Need English advertising, or copy?

We help German advertisers and their agencies (called ‘lead agencies’) with English advertising materials and campaigns (brochures, leaflets, websites, posters, TV campaigns, public relations etc).

We can

• lead the entire process (as lead agency), thinking up the concept then creating the whole package (design, content, production)
• support others (lead agencies) with their advertising materials
• adapt international campaigns, ‘localising’ marketing, finalising content

1) The owner-manager, a thoroughbred marketing specialist who previously worked in international product management at blue-chip companies. His prior involvement with leading global advertising agencies is reflected in every consonant of carefully crafted copy.

2) We’re staffed solely by native speakers of English. Everything is written, designed and checked in-house.
All writers are fully versed in the world of marketing and advertising.

So even if we’re adapting a German campaign into English, the finished product will reflect the uniqueness of englishtalk as an agency.

We’re a ’micro-business’ - less than 10 employees - currently run by the founder Alex Woodruff as a sole trader.

All text and copy is coordinated and finalised by the owner and all copy is written by native speakers of English, offering you a healthy mix of British and American experience. For our track record, click here.

Since launching in 2005, we have worked on many high-profile international campaigns – for Top 10 German advertising agencies, leading German companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Our experience before this time goes back over 2 decades – in international marketing (including client-side for major companies advertising throughout Europe), in creative writing and all kinds of marketing communications.

We’re copywriters who happen to speak German as well as English. We would not compare ourselves with translators, who offer ‘text transfer’. So we don’t translate manuals and technical texts.

Flow, style and soft-sell text are best left to a human eye. Sentences are not formulae. You really shouldn’t translate marketing materials and advertising directly.

Our focus when creating English marketing communications is the pivotal message – about carefully conveying key points to a target audience.

So although we do offer translations, we do this from an advertising angle.

Aber natürlich.

Although we’re all native English speakers, we speak fluent German and have lived in Germany for several years. Also, we all have years of on-the-job experience in Germany. Gerne erzählen wir Ihnen mehr…

Yes, all our ‘creative output’ is in English, because all core team members are native speakers of English. But because we also speak fluent German your brief, communication and feedback can be in German or English!

Yes. Not only have we won pitches as a full-service agency, we’ve also helped other lead agencies win their pitches.

We can develop materials from scratch, including advertising strategy, positioning, design, content, copy, and finished materials. The only things we don’t do: certain types of production (eg, TV, radio, merchandising) and
media buying.

Yes! Although we prefer to write texts directly from a creative brief (which can be in German or English), we also copyedit/proofread and translate texts.

Yes and no. To draw an analogy: physiotherapists treat the overall physical condition, and this occasionally includes massage. At englishtalk, we specialise in international advertising and marketing communications, so inevitably this sometimes involves translation.

When we do translate, however, we don’t translate directly. We focus on the underlying message and idea. So to ensure this comes across the way it was intended, all of our work is checked by another in-house copywriter.

We love it when people ask that!

Our joking response: “Tell us where the native speakers of ‘international English’ grow up, and we’ll provide you with their English.”

On a more serious note: we know all the tricks of the trade and how to avoid upsetting various readers. We have both US and UK speakers of English, so we know all the faux pas, the vocab to avoid, and dangerous double entendres.

Ultimately, however, you have to choose one type of spelling: UK or US.

We have hourly rates for copywriting, advertising adaptation, translation and copyediting. For larger projects, there may sometimes be a management fee.

Please contact us for more details.

Every single project we deliver to customers has been written, checked, and/or cross-checked by the owner. Only in exceptional circumstances do we call on outside help from long-established experts we know personally, whose work we edit before delivery to the client.

For website support, design and programming we have a tried-and-trusted specialist who supports us on a freelance basis.

Our committed team works hard for you, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Then we play hard at the weekends, and recharge our batteries. That way, we’re fresh as a daisy on Monday morning to work on your next international campaign.

Demo ContentIf you are looking for English support with new media, please do get in touch with us. People have different definitions of ‘new media’, so depending on the area you are looking at, we’re more than likely to be able to help.

We’ve worked out the patterns of behaviour that companies and agencies follow when designing campaigns for export markets. These are usually dictated by the client and how ‘different’ the export campaign is ‘allowed’ to be (compared to the original in the home country).

To capture this, we have a model outlining Four Levels of Adaptation. This allows us to decide how much the text, imagery and positioning should be adapted for campaigns, and why.

If you’d like to hear more, drop us a line.

Very often, “Finally – just what we’ve been looking for!”

Some of our clients are other agencies (localising an international campaign). They burnt their fingers using a general translator.

Others are exporting companies that have realised their local agency does not have the in-house expertise to localise materials or work on international campaigns.

Click here to view some quotes

Of course. We have clients in all corners of the German-speaking world, from Hamburg to Vienna. And in fact our owner is now based on the border to Switzerland. Although a lot of day-to-day business is on the phone or via email, it’s always good to meet face to face. So before a major project, we’ll generally like to kick it off at your place of business.

Like many advertising agencies, we are generalists when it comes to subject matter. So we don’t work on contracts, instruction manuals or medical reports. Highly specialist texts are the realm of specialised writers and translators.

But we do write some technical texts for a general audience, often directly into English.

Our favourite clients understand the role only native speakers can play in fine-tuning marketing materials and advertising. They challenge us, and enjoy being challenged in return. They see us as a communications partner, not just a supplier.

Ogilvy once asked, “Why keep a dog and bark yourself?” We really enjoy doing the barking for our clients, and if you pay out enough leash we devise copy and concepts only native speakers could think of.

Absolutely. We frequently support other agencies, usually because they don’t have the right native speakers in-house. In fact Top 10 German agencies already rely on us for native speaker support.

Naturally, we always guarantee watertight confidentiality.

Because we would never bite that hand that feeds us. Stealing clients is unethical. You worked hard to win your clients.

As lead agency, you choose how much contact we have with your client. But please bear in mind that if we cannot contact your client, you act as a liaison. This means you must provide us with a waterproof brief, coordinate the process in detail, and ask the sort of questions we would.

‘Partnership’ can mean a lot of things. But as one expert in this field says, network means notwork.

If your agency has international partners, always make sure

• its partners don’t just focus on their own (local) clients
• its partners understand German thinking
• your agency knows how to manage this ‘lead function’!

We’ve seen so many agencies struggle with the complexity and costs of international campaigns. With englishtalk, you sidestep many of these issues.

Goodness, no! It’s all in the name, you know… just English.

We don’t provide materials in German because it would go against the grain of what we stand for. With advertising, understanding linguistic and cultural codes from the standpoint of a native speaker is crucial.

Could you work with them?
Sure. We already work with some major German lead agencies, without stepping on their toes. Some were told about us by their clients. Others use our services without informing their clients, as part of a strict confidentiality agreement.

Actually, if you have big budgets and experts outside Germany, we recommend you DO use an agency in the UK or US!

Clients turn to us in Germany for our specialist experience in advertising,
our fluency in German, our cultural understanding, and because we’re right on their doorstep.

If you’re in Stuttgart and would like to meet, tell us in good time as one of our owners would need to travel back up from the Swiss border. Alternatively, if you’re in Switzerland, we’ll come to you.