Title	PROMISE THE TRANSLATION
Brand	ELAN
Product/Service	TRANSLATION TOOL
Category	D01. Social Video
Entrant	J. WALTER THOMPSON AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	J. WALTER THOMPSON AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	THE AMBASSADORS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production 2	BRENNINKMEIJER & ISAACS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Bas Korsten	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Executive Creative Director
Guney Soykan	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Senior Creative Art Director
Kasia Haupt Canning	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Senior Creative Copywriter
Daan de Raaf	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Executive Strategy Director
Lex Noteboom	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Strategist
Ronald Mica	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Designer
Lisa Merelle	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Business Director
Linda Jansen	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Concept Producer
Lotte de Rooij	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Screen Producer
Mariska Fransen	J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam	Screen Producer
Joe Roberts	Joe Roberts	Director
Job Kraaijeveld	Job Kraaijeveld	DOP

The Campaign

We set out to prove its translating superiority by showing people testing it against Google Translate, on a day when their words matter the most. In this video we compare ElaN Languages with the giant Google Translate. Who relies on online translation tools more than someone who speaks a different language than the love of their life? So we found engaged couples that come from different nationalities, and use (sometimes broken) English as their common language. We asked them to write their wedding vows in their native tongue — the language in which they feel the most comfortable expressing themselves. The couples ran their wedding vows through both online translation tools, and red the results in English at their actual ceremonies. The translations were derived from Hindi, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Dutch and Norwegian. The results of Google made for some whacky declarations. Then we hear the translated vows using ElaN,

Creative Execution

We searched for international couples who were already planning their weddings. Then in exchange for professional video footage of their wedding, they played along with our little test when they spoke their vows. We filmed three separate weddings, and cut them together into a 2-minute online film. The short video was shared online via ElaN’s platforms and spread viraly through Facebook, Twitter, and email shares.

The results were exactly what we had set out to achieve. In 120 seconds, people all over the world witnessed a real-life test-drive of ElaN Languages. They were then directed to the ElaN online translation tool to try out the product for themselves. The video was shared organically, increasing our reach across the Internet. People were genuinely surprised by the difference in quality of translation by the two different tools. We had a lot of positive reactions on social media: Twitter, Facebook and people even sent us a personal e-mail saying they have enjoyed the film and even tried it themselves.

The strategy was simple: everyone uses Google instead of ElaN for online translations, so we wanted to prove to the Internet that ElaN is the better choice. And to make the idea entertaining and catchy, we amped up the drama by staging the experiment on the most important day of three couples’ lives. The target audience is everyone for whom an accurate translation is important, especially Google Translate users who have never tried ElaN. We wanted to show them that they are missing out on better online translations. And because ElaN is an online tool, we wanted to keep the idea in the digital world. After viewing the video, the audience is just one click away from testing out the translation tool for themselves.