version felt to an English one, which is rarely what happens when you translate word for word.
Hooks rarely travel
Opening lines are where translation does the most damage. Wordplay, idioms and humour almost never survive. A punchy four-word English hook can turn into a long, flat sentence in German or a slightly odd one in Italian.
We write new hooks for each market, usually several, and test them. The concept carries over. The first line almost always needs replacing.
Get the formality right
English lets you skip this question entirely. Most other languages don’t. German has du and Sie, Italian has tu and Lei, Spanish has tú and usted. Brazilian Portuguese mostly uses você, but tone still varies a lot by category.
The right choice depends on the brand and the audience. A fashion brand talking to people in their twenties will sound very different from a bank or an insurer. Get it wrong and the ad feels off before anyone has read the offer.
Swap in local proof
Prices should be in local currency, obviously, but proof points go further than that. Payment methods matter: Pix in Brazil, Bizum in Spain, invoice and instalment options in Germany. Reviews should come from local customers on local platforms. Delivery promises need to reflect what’s realistic in that country.
These details look small. They’re often what makes an ad feel like it was made for the reader rather than imported.
Plan for longer text
German and Italian copy usually runs longer than English. A headline that fits neatly in an English static can spill over two lines in German or push the product off the frame.
We design with this in mind from the start, leaving room in layouts and keeping on-screen text short in video. Re-cutting a finished video because the German captions don’t fit is expensive and avoidable.
Check the visuals too
Images carry assumptions. Seasons, for one: a summer campaign in July lands in the middle of winter in Brazil. Homes, streets, food and clothing all signal where an ad was made. People notice when the kitchen in an Italian ad looks very American.
This is one place where generative tools have helped a lot. Adapting a setting for a new market is much quicker than reshooting, as long as a designer checks the result against the same brand rules we apply everywhere else.
Native speakers review everything
Every localised ad is reviewed by a native speaker before it runs. Not just for mistakes, but for tone. Does this sound like something a brand here would say? Would a local find anything in it strange, dated or accidentally funny?
Our editorial teams already write for readers in these markets every week on our own publications, which helps. They know how people in each country talk about money, travel, fashion and their homes.
Test each market separately
Finally, don’t assume the winner in one market will win in the next. Run concept tests in each country. Sometimes the same idea wins everywhere. Often the market that cares most about price in one category cares most about reliability in another.
It takes a little more effort up front. It’s also much cheaper than spending a quarter in a new market with ads that never quite felt local.