Unfortunately, that lovely does not work for Web-Translations, but was at Online Marketing, Dusseldorf (OMD), along with three representatives from our company: Boss, Daniel; Marketing Manager, Cassie; and New Business Consultant, Andy.
The end of September saw them pack a box of service sheets, Web-Translations brochures, a few crisp shirts and a German phrase book, and jet off to the multi-football pitched sized exhibition centre, Messe (which, true to form for the deadpan Germans, means simply ‘Tradeshow’!).
OMD is twice the size of its British contemporary, Internet World, with over 380 exhibitors all encased in the 36, 000 square metre hall, and 20, 000 visitors all presenting themselves to be sold to.
And sold to they were, though it was reportedly a much easier process in Germany, with prospects being direct, and keen to get straight to the point. The general attitude to translation was different to that in England: it was widely accepted that multilingual sites are a must to maximise profit, and that the more languages the better. Quite different, then, to the insular view taken on these shores that customers will come to you, and spend anyway.
We all know Germans have a – often better than our – grasp of English, and that was the case at OMD: which just goes to show that second language learning needn’t be the hell most secondary school kids in this country would have you believe, with many Germans saying they began learning English at the rather raw age of six.
With Web-Translations’ experience in multilingual websites and online promotion, many were keen for more information, though were happier to refer to a website when at home, rather than carry away printed information on the day: does Germany already have an engrained green streak? I wonder…
We weren’t the only non native exhibitor at OMD, with a few Indian, Spanish and other UK traders present. Strange, though, was the disproportionate amount of South Africans there…Germany seems a long way to go, but that only serves to highlight the quality on offer, not least at Web-Translations’ stand, of course.
Throughout the two days, Andy could hardly detract his gaze from the aforementioned lovely, as you can see on the right. Ironic to note for a marketing exhibition, though, is the fact that he can’t remember what exactly she was advertising. Also evident from the picture is the work put in by Cassie to have created a fully transportable, yet professional and functional, stand, so a nod of the head to her for that.
The other most important things to note from the exhibition are that Bar Schumacher is a misnomer and pertains to beer, rather than the tainted F1 genius, and that Daniel managed to squeeze some free interpreting out of one of our favoured marketing translators, Peter, who went to visit our team, so thank you to him and see you next year!
6 October 2008 12:28