Global chemical-industry leader Arkema seeks new agency to give its international employee magazine a boost

In 2008 global chemical-industry leader Arkema approached Arca Director Marc Stoerr to revamp the company’s international employee magazine, Arketypes. Arca specializes exclusively in corporate journalism, and is known for high writing standards, mastery of editorial processes, and excellence in international publications.

The agency’s challenge was threefold: to significantly improve the quality of the reporting and the readability of the magazine’s English version, transition the magazine from a print to an electronic format, and free up Arkema employees from time-intensive publication management duties.

Professional journalism and “trans-adaptation” make the difference

From the agency’s standpoint, the number-one priority was to produce an effective magazine. “It’s all about the reader. Our goal was to deliver a magazine that would make employees want to read it, regardless of the format.” said Marc. “We are corporate journalists, and the benefits of our approach and organization were immediately obvious to the customer, who was thrilled with the reporting from the very first issue.”

Arca Editorial Project Coordinator Véronique Stoeckel, who oversaw production of Arketypes from 2008 to 2009, added, “Right from the beginning the English version really resonated with our contacts at Arkema in the United States. SFM Traduction showed great skill in adopting the customer’s language, and hit just the right register.” Another of this ongoing project’s main challenges is the schedule. “Due to a complex publication cycle with various approvals, the deadlines are tight and often unpredictable. SFM Traduction gives us the responsiveness and flexibility we need to meet and exceed our customer’s expectations, maintaining the same level of enthusiasm and responsiveness right through the final draft rounds and corrections,” said Véronique.

A partnership based on service and professionalism

Arca has built a strong reputation for excellence in customer service, an ethic the agency’s partners must share. “We are in a service business. Arca’s reputation for service is what has helped us win national corporate contracts over the past 30 years, despite the fact that we are a small agency without a Paris office. SFM Traduction shares our high standards, enthusiasm, and professional approach to problem solving. Our conversations go far beyond per-word rates and deadlines. SFM Traduction is committed to the success of our projects.”

New marketing strategy demands top-notch execution

Lyon-based B to B communication agency pemaco recently turned to SFM Traduction to provide French-to-English translation and English copywriting services for Schneider Electric’s Energy Efficiency Solutions Guide, a 100-page catalogue targeting building systems designers and installers on commercial property markets in all countries where Schneider Electric operates.

The stakes were high for pemaco—the agency could not afford to disappoint a major corporate customer—and at Schneider Electric, where energy efficiency was recently placed at the core of a new solutions-driven marketing strategy and where all eyes—right up to executive level—were riveted on the outcome of this strategic communication project.

Sylvie Soule, account manager at pemaco, developed the concept for the document—an introduction outlining general environmental and regulatory issues plus five chapters presenting the solutions on a series of double-page spreads—and orchestrated all aspects of production, from copywriting and translation to graphic design and final editing.

Based on past projects successfully completed together for the same customer, Sylvie knew that SFM Traduction’s Sara Freitas-Maltaverne shared her vision for the document, and would be willing to go the distance to ensure that the high expectations for the project were met. Sylvie particularly appreciated Sara’s tenacity: “If she isn’t satisfied with something, she will keep on plugging away at it until she is. She is also easy to work with, really listens to the customer’s needs, and takes into account the limitations inherent to any project.”

Quality is in the details

Sara’s assignment—a hybrid of translation, rewriting, and copywriting—demanded considerable attention to detail. The contributions of multiple authors from Schneider Electric in different languages—French, English, and a blend of both—had to be unified to ensure that the entire 100-page document came together as a coherent, attractive, and readable whole.

There were also a number of hurdles to overcome at Schneider Electric, where the use of certain outmoded terms and expressions in English had become institutionalized. Sara took the time to meet with internal stakeholders and, armed with documented evidence, was able to convince the team to risk breaking away from “business as usual” to ensure that the entire document reflected the fresh, modern image that had been chosen for the new marketing strategy, right down to details like choice of vocabulary and even punctuation. For Sylvie, Sara’s availability and willingness to go the extra mile “greatly contributed to our credibility and our added value on this project […] and made a positive impression on the customer.”

Global center of excellence expands reach through new multilingual website

As Communication Manager at MINATEC, Célestine Janniaux was tasked with overhauling the cluster’s website. The project included developing a new multilingual website in French, English, and Japanese.

At the crossroads of higher education, research, and industry, Grenoble, France-based MINATEC provides a powerful collaborative work environment that attracts leading international-caliber scientists to develop future applications for micro and nanotechnologies. The new website needed to reflect the cluster’s positioning as a global center for excellence in micro and nanotechnology research.

Communication department sets the bar high

Célestine oversaw all aspects of this major project: developing content, locating potential service providers, budgeting, and supervising progress once the project—which took place over several months—got off the ground.

Because the website is one of the cluster’s most visible communication tools, there was no room for error. When it came to finding the right translator for the project, Célestine started by using her networking skills to get recommendations, and then invited selected translators to submit proposals that included a short test translation.

Célestine explains, “Sara was recommended to me by two people in my network. I contacted her, and she agreed to submit a proposal for the project. I had the different submissions evaluated by several people on our team: an American, a Canadian, and a French person who had spent a number of years in the United States. They were unanimous about the superior quality of Sara’s translation compared to the other submissions.” A choice was then made: SFM Traduction was asked to tackle the project.

