End-to-end video localization for Swiss Precision Diagnostics

The brand that SPD is best known for is Clearblue®, familiar in many countries all over the world and trusted by millions of women for its accuracy and simplicity. SPD has been acknowledged as a true industry pioneer and its products have been featured in many television programs and films, including most recently Bridget Jones’s Baby.

SPD’s goal is to provide relevant diagnostic tools, which are accurate, easy to use, and affordable. The company’s tone is authoritative, but also very close to, and supportive of women. Video content, used in a variety of ways, is one of the key types of media the brand uses to drive its brand familiarity and trust. The nature of the video content is both educational and short-form advertising. It is deployed in the brand’s YouTube channel and website, but is also used across the marketing program, from Facebook to television broadcasts.

The original master video content is produced centrally in English, and then due to the global reach of the products, each video requires translation and localization. SPD marketing materials appear in 37 different languages in more than 40 different countries, mainly in Western Europe, North, Central and South America and most Eastern European countries.

Prior to working with Acolad, each video adaptation was either managed locally by each country or, in some cases, managed by an agency with a presence in several countries. This was a highly decentralized process and at times could be costly and time-consuming. It was also harder to protect against a nuance of language, culture, tone of voice or brand asset being missed or interpreted incorrectly in a video.

When your brand (and ultimately, sales) relies on being authoritative, a market leader and an expert, the communication messages are critical and have to be consistent and correct globally. Acolad had already been providing very successful translation services for SPD, so it was a natural next step to speak with Acolad about possible solutions for video localization.

The Acolad Account Manager for SPD noticed the team was receiving a number of video scripts for translation, so approached SPD to propose that Acolad provide their video localization services.

SPD considered several options but because of the strength of the long-term partnership with Acolad decided to embark on a test project. This was executed successfully and SPD evaluated Acolad’s performance with the stakeholders in each country to capture their input too. The project validated Acolad’s capabilities and likely cost-effectiveness, so SPD made the decision to assign to Acolad all of its video adaptation/localization projects from that point onwards.

Such mass localization is a highly complex and involved process and there are few companies beyond Acolad with the breadth of skills and expertise to be able to provide such an end- to-end localization service on such a scale. Another benefit for the client is Acolad’s flexibility. The Acolad team flows to the work as required, there is no fixed program of work at the beginning of the year. This means the client has full control over changing their marketing plans and the assets required to support those plans, as they need to.

Each project usually begins with a kick-off call between SPD and the Acolad creative team, including the Director of the voiceover recording, so it can be understood what the purpose of the video is, what SPD wants to achieve with the communication, and what the tone of voice and overall feeling is. After this kick-off call Acolad provides SPD with feedback regarding the voiceover, as English is shorter than most other languages. If it is anticipated that the localized voiceover will take longer, and so will create problems when synchronizing the audio to the video, Acolad will report this to SPD early in the process to receive shorter alternatives.

SPD then shares the final English storyboard, which the Acolad team translates into the local language and returns it for approval (by the Country Manager and in some cases the Board of Health). Once approved, Acolad records the voiceover and adapts the video into the local language. The draft version of the video is submitted to SPD, who send it for review to the Country Managers and the Board of Health in the countries where it is necessary. Following its approval, Acolad makes any final changes and delivers the final version to SPD.