Our Client
A luxury Swiss watchmaker with worldwide brand recognition and a long history of creating some of the most sought-after timepieces that money can buy.
The Challenge
The brand wanted to create a book of the highest quality to tell 100-year story and mark its centenary. But highlighting the company’s impressive heritage in just one language wouldn’t help communicate with customers throughout the world.
To speak to people across language divides, the book would need to be available in a total of seven languages and variants: English, German, Spanish, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and Korean, in addition to the original French. After being translated and localized, the versions in the two non-European languages would need additional expert work to lay out the pages – since typography for these languages can be quite different.
The Solution
Joined-up project management
We started by organizing a kick-off meeting to bring together the various teams that would be working on the project. Our project manager made sure to include our translation and localization teams and our designers, so everyone could be on the same page about the context and challenges of the project. This communication with the client, in their native language, was crucial so we could understand their needs.
In-depth proofreading
Our expert proofreaders carried out in-depth proofreading of the original French text to guarantee correct spelling, and to ensure everything was conveyed in the appropriate style. They also cleared up some cultural issues as to whether the text was intended for French speakers in France or Switzerland.
The proofreading work created a harmonized and reliable source text ready for the next phase – the translations into all the other languages and variants. With the client’s input, we created a database of terms to keep terminology and branding consistent throughout.
Specialist linguists partnered with local experts
We also liaised with the client to set up contacts in each of the target markets, so that our translation managers could speak directly to local experts. This made sure each translation was truly speaking the language of the target audience. These translations were checked and sent for client approval.
Cross-language design
Finally, our design teams used their expertise to lay out the traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, and Korean language versions. Throughout the whole process, our project manager was on hand to keep everything running smoothly and liaise with the client as our main point of contact to answer questions and tackle any problems.
The Result
A brand story shared without limitations
The client was able to communicate its brand story with people around the world
Expert native language proofreaders ensured all content had the highest impact
Localization expertise meant language was adapted to fit each market
Unified project management brought efficiency throughout - saving time and minimizing cost
With the project complete, the client had exactly what they were looking for – a book of the highest quality to celebrate and share its century-long brand story. The human translations and communication with on-the-ground experts in each market meant that each book was perfectly localized to chime with potential clients.
The client noted that the project from start to finish functioned as a “real partnership” with Acolad. We brought together several complicated phases - project management, translation, localization, and design – for a joined-up approach that ensured everything went as smoothly as possible.
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