Illustration Case Study

IllustrationIllustration is an online agency which brings illustrators, animators and customers together. The site is a showcase of illustrators’ and animators’ work and allows its clients to commission work that meets budgets, design briefs and deadlines.

With offices in New York and London, as well as affiliates in Paris, Singapore and Hamburg, Illlustration recognised its international potential, in particular in the French and Japanese markets, which have growing markets for animated work. Illustration wanted to test these two markets before fully committing to them with a fully localised website—a large task given the size of their English site, and as such decided that the time was right to translate key areas of their site into French and Japanese. Their aim was to create an international online presence to drive business growth for themself and their illustrators through localisation of their website and advertisement of their products in these key markets.

With the help of Web-Translations, the new Illustration sites were successfully launched with individual domain names to suit each target market and SEO in each market to promote the site to new customers.

Challenge

  • To provide a simple solution to Illustration’s desire to go international
  • To win new business for Illustration and its artists in non-English markets
  • To improve the accessibility and exposure of the Illustration website on an international level
  • To generate awareness of Illustration’s services and its artists in the French and Japanese markets

Solution

  • Web-Translations’ SAL services to create websites for the French and Japanese markets
  • Individual domain name consultancy to help Illustration choose appropriate website addresses for the new countries and languages
  • In-house Japanese Project Manager to advise on Japanese cultural requirements and sales techniques
  • Research and manual submission to industry-related search engines and directories

Results

  • Localised French and Japanese sites, specifically targeted to each country’s tastes
  • Improved awareness within the Japanese customer base
  • Development of relationships with the Paris office, facilitating their own success and growth
  • Increased traffic to the English, French and Japanese sites over an initial three month period from site launch