Teamwork from day one

During the project, Célestine and Sara interfaced regularly. Sara submitted a constantly-updated list of queries and Célestine obtained the necessary explanations from experts at MINATEC. Sara communicated constantly with her proofreader to ensure that the MINATEC, team’s preferences were taken into account in the final copy of each page of the website.

Teamwork was a key aspect of the project from the get go. “In addition to the quality of the final project and the ability to meet the deadlines set—by far the most important points—the friendly, courteous working relations with Sara were a definite plus,” Célestine points out. Sara, on the other hand, valued Célestine’s willingness to go the extra mile to ask MINATEC experts for the information needed to ensure the translation was on target—crucial to ensuring quality. But that should come as no surprise given the cluster’s reputation as an innovative collaborative work environment!

Communication department seeks strategies to streamline the writing process and add variety

As a member of the XRCE Communication Department, part of Claudia Heyer’s job is to write English-language articles about XRCE for the Xerox global corporate intranet platform, a task made all the more daunting by the fact that Claudia’s native language is German!

XRCE is a Xerox research and development center in Grenoble, France. XRCE researchers create innovative document technologies for the Xerox office and global solutions and services businesses. The center employs about 80 people and is part of the global Xerox Innovation Group.

The solution: a made-to-measure course covering the entire writing process

Claudia asked SFM Traduction to come up with a made-to-measure course to address her unique needs. The two-day course covered the writing process, effective writing for the web, different article types and their structures, developing a persona to target writing to a specific readership, and personalizing pieces with quotes and real-life anecdotes. And, because Claudia writes in her second language, English, the course also offered tailor-made tips and tricks for proofreading and correcting her own work to catch mistakes.

According to Claudia, “Sara’s training has been of great value to me. Her excitement about good structure and precise language has been downright infectious. Not only has she helped me to improve my English writing skills, she has also given me confidence in my ability to write in English.”

Ongoing progress on the job through real-time editing services

Once the two-day training course was completed, SFM continued to support Claudia by editing her pieces prior to publication. This service helped Claudia to meet deadlines and consolidate the skills learned during the training—she received all of the corrections for each article as well as a “clean” version of the improved article for publication. She adds, “When I send Sara draft articles in English they come back not only with the English corrected, but Sara also manages to add enthusiasm to them!”

Client: Beautifulscreen

Client’s objective: To produce advertising and corporate films in English for businesses ranging from industry to IT

Major challenge: Develop English-language scripts in line with the brief and that faithfully communicate the end client’s key product/service messaging

My value added: “My script-writing partner and I found in Sara the person we were missing for our international ad and film projects. Sara does not translate our texts—she translates our creations, our moods, and the euphonic esthetic we strive for in our films. She enables us to bridge cultures, just like we do with images. She adapts scripts, dialogue, voiceovers and subtitles for us, always remaining faithful not only to the meaning of the original version, but also to the atmosphere and—most of all—the marketing objectives of the project.”

Watch video Alstom, Shaping the Future

– Luc Serrano, director, Beautifulscreen (www.beautifulscreen.tv)

Client: Harding Marketing

Client’s objective: Provide end client with quarterly and monthly promotional product catalogs in English for multilingual deployment across the EMEA small-and-medium-business market segment

Major challenge: Deliver English texts that simultaneously leverage the global brand identity, product strategy, and local market requirements. Provide compelling copy while avoiding language that could pose translation difficulties in non-English-speaking markets

My value added: “We get a global copywriting service from Sara that accounts for all our needs in this project from concept, theme and messaging to product benefits. Her partnership, flexibility and writing skills make her a real pleasure to work with.”

– Mara Saviotti, project manager, Harding Marketing

Client: Les Privilodges, an all-apartments hotel specializing in an extended-stay business travel

Client’s objective: Support the Grenoble-based brand’s upmarket repositioning and expansion of its geographical footprint by creating a comprehensive set of sales documents in English for use with guests and their employers from the initial request for information through the end of their stay at the hotel

Major challenge: Make available to the client a set of 20 documents in “international” English as quickly as possible while maintaining the impeccable quality needed to reflect the brand’s unique values and upmarket positioning

My value added: “Ms. Freitas met the specifications we set for the project within the short turnaround time needed. She took the time to get to know our company’s objectives and values, meeting with us several times to discuss the project. We are totally satisfied with the results and we are delighted to work with Ms. Freitas.”

– Hugues Barnoin, General Manager, Les Privilodges

Client: Minalogic (global competitive cluster specializing in micro- and nano-technologies and embedded intelligence)

Client’s objective: Promote the cluster internationally by publishing an informational website in English

Major challenge: Publish the English version of the website as quickly as possible while ensuring that the quality of the site reflects the cluster’s world-class reputation

My value added: “SFM Traduction delivered HTML files that were ready to publish. Our webmaster spent around 90% less time publishing the English HTML files than he would have integrating translated texts into the existing site. Sara was highly responsive, came through with fast turnaround times, and delivered quality work. Sara’s keen understanding of the underlying communication issues also enabled her to make a number of suggestions—another plus.”

– Françoise Laurent, Communication Officer, Minalogic