Ad Planning & Media
Ad copy for Korea: four claim types
Moving ad copy into Korean takes longer on evidence than on translation. Which four types of statement get asked for a source, what to prepare for each, and how to re-read the copy.
When you move ad copy from your home market into Korean, the part that takes the longest is not the translation — it is the evidence. Lines that state a value, a comparison or an outcome come with a question about where that statement came from, and the documents you already hold cover a different item name and sit in a different language, so they rarely attach as they are. It is faster to sort the lines into types and line up a document for each type before anything goes to a translator. Below: which types are asked for evidence, what to prepare for each, and in what order to re-read the copy once it has moved.
What changes when you move the copy over as it is
The meaning travels. The documents that used to sit behind each line do not travel with it. Three things change.
- The reading is done against local guidance — every channel you upload a creative to publishes its own guidance document, and you follow that document when you upload. A creative here means one complete set of the ad as it appears on screen.
- The body that issued your document is elsewhere — if the paper came from an institution in your home country, check its item scope, its issue date and its language again.
- The force of the sentence shifts — a phrase that carried a condition in the original often loses exactly that condition as it becomes a short Korean line.
Rules and review criteria differ by channel and change over time, so no clause or criterion is reproduced here. What this article covers is which kinds of sentences are asked to show a source, and how that source is prepared.
Which kinds of wording are asked for evidence
Four types. Sort by what the sentence does, not by the words it uses — reword it, and if the work of the sentence is the same it stays in the same type.
| Type | What the sentence does | What gets asked alongside |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison | Speaks by setting itself against something else | What was compared with what, under which conditions |
| Figures | States a value, a period or a count | When and by what method the value was obtained |
| Outcome | Says what happens if you use it | From whom, and under what conditions, the result came |
| Superiority | Says it stands ahead of the others in its group | How wide the field compared, and as of when |
Plenty of lines fall outside these four. A line describing what is inside the product and how it was made is product information — instead of hunting for a source, read it letter by letter against the specification sheet. Wording that promises an outcome and wording that means foremost may be ordinary phrasing in your home market; once it becomes a Korean line, the two right-hand columns follow it all the same.
What to prepare as evidence for each type
| Type | Document to prepare | Fields to match inside it |
|---|---|---|
| Comparison | A result sheet measuring both items under the same conditions | Names of the items compared · conditions held equal · date measured |
| Figures | The source file behind the measurement or the count | Method of measurement · period counted · what was included |
| Outcome | Test result sheets · survey result files | Number of subjects · conditions · period |
| Superiority | Research material that fixed the field of comparison in advance | Scope surveyed · date surveyed · who carried it out |
If the document is in your own language, keep a translation beside it. Carry the issuing body, the issue date and the item scope into the translation exactly as they stand. The field that goes wrong most often is item scope — the product name may match while the pack sold in Korea differs in volume or in what comes with it, in which case the document may not be pointing at that item at all. Put the document's scope field and the product name you will use in Korea side by side, and read them letter by letter.
In what order to re-read the copy you moved
It starts by breaking the copy into single sentences, before the whole block goes out for translation. Seven steps, and the first four finish before any translation.
- Lay the original copy out, one sentence per line — a numbered list of sentences.
- Mark which of the four types each line belongs to — the marked lines.
- Look for a document behind each marked line — lines with a document name filled in.
- Check the document's item against the pack sold in Korea — lines that travel, and lines that need work.
- Send only the settled sentences for translation — Korean sentences.
- Have someone who did not translate them render them back into your language — sentences to set beside the original.
- Rework only the lines whose force has shifted — the copy you place.
Step 6 is worth keeping. When someone who has not seen the original reads the Korean alone and renders it back, setting the two side by side shows the lines that lost a condition and the lines that gained force right there. For lines with no document at step 3, state the single value instead, or fold the condition into the sentence — putting the condition inside the line rather than in small print underneath makes one line longer and the meaning plain.
What table to keep the evidence in
One table only, one row per sentence. The point is that both languages sit in the same row — months later, when you pull the copy back out, you do not have to hunt for the original line it came from.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Sentence number | The number given to the original sentence |
| Home-market sentence | Exactly as written in the original |
| Korean sentence | Exactly as it goes on screen |
| Type | One of comparison · figures · outcome · superiority |
| Document | File name and folder path |
| Document language | Original language, and whether a translation exists |
| Item scope | Whether the document's item and the Korean pack are the same |
| Date checked | The day you opened the document yourself |
| Next review | The day the count or the test is due to be refreshed |
The last row is there because values move with time. A cumulative count or a survey result reads as a different number a few months on. With a review date written down, on that day you open only that one row of this table.
Where to ask when it is unclear
Where you ask follows where you are stuck. Take the answer in writing rather than by word of mouth, and file it in the same folder as the evidence.
| Where you are stuck | Where to ask | The sentence to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Whether this line goes in with a document | The guidance document and the enquiry desk of the channel you upload to | What material is submitted with a sentence of this kind |
| Whether a home-country document can be used as it is | Legal advice covering labelling and advertising inside Korea | What else is needed for this document to serve as a source |
| Whether the item has a separate procedure | The body responsible for that item · legal advice | Is there a further step to go through before this goes out |
| Whether the Korean line is stronger than the original | A Korean speaker who did not do the translation | What does this sentence read as promising |
The preparation does not stop while you wait for answers. Build the copy first out of the lines that carried no type mark and place that, then make a separate version with the held sentence in it once the reply arrives. Date each version and it stays clear which one went out.
What to do today
Take ten lines from the copy you are running at home — the ones you would place in Korea first — and write them out one line each. Mark each line as comparison, figures, outcome or superiority, and fill in the name of an evidence document only for the lines that carry a mark. The lines where no name goes in are the list to settle before anything goes to a translator. Ten lines takes between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
