When going global, companies tend to opt for localization. Because thanks to localization, it is more efficient to advertise products or services abroad.
Localization is “the process of making a product or service more suitable for a particular country or area.”*
It means you will be able to offer your products or services to your local target markets around the world, all while taking into account several factors. Culture, local preferences, interests…
Nintendo has such an exemplary localization. The Japanese video game company knows how to localize their products and their video games for an international audience. They knew how to bring their games to life for their global audience.
Since the company is from Japan, they had to translate all of their advertisements as well as their video games. But localization does not only mean translating. It is way more than „only“ languages. Because even if you translate a sentence, sometimes it can still be misinterpreted. So, for Nintendo, localization involves more than simply translating from Japanese into another language. It is an approach with the purpose to bridge cultural gaps all while maintaining the essence of their games and products.
When Nintendo decided to localize their products to match cultural norms and preferences abroad, they had to take into consideration several factors: languages, humor, names, references, customs…
Because if they did not then the customers might often not understand a reference or a joke. And even worse, the potential danger of cultural offenses during the localization process is a crucial concern. Names or jokes could mean something entirely different in another country. So yes, culture is at the center of localization.
A famous game by Nintendo, Super Mario Odyssey, was localized to match different real places in the world. They made serious research in order to have well-representative cities in the game.
Animal Crossing also has different holidays and celebrations from around the world represented in the game. That way, every player, even if they do not live in the same country, can experience another custom.
The game Pokémon Go is also localized. It is not a game exclusively by Nintendo but by Niantic this time, in collaboration with Nintendo. The game does not have the same Pokémons depending on which country you play it from. They are called Region Exclusive Pokémon.
Even if those are sometimes small changes and do not really affect the real essence of the game, by implementing them into their games, Nintendo has discovered how to really engage with their local audiences globally. Their products transcend language and also cultural barriers.
Nintendo is one out of many examples where they proved that by understanding cultural nuances, it is way easier to engage and connect with local communities and thus have a global loyal audience.
In case you want to go global with your brand, always make localization a priority in order to expand properly and boost your conversions abroad at the end of the day.
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