On May 3rd, at 1pm, we will be discussing multicultural websites and how to create / manage them.
Tune into BFM, The Business Station or download the podcast later.

A sample of a multi-language website done by Launchpad: www.isleofveg.com (incl. branding, logo and brochure)

For more on intercultural issues and marketing: stefan@launchpad.com.my

I love veg - Isle of Veg!
Isle of Veg™ offers a complete portfolio of products and services from designing, building and operating production facilities to distribution and marketing of Isle of Veg grown fruits and vegetables. Their mission is to ensure that the Isle of Veg™ food is the freshest, safest, tastiest and most nutritious of all for your health and wellbeing.

Isle Of Veg™ Origin
Japan is known for the premium quality of its food and it has been one of the first nations to recognize the potential for Hydroponics to cultivate local food for optimum freshness and nutrition. As such, over the past two decades, many Japanese companies have been formed to research, develop this exciting market. Isle Of Veg™ comes from this long line of proud pioneers. The company leverages the state-of-the-art in knowledge and know-how to make Isle Of Veg™ products and services commercially viable.

Creating a tasty brand
Launchpad was tasked with the creation of a brand for this amazing system. Isle of Veg describes what the system is capable of: growing vegetables in any geographical location. It actually becomes an Isle of Veg. No matter if you are in the desert or the polar region, Isle of Veg will allow you to produce safe, tasty and nutritious vegetables. After a brand development program, Launchpad created the logo, website (www.isleofveg.com) and brochure. Shortly, we will move forward with a campaign to promote the brand. I love veg. Do you?

Four-in-one website
Among the communications tools created, it is the website that deserves special attention. Using 4 different languages, it is a site that has both, Left-to-right and Right-to-left languages. Managing these is easy as the backend comes with a system that highlights parts that are not up-to-date. Should the english original be changed, indicators show which parts in the other sections need updating.

For more on multi-cultural websites please see our entry below.

Websites are no longer a cool thing to have; they have become a necessary tool in growing your business. As more an more companies are expanding into new countries and territories, new challenges naturally arise when it comes to managing your web presence. Should you maintain one website in each country, or can you have one site that covers it all? Do you need to have multiple languages, and how about localization? Imagine a tourist website - a photo of couple in beach attire holding hands walking along the water may be perfectly normal and suitable in Thailand, while being very much off-limits in Qatar. Both countries have beaches, yet  clothing and public display of affection is looked upon very differently.

Managing a web presence with clients in multiple countries sites means you have to take all these matters into consideration. In this article we briefly touch upon a few of the more important matters.

Staying on message
Managing multiple languages doesn’t mean each language has to say exactly the same thing. Each message needs to be tailored to its specific target audience. Sometimes that can be the same content, other times it needs to change. The world is full of examples of faux pax made when a company just took their message and translated it. Examples include the Swedish vacuum cleaner which famously proclaimed that “Nothing sucks like Electroloux!”. Or how about the Eastern European candybar which is called “Fart”. Probably better to rename it before introducing it into English speaking countries…

Even luxury brands make mistakes. Rolls Royce initially called the Silver Shadow for Silver Mist - which can be translated into manure in German.

As mentioned in the introduction, managing multiple languages is not just about the text. Staying on message means you convey your story to each audience, but localize it to ensure that the message comes across as intended. Each language may need to have different images for the same (equivalent) pages in addition to a a text that is not just translated but localized.

Hey, which direction are they reading anyway?
Growing up, we were sometimes taught that the Japanese start reading their books from the end. Well, some may, but overall, people tend to read a book from beginning to the end. That doesn’t mean however that all people read from left to right (LTR). Some countries and cultures read right to left (RTL). Chinese, Korean, and Japanese texts were historically written top to bottom.

This presents an interesting problem for websites. Most programs are tailored for Western languages, and Western characters. Some software specialize in Asian languages and characters (Korean, Japanese, Chinese etc). But what if you have the need to keep your website in both languages, or perhaps more. Do your software have the technical capacity to handle it? How does a website know that the bits and bytes stored on your server know which 1s and 0s are to be displayed as Korean, and which are to be displayed as English? This presents some interesting technical challenges to ensure that a website knows which message is in which language, and will display it accordingly.

Synchronization – not just for your mobile phone.
Most of us back up and synchronize our mobile phones with our computers today. A quick connection with the cable and the address book, contacts, notes and calendar are all updated. Wouldn’t it be great if you could do the same with your website? Unfortunately its not quite that simple. Managing a multilingual website means more work than managing a single-language site.

The important thing is to have the discipline to translate any change you make in the source language (ie your native tongue) into the other languages. This means you need to keep an organized system of your content, and track your messages across languages.

By the same token, your website needs a technical system that can do the same. How does the server know whether you updated your English page, but not your Indonesian one? What if one page became obsolete and you deleted it, what happens to the equivalent pages in the other languages. Tracking software for multilingual sites provide significant relief in managing this process.

In summary
There’s no doubt that setting up and managing a multilingual website presents some unique challenges – both technical and linguistic ones. Yet, it provides a fantastic opportunity to reach out to new markets and customers. Contact us at Launchpad to learn more.

Sinotruk was the first heavy “China-Truck” to enter Malaysia. The success of the brand must have inspired others as there are now several other players too.  The brand building will continue as the company is planning to move to a new office and factory to accommodate growth and new products. The long term plan is to bring in the entire range of Sinotruk vehicles. This year will see new models and another brand (busses) to be introduced.

Launchpad is about to finalise the brochures for their key models, the Howo 4×2, 6×2 and 6×4. Creative concept: Alan Fong (Launchpad Communications Singapore), photography and content by Stefan Pertz (Launchpad Sdn Bhd).

To see how we can help you with your brand image: info@launchpad.com.my

The Malaysia Canada Business Council (MCBC) is a private, non-profit organization, established in Kuala Lumpur in 1989 to foster and enhance relationships between Canada and Malaysia. MCBC provides a forum for networking, promotion, and information-sharing. It represents the interests of its members, serving as a catalyst for further trade and investment between Canada and Malaysia.

Appointed by Roger Poulin, Stefan Pertz will join the board of the Council as Governour on its board, effective with immediate effect. Stefan will be contributing to MCBC with advice on marketing issues and actively running campaigns to further grow the membership of MCBC.

http://www.malaysia-canada.com/