Stagwell brought Sport Beach back to Cannes for its third year, featuring an expanded lineup of athletes and sponsors. The beachfront activation hosted a diverse program of panels and speakers across four days at the festival.
Sport Beach is Stagwell’s dedicated space at Cannes Lions, bringing together athletes, marketers, and creatives to explore the intersection of sports, culture, and business. It leverages sport as a gateway to the broader conversations driving the business landscape community, globalization, fandom, and more. And there were workouts, too.
At this year’s event, Forsman & Bodenfors Asia President Po Kay Lee and Locaria CEO Hannes Ben discussed the power of language, the importance of creative integrity, and the evolving role of technology in Asia’s fast-changing marketing landscape.
Lee has seen the event evolve, but 2025, she says, stood out.
“We’ve had an incredible lineup at Sport Beach. It feels more connected. Love it.”
It’s not just the festival that’s evolving, so is the way global brands approach language and culture, particularly in APAC, added Ben.
Complexity is what makes Asia so interesting. Clients often want to find commonalities, and they do exist, in behaviors and attitudes. But not always in language.
“The complexity of language in Asia makes traditional translation, and even transcreation, insufficient in many cases.”
Finding the Common Thread in a Complex Region
Lee noted that cultural and linguistic diversity is what makes Asia one of the most compelling regions for creative work, but also one of the most challenging.
“Complexity is what makes Asia so interesting. Clients often want to find commonalities, and they do exist, in behaviors and attitudes. But not always in language,” she said.
She also emphasized the importance of balancing globally resonant ideas with deep local relevance.
“We need incredible insights that are universal and can spark a big, creative idea. But if that idea gets lost in translation, it loses its impact entirely,” said Lee.
“Beyond cultural insights and human truths, language shapes how a message truly lands with its audience. Capturing local nuance is essential and a great example is our work for global beauty brand SK-II in China and Japan.”
“We worked with Locaria to turn a simple translation into a script that resonated with the local market. Even for the simplest assets, the right words will deliver real impact.”
Lee added that language isn’t simply part of the delivery — it’s at the heart of the entire ideation process.
“In Asia, having a language-first lens on some of our work is super important. When we work with partners who can ideate with us in the original language, those ideas become so much more authentic.”
Early Collaboration = Stronger Creative
For marketers in this complex, diverse region—home to an abundance of cultural nuance across dozens of countries—authenticity comes not only from language expertise but also from a deep understanding of timing.
“The best partnerships are built on tight collaboration. We love it when we can bring in our localization and transcreation partners early, during ideation,” said Lee.
“That’s when you help shape the idea from the ground up, rather than reverse-engineering it later to fit different markets.”
By its very nature, the creative process is inherently iterative, especially when applied across borders. It evolves as more cultural perspectives and regional nuances are brought in.
“The key is working together to preserve the core integrity of the idea, while letting it flex where needed,” said Lee.
We know humans are never going to disappear from creativity or language.
Speed, Culture, and the Right Kind of Tech
The discussion turned to technology, a hot topic across the Croisette. While AI was the headline act at Cannes, both leaders agreed that tech is only valuable if it strengthens creative outcomes.
“We know humans are never going to disappear from creativity or language,” said Ben.
“But we are developing tools that can support them more effectively.”
As an example, Ben pointed to Locate, Locaria’s proprietary localization platform.
“It brings together the full process, research, transcreation, and versioning, into a single system.”
“It’s powered by tech, but human-led from a strategic perspective. That means more speed and more effectiveness, without sacrificing nuance.”
Lee echoed the sentiment, emphasizing the role of technology in driving meaningful outcomes.
“Things are moving fast, and we’re open to all of it. But what really matters is when tech enables better creativity, better insights, and a more culturally authentic end product. That’s what we’re after.”
Craft That Travels
The spontaneous conversation between the pair highlighted the larger point that in a region as diverse as APAC, it’s no longer enough to assume a creative idea will carry through language and culture intact.
Crafting ideas that travel means embedding cultural and linguistic thinking at every stage, from insight to execution.
Stagwell contributed to the creation of this article.
