When built to travel, localisation needs a front-row seat in your planning
Marketing across borders is never just about translation. If you’ve ever seen a brilliantly crafted campaign lose all its charm in another language, or even get blocked by local regulators, you know what I’m talking about. And if you’re a Brand Manager, Marketing Director, or Project Lead in pharma or life sciences, you’ve likely felt the tension between global consistency and local relevance more than once.
To avoid this, localisation shouldn’t be the final checkbox on production timeline. It should be part of the blueprint.
Localisation isn’t translation with a fancy name. It’s not something you bolt on at the end of your production timeline. When done right, it’s the strategic foundation that makes or breaks your campaign’s ability to resonate across borders.
Localisation isn’t just final decoration
Too often, localisation is treated like a light cosmetic touch. Some tweaks to the copy, a stock image swap, maybe a new CTA. But real localisation is deeper than that. It’s about adapting the entire idea, message, tone, visuals, and storytelling to fit the regulatory, cultural, and clinical context of each market. And for that to succeed, your creative concept must be designed to flex from the very beginning.
Imagine building a house you plan to move across a dozen different climates. You wouldn’t wait until the last moment to ask, “Does this roof hold up in snow?” The same logic applies here. If you know your campaign will live in several countries, make sure the foundation is strong enough to carry the weight of local variation.
The rules change, so should your plan
In pharmaceutical marketing, what you can say and how you can say it varies wildly between countries. One country’s approved claim is another country’s compliance headache. Smart campaigns are designed to stay compelling even after regulatory teams have had their way with them. That’s why campaigns that survive localisation are the ones that were built with it in mind. Where the idea is strong enough to survive regulatory trimming and still shine.
Doctors aren’t the same everywhere
From treatment pathways to consultation styles, healthcare looks different depending on where you are. A campaign that makes perfect sense in Stockholm might raise eyebrows in Milan or feel irrelevant in Warsaw. That’s not a failure of the brand, it’s a failure to plan for the world beyond your HQ.
Culture colours everything
Language is a funny thing. What’s inspiring in one market can be puzzling or unintentionally hilarious in another. The beautiful metaphor you crafted might lose all meaning when translated. That’s why localisation is not just about avoiding cultural faux pas, it’s about preserving the soul of your idea.
So, what should you do?
Start early. If you know your detailer, slide deck, or digital campaign will go global, bring in your local market teams early in the planning phase. Let their insights shape the core concept and the end product. Collaborate with regulatory teams. Stress-test your creative idea. Ask: “Will this survive localisation and still feel like us?”
Because when you build your campaign with localisation in mind from day one, something wonderful happens: you don’t just adapt your brand. You amplify it.
Need help making your campaigns localisation-ready from the start? Let’s talk. We’ve helped global pharma brands create ideas that travel well and land even better.
Johanna Kestilä
CEO
KarpaloGroup
Contact me in LinkedIn
+358 40 705 4494
