With a task as complicated as the localisation of pharmaceutical materials; efficiency, cost-effectiveness, teamwork and improved outcomes come first. Havas Production Services (HPS) are based in Manchester and pride themselves on valuable, cost-effective, efficient localisation that you can trust.

Today, with the almost limitless connections that digital communication has provided us, it has never been more important to ensure the communications we develop at a global level have a lasting impact in multiple local markets. Furthermore, it’s essential to ensure the campaign is not only relevant, but accurately localised to ensure it is appropriate.

As brands develop and expand their reach, we often find ourselves creating campaigns that may be seen by healthcare professionals in over 40 different markets; markets where laws, culture and general customer behaviours differ greatly. Havas Worldwide’s recent Prosumer Report, iBody, showed how despite some market similarities, people around the world have very different approaches to health and wellbeing.

How do we ensure we create campaigns that seamlessly transition between markets, yet retain their individual charm and attraction? Initially avoiding straplines with wordplay is a good place to start. Following that, it’s incredibly important to adapt language, images, references and styles to suit local laws and guidelines, but also, to accurately reflect local customs. While it’s more common to see translations go wrong, image appropriateness is something less easily shaken off as ‘foolish error’. In every localisation project, images must befit the local market – models must be of appropriate nationality, race or gender and clothing and behaviour must align to local customs of modesty. Not only this, but local medical regulations and guidelines must be adhered to, graphs must change to display data relevant to the market and references must be updated to match.

Choosing a localisation partner relies on developing the trust that they will provide a thorough service, considering more than translation. When done effectively, localisation improves brand value. It requires rich industry knowledge and understanding, and in an industry like healthcare, there is a lot more to take into account – knowledgeable linguists and conscientious designers and artworkers are vital.