Mismatched lip movements, weird translations, and sub-standard dubbing—enough to deteriorate the overall viewer experience. While these were things of the past, no one wants this to happen to their brand reputation. A poorly translated website or terribly awful dubbing can make all your marketing efforts go south, leading to diminishing viewership, audience attrition, low brand recall, distrust, and meager revenue.
Instead of cookie cutter translations, brands are now falling for creative content adaptations. More and more businesses, ranging from automotive giants to fintech disruptors are investing in localization strategies for content creation.
The Science of Accents and Its Impact in Marketing
According to a study published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies and ResearchGate respectively, accents help shape brand integrity and relevance. When a person listens to an advertisement in a local accent, the voiceover makes brands seem more trustworthy and approachable, in contrast to a generic or international accent. A reason why broad-spectrum dubbing approach may look out of place in a linguistically diverse market like India.
Cross-cultural analysis of advertisements, movies, and/or other media assets becomes a must. For example, neutral voice actors speaking in standard Hindi accents may not look native across the Hindi belt regions of India. Indian language translation services on the other hand use regional speech patterns to establish the emotional and local connect with the audience. As simple as it may sound, this requires solid understanding of the region and unspoken nuances which are beautifully captured by the experts—converting apathetic and disengaged audiences into responsive and passionate consumers.
Localization: The Future of Brand Communication
Unlike the past when there was a craze about imported goods and services, the modern day audience is inclined towards local commodities. They rather take pride in being associated with local brands and the sense of authenticity it offers. There is a stronger sense of consumer connection with the local products than ever before. And they are even ready to pay a higher price for products that hail from the region they belong to (Harvard Business Review magazine).
This positive relationship between regional brands, consumer preferences and determinants, clearly demonstrates the importance of localization. The overall brand success lies in how beautifully and fluently regional humor, local gestures, language expressions, idioms, and cultural beliefs are woven together to market a brand locally.
Take Netflix, for example. It goes beyond just dubbing its content, using the right pop culture references, region-specific humor, and emotional connect that inherently appears native. Similarly, other sectors like automobiles, fashion, finance, hospitality, etc. are taking a leap further to refine their performance marketing strategy. Whether it’s the hyper-localized campaigns, or multilingual content editing of the financial jargons and legal disclaimers, messages are being adapted to meet the preferences of different regions.
The Business Case for Local Voices
Cross-cultural analysis of advertisements allows brands to understand the drop points and make quick changes in their existing content. While it looks all fancy at surface value, localizing the advertisements with regionalized voiceovers have certain KPIs attached to it.
- Higher Engagement Rates: People respond more positively to content that sounds like it was made for them. A familiar accent or dialect increases relatability and connection.
- Better Brand Recall: Authentic, culturally aware messaging sticks in customers’ minds far better than a generic translation.
- Conversion Rate: Instead of literal translation, transcreating and localizing the call-to-action adds the much needed depth and warmth, with increased customer responses and desired action.
- Actual Wins: Brands that respect and adhere to the local lingo and social norms, are able to stay for long—gain consumer trust and ongoing participation.
April 16, 2025 — magnon