From Translation to Transcreation: the case of Ichnusa advertising campaign

This thesis focuses on the concept of transcreation, a creative translation practice that aims to preserve the original message’s intention, tone, and emotional impact while adapting it to the cultural and communicative expectations of the target audience. The study begins by exploring the main translation theories and strategies relevant to transcreation, with particular attention to functionalist approaches, including Skopos Theory and the concept of equivalence. These theoretical foundations pave the way for understanding transcreation as a hybrid practice that integrates linguistic mediation, creative reformulation, and strategic communication within marketing and advertising. It further allows for a deeper undestanding of transcreation, positioning it in relation to similar yet distinct practices such as localization, adaptation, copywriting, and traditional translation. In addition, the study offers a discussion of the transcreation strategies applied in the final chapter, supported by real-world examples of transcreated advertising content. Finally, these theoretical insights are applied to a concrete case study: the Sardinian beer brand Ichnusa. Through a comparative analysis of the 1996 and 2017 advertising campaigns, the research examines how the brand has evolved from local, family-oriented storytelling to a more glocal and cosmopolitan narrative. In this process, transcreation plays a key role in reshaping local imagery to better engage international audiences.