Globally Speaking

In IP, getting the language wrong isn't a quality issue but a legal one.

James Lacey, CEO of Protect at RWS, joins our latest Cultural Intelligence Podcast episode to talk about something that rarely makes it into conversations about IP strategy: context.

Not just the legal context of a jurisdiction, but the full lifecycle context of a portfolio; where every decision, every filing, every ownership update is connected to what came before and what comes next.

A Chief IP Counsel James met in Taiwan put it simply: IP is too often seen as a cost centre managing legal rights. The shift is towards treating it as a value centre managing strategic assets. That reframe changes everything, including how you think about where AI fits in.

The human in the loop isn't a safety net. It's the whole architecture.

Building a story that lands in one market is hard enough. Getting it to work everywhere, simultaneously, is where most global launches fall apart.

Erin Roesch, Global Product Marketing Manager, joins the Cultural Intelligence Podcast to talk about what it takes to go global and why the biggest mistake teams are making right now has nothing to do with budget or bandwidth. It's about the story.

As a "Builder PMM" who turns complex capabilities into clear positioning, Erin knows that business needs rarely change across markets. What changes is the trigger; the legislation, the culture, the pressure a customer is feeling. And if your story doesn't reflect that, you're not just missing an opportunity. You could be pushing people away without realizing it.

Erin brings this to life through her own experience as an American living in the UK, a near-miss campaign launch in Germany, and why one country rarely equals one version. Her closing definition of Cultural Intelligence is worth the listen alone.

AI has handed marketers speed and scale they've never had before. But is this really a differentiator when everyone has access to the same models?

Emma Fisher, VP of Marketing at RWS, and Sal Mohammed, Head of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) at LangSync and former Googler, join our latest Cultural Intelligence podcast episode to explore what modern marketing looks like in the age of AI – and why the best campaigns have very little to do with how fast you can generate content.

From "we're all on a rocket ship with no way to get off" to the CMO's evolving role as orchestrator, warrior, and tastemaker (curious yet?), just make sure you buckle up. Emma and Sal dig into the rise of AEO, what it means for brand visibility as search shifts to generative AI, and how Cultural Intelligence shapes whether your content gets surfaced… or ignored.

You'll also learn why relevance, resonance and trust are the only valid metrics when everyone is publishing at the same speed, and why too many content leaders are still measuring success against the wrong scorecard.

If you’re interested in learning more about the ‘Content Unlocked’ report, you can find it here: [https://www.rws.com/about/content-unlocked/lp/ ](https://www.rws.com/about/content-unlocked/lp/)

In this Globally Speaking episode, we sit down with Anne Lepere and Francesca Filanti, Senior Managers in Testing at RWS, to explore what it really takes to make global products feel native, no matter where in the world they're used.

Key topics covered:

* Why localization testing is so much more than translation, but rather where linguistics meets engineering
* The hidden technical work behind the scenes: ADB commands, debug flags, and device setups most linguists never see
* Why testing functionality and language together, not separately, saves clients time, money, and headaches
AI's growing role in localization and why human testers remain the final gatekeepers
* What it takes to scale testing across 300+ native testers, 4,000 devices, and dozens of languages under brutal deadlines

Whether you're building global products or just curious about what happens after "translate" is clicked, this episode will change how you think about the apps and devices you use every day.

Download the case study to learn more: [https://www.rws.com/localization/eig/rws-enables-high-volume-localization-testing-for-a-global-tech-company/ ](https://www.rws.com/localization/eig/rws-enables-high-volume-localization-testing-for-a-global-tech-company/)

"Some brands are really proud - they have thousands and thousands of pages in hundreds of languages. But nobody reads them. Gone are the days when you were translating for the sake of it.”

Ben Faes, CEO of RWS, joins the Cultural Intelligence Podcast for a conversation on what’s reshaping global brand strategy - and why Cultural Intelligence is now fundamental to succeed.

In this episode:

* Why one message no longer works everywhere - and why “American cachet” no longer carries the weight it once did
* How leading global brands stay recognizable without sounding the same everywhere - and why translation alone leaves value on the table
* Why automating everything is the fastest route to creating content nobody reads - and how AI is changing expectations around quality and relevance

This episode explores AI volume versus AI value, meaning at scale, and meeting audiences where they are.