Following the hype around ChatGPT, in this article I discuss the pros and cons of using it in creative content creation projects, such as marketing, localization and transcreation.
ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that has the ability to generate human-like text. It can be used in a variety of applications, including marketing localization and transcreation projects.
Marketing localization involves adapting marketing materials, such as advertisements and product descriptions, to the cultural and linguistic norms of a specific target market. This can include translation, but taking into account cultural nuances and idiomatic expressions goes beyond simple word-for-word rendition.
On the other hand, transcreation is the process of adapting creative content, such as slogans or taglines, to make sure it resonates with the target audience and remains consistent with the company’s brand identity.
ChatGPT's ability to understand and generate human-like text makes it a valuable tool for these types of projects. It can be used to generate translations that seem idiomatic and natural-sounding, as well as to generate new creative content that is tailored to the target market.
One of the benefits of using ChatGPT for marketing localization and transcreation is that it can save time and money compared to traditional methods. Instead of hiring multiple translators and copywriters, a single ChatGPT model can generate multiple versions of the same content, each tailored to a specific target market.
ChatGPT can be useful for marketing transcreation in several ways:
Generating translations: ChatGPT can be trained on a large dataset of translations, which allows it to generate an automatic translation that may be more idiomatic and natural-sounding than a traditional machine translation.
Creating new content: ChatGPT can generate new creative content that is tailored to the target market when you input your brand's messaging and target market demographics.
Adapting existing content: ChatGPT can adapt existing content to the cultural and linguistic norms of a specific target market. When you provide it with your existing content and target market demographics, it can generate multiple versions of the same content.
Saving time and money: ChatGPT can save time and money compared to traditional methods of transcreation.
But, a word of caution. We’re not there yet…
Creative writing such as copywriting and transcreation require a high level of human intervention and knowledge, such as having a deep understanding of the target culture, using figures of speech, wordplay, visual references – and this is just to name a few.
While ChatGPT has the potential to be a valuable tool for marketing translation, there are also some downsides to consider:
Lack of human insight: ChatGPT is a machine learning model, and does not have the same level of cultural understanding and empathy as a human translator. It will not be able to fully capture the nuances and subtleties of a target market's culture and language. This can lead to less effective translations.
Lack of creativity: ChatGPT can generate multiple versions of the same content, but it will not have the same level of creativity and inspiration as a human copywriter. The text generated by the model may be useful as a starting point for adaptation and translation, but the final text must always be reviewed and edited by a human.
Errors and inconsistencies: Any machine-generated text will have errors or inconsistencies. Besides providing actual fabrications when it cannot find the answer to your query (as it has been reported by many), ChatGPT’s content may include grammatical errors, wrong translations, or cultural inaccuracies.
Dependence on data: ChatGPT's performance is heavily dependent on the data it's being trained on. If the data is of poor quality or not diverse enough, the translations generated by ChatGPT will not be accurate or appropriate.
High setup costs: Setting up and training a ChatGPT model can be a costly and time-consuming process. It requires a significant amount of data, computational resources, and expertise.
Overall, ChatGPT has the potential to be a valuable tool for marketing localization and transcreation projects. Its ability to understand and generate human-like text can save time and money. However, does it really pay off?
While ChatGPT can generate high-quality text, it is not a replacement for human expertise. If you ask ChatGPT, it will tell you to ask a professional to proofread, edit and adapt your text. In that, we agree.
About the author:
Ana Catarina is an English to Portuguese translator specialized in Healthcare and Marketing. She helps foreign companies to launch their brand and products in the Portuguese market by translating, localizing and transcreating their client-targeted contents to make them appealing to the Portuguese public.
