Hey everyone, I’m Dmitry, founder of a skincare brand that’s been growing steadily in Russia. Now we’re planning to expand to the U.S., but I’m struggling with cultural adaptation. We’ve started using bilingual UGC templates from the community, but I worry that overly ‘Americanizing’ our content might dilute our brand’s identity. For example, our Russian storytelling emphasizes heritage and craftsmanship, but U.S. test campaigns are getting feedback about being ‘too formal’ or ‘not relatable enough’. Has anyone navigated this tightrope successfully? What specific adjustments did you make to keep authenticity while resonating locally?
Dmitry, this resonates! When my fashion clients face this, I connect them with hybrid creators - bilingual influencers who’ve transitioned between markets. One recently paired a Moscow-based heritage storyteller with a Texas-based lifestyle creator for co-branded Reels. The key was keeping the core narrative about craftsmanship but framing it through ‘small-batch’ and ‘artisan’ angles for U.S. viewers. Want me to introduce you to a few collaborators?
We A/B tested this heavily. Our Russian-rooted tea brand found that U.S. audiences responded 37% better to ‘daily ritual’ positioning vs ‘generational tradition’. But we kept visual motifs from our original branding (like packaging colors). Track CTR on localized vs hybrid assets – often a 20-30% tweak in messaging beats full overhaul.
Don’t let templates limit you. We had a client use your community’s Russian-to-English UGC framework but added a layer of ‘casualization’ – swapping polished product shots for iPhone-style ‘morning routine’ videos. Engagement jumped 2x in test markets. Sometimes it’s less about words, more about context framing.
As a U.S. creator working with Eurasian brands: Keep your unique angle but anchor it in local triggers. Example: A Georgian wine brand I worked with stopped saying ‘500-year legacy’ and instead did videos like ‘Why Napa Winemakers Are Obsessed With This Old-World Technique’. Your authenticity becomes the hook, not the whole story.
This is a positioning problem first. Map your brand’s core attributes to American analogs – is your ‘heritage’ comparable to a heritage U.S. brand’s ‘craftsmanship’? We helped a Ukrainian bakery chain position as ‘The European answer to artisanal sourdough’ in NYC. Same product, re-anchored cultural reference.