MATTA Case Study | VSI Group

Movember: save a bro

About the client

For the past 16 years, an annual trend has emerged during the month of November, of men growing moustaches in an effort to raise awareness of men’s health issues. Thanks to leading charity, Movember, conditions like prostate and testicular cancers, as well as mental health and suicide prevention, have become part of the global conversation.

The independent creative agency, MATTA, approached us for language support on a short video for Movember. We were more than happy to work on this project, as it’s always a great experience working with their team.

The project

Services:
Transcreation

Languages:
Welsh

MATTA requested transcreation of TV and radio scripts, from English into Welsh. Having already signed on Rhys Ifans from “Notting Hill” and “Harry Potter” as the voice artist, our team worked from a detailed storyboard with a targeted turnaround of 5-7 working days.

Our approach

The transcreation process involved a copywriter first translating the scripts, a proofreader reviewing them, and the client providing final feedback. In order to provide them with some alternatives, our copywriter suggested two options in Welsh for each existing line of English text, from which they could choose.

The original video featured a powerful and catchy slogan with a strong rhyme: “Whatever you grow will save a bro”. We wanted to craft a memorable Welsh slogan that would also rhyme, while still staying true to the essence of the original message. We eventually landed on, “Tashis mawr a tashis bach, helpwch gadw brawd yn iach”, which back-translates to English as, “Big moustaches and small moustaches, keep a brother healthy”. This small example represents the effort at the heart of transcreation – maintaining style, tone and meaning, no matter the language.

Outcome

According to Rhys Ifans, as quoted from Movember’s website, “I’m also really proud and pleased that we were also able to do this in Welsh because men’s health has no borders and it actually sounds very beautiful in Welsh too”. It was nice to hear from MATTA that Rhys appreciated the quality of our translation.

The completed video is available in English on MATTA’s and Movember’s websites, while you can find the Welsh version on Movember’s Twitter channel, here.

Having previously provided language services across the charity sector, we enjoyed working on this project and helping to promote the worthy cause of improving men’s health.