A distinctive brand voice that travels

Aesop is a luxury brand with a devoted following, creating products for the skin, hair, body and home. Its voice is considered, distinctive and instantly recognisable, and every market it enters expects to hear it. As a fellow B Corp, we shared Aesop’s values from the outset.

Aesop came to us after working with a partner who leaned too heavily on AI. The translations were literal, and the brand’s character was getting lost along the way. Aesop wanted a partner who understood local markets and shared its values, so that its voice would feel natural to every audience.

We never saw this as simply translation. Aesop’s voice is part of what makes the brand, and our job is to carry that voice consistently into every market.

1. Transcreation, not translation

   Based on the creativity and uniqueness of Aesop’s carefully crafted copy, we transcreated all copy for the local markets, giving linguists the freedom to write a market-led version of the copy rather than translating it line by line. This lets Aesop’s tone come through naturally in every language.

2. Immersion in the brand

   We built a dedicated team of linguists for each language and spent time training them on the brand voice and terminology. Working from the glossaries and style guides the client provides, they apply the same tone consistently from one project to the next.

3. Built to scale

   We conducted a series of detailed calls with the Aesop’s customer service, brand and website teams to ensure the workflow ran as smoothly as possible for all parties.