The Localization Partnership Playbook: Insights from Canva & RWS – a masterclass in global growth
6 mins
The global landscape is moving faster than ever, and for ambitious organizations, connecting with audiences worldwide demands more than just translation. It requires a strategic partnership that thrives on agility, fosters deep collaboration and consistently delivers measurable impact. This vital point was at the heart of a recent Slator webinar, "The Localization Partnership Playbook: Insights from Canva & RWS," featuring RWS’s Program Director, Martin Kohoutek, and Canva’s Head of Localization, Michael Levot.
The webinar highlighted a powerful truth: that balancing innovation with empathy, where cutting-edge technology enhances indispensable human expertise, is crucial for unlocking global understanding and empowering partners to achieve their boldest ambitions.
The agile advantage: how strategic partnerships tackle 'curveballs' and tight deadlines
In the world of rapidly scaling global brands like Canva, strategy isn't just about boardrooms and suits; it's about nimble prioritization. As Michael Levot put it, "When we talk about strategy, we're talking about prioritization. We're talking about, you know, what do we do first and what do we do now?" For a company that embraces ‘throwing curveballs’ and operates with velocity as a core part of its culture, a localization partner's ability to adapt is paramount.
Canva's growth has been immense, and their localization journey began with an audacious goal: to be available in 100 languages, a ‘zero-to-a-hundred’ sprint from day one. This trajectory, combined with an eventful global landscape, means Canva's localization team has had to be reactive.
The ultimate test of this agility came with Canva Create, the company's annual keynote where their biggest product launches of the year are unveiled. Imagine the challenge: a new Excel-compatible design tool, an AI coding solution, vast digital marketing assets, landing pages, emails, social media content, comprehensive software and support localization – all launching on one single, immovable day. The timelines are ‘super tight’, information is ‘never complete’ and the standards are ‘sky high’.
This is where RWS's agility shines. Martin Kohoutek acknowledged the complexity of requests that came in ad-hoc, requiring quick discussions to define the end goal and find workarounds to deliver under tight constraints. The RWS team is built to manage constant change and deliver under this immense pressure, ensuring that even when other parts of the chain deliver late, localization doesn't slow things down. It's a ‘two-speed strategy’ – constantly thinking about how to improve for next year while delivering within the current reality.
Together we grow: the collaborative spirit behind global localization
The RWS-Canva partnership isn't just about managing projects; it's about deep, human-powered collaboration. Michael and Martin both emphasized that their relationship goes far ‘beyond just translation’.
The conversation highlighted a critical shift from a transactional relationship to one built on profound trust and mutual understanding. Michael recounted the very first Canva Create, where he sent Martin ‘a handful of low-res videos’ asking for localization, and the answer was a confident ‘yeah, give me a couple of weeks and we'll figure it out’. That willingness to ‘figure it out’ together laid the foundation for an amazing partnership that has evolved to immense scale.
A standout example of this commitment to partnership is the in-person offsite meetings. As Florian Faes noted, it’s ‘quite unusual’ for a client to fly operational and leadership teams from locales like Brno, Nanjing, and London to Sydney. Yet, both Michael and Martin underscored its incredibly valuable impact. Martin articulated it perfectly: "You simply cannot replace this by remote contact meetings. How you interact with people when you are sitting in one room, brainstorming on the challenges, finding new solutions, that's really something that cannot be replaced by anything else."
This face-to-face interaction fosters the 'pretty brutal honesty' (as Michael put it, clarifying "brutal is the wrong word") between the teams, allowing them to set egos aside and be ‘pretty open when things aren't working well or when we need to make a pivot’. This level of transparency ensures that opportunities for improvement are always recognized. RWS project manager, Sophia, acts as ‘almost a part of the team’, anticipating needs and working so closely with Canva that she finds it quite natural to anticipate what we're going to need.
Redefining localization success through user experience and impact
How do you truly measure the success of localization? Michael Levot shared a compelling perspective that moves beyond traditional KPIs. While Canva has impressive headline metrics – 60% of users in a language other than English, 85% outside North America, and 150 million monthly users engaging in non-English languages – he also champions a less quantifiable, yet highly impactful, measure: the perception of the localization team within the company.
Michael expressed a desire to ‘eradicate this concept [quality] from the way that we're working and stop thinking about quality and start thinking about customer experiences’ – and whether the content is relevant and meeting the needs of the user journey. The shift is towards investing time previously spent on abstract evaluation into directly using the product. Use it and see: did it do what you wanted it to do? Did it look right? This product-obsessed, user-centric approach, though not easily scalable, drives significant transformation.
RWS's ability to deliver the creative piece – the motion design, the beautiful visuals, even tiny details like hover assets in 11 languages for Canva Create landing pages – directly contributes to this elevated internal perception. This culturally relevant and visually stunning creative, which is so intrinsic to Canva's brand ethos, has given the localization team visibility and 'put us on level seating with a lot of the other crucial teams and functions at Canva’.
Mastering the AI momentum: scaling global content with strategic expertise
Canva's localization challenge extends beyond tight deadlines to the sheer volume and incredible variety of content. From product interfaces and marketing campaigns to intricate software, imagery, and motion design, managing this level of asset effort is "pretty close to an impossible task."
RWS rises to this challenge by leveraging its core strengths. Martin highlighted the necessity of a big pool of partners and in-country resources to ensure cultural relevance and nuanced adaptation. This is coupled with a profiling of the content and resources, allowing for specialization in areas like transcreation. All of this is underpinned by a robust quality setup and the metrics in place. The role of RWS's project managers, like Sophia, is crucial in 'baking together’ these elements through meticulous planning.
The discussion also touched on the transformative role of AI. Michael noted that AI has ‘freed up a lot of time and investment that we can put into really cool things like user testing and design research’, delivering increased understanding and opportunities to innovate. Martin echoed this, emphasizing that AI can handle transactional aspects of the work, allowing human experts to focus on higher-value activities, like how users truly perceive the product.
The blueprint for future-proof localization partnerships
The RWS and Canva partnership offers a compelling blueprint for strategic localization in the modern era. It's a testament to how the right partner can help an ambitious company not just navigate but transform localization from a perceived cost center into a strategic enabler of global growth.
While every client's journey is unique, this particular collaboration highlighted a playbook built on key pillars:
- Agility: A partner's ability to adapt quickly to changing needs and tight deadlines.
- Deep collaboration: Fostering trust, open communication, and mutual investment – even through in-person working sessions.
- Impact beyond metrics: Focusing on real customer experience and internal visibility, not just traditional KPIs.
- Scalability: Leveraging vast resources and expertise to handle immense content variety and volume.
- Innovation: Proactively embracing AI and continuous improvement to enhance both efficiency and the human-centric aspects of localization.
This is just one example of how a strategic partnership can unlock global potential. We know every business has its own set of challenges and ambitions, which is why RWS is dedicated to co-creating the right localization playbook tailored to your unique global content needs.
Ready for a localization partnership that fuels your global growth? Connect with RWS to discover how we'll co-create a tailored playbook that empowers your content to speak human, everywhere.
Jonny Stringer
All from Jonny Stringer
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