How Cardiff agencies run Welsh-language and bilingual creator campaigns

What to take away

• An influencer management agency in Cardiff treats Welsh and English as one campaign, not a translation afterthought.
• Bilingual creator briefs need language, tone and subtitle instructions agreed before filming starts.
• Public bodies and Welsh brands often require Welsh-language assets by policy, not preference.
• S4C and Welsh broadcaster partnerships work best when creators are cast for a format, not a follower count.
• Ofcom and ASA disclosure duties apply to paid creator content in both languages.
• Measure Welsh and English versions separately, or the weaker one hides inside an average.

Why Welsh-language campaigns matter to Cardiff agencies

Cardiff is Wales's media hub. Welsh-language broadcasters, production companies and agencies sit within a few streets of each other, so bilingual work is normal here rather than exotic.

That matters commercially. A campaign shot in Cardiff can serve a UK brand, a Welsh public body and a broadcaster commission without moving crews. The influencer management agency that can brief in both languages wins work that monolingual London agencies cannot staff.

Audience data supports the effort. The Office for National Statistics publishes cultural identity data that agencies use to size Welsh-speaking and Welsh-identifying audiences before pitching. See the ONS cultural identity statistics for the baseline figures.

A Cardiff agency also has to define who it is actually reaching. Welsh-speaking, Welsh-identifying and Wales-resident are three different groups, and a brief that blurs them will misfire. The discipline is the same one set out in our guide to defining a target audience that converts.

Where the campaign runs matters too. A creator with a strong Cardiff following may be weak in Ynys Môn or Carmarthenshire. Channel choices follow the audience, not the other way round, which is the logic behind a channel strategy that holds up.

Briefing bilingual creators: language, tone and subtitles

A bilingual influencer brief is a working document, not a translation. It tells the creator which language leads, which supports, and what happens on screen.

Language balance is the first decision. Some campaigns run Welsh-first with English subtitles. Others run English-first with a Welsh version cut separately. A few run fully bilingual, with the creator switching mid-sentence as they naturally would.

Tone differs by language. Direct English calls to action can sound blunt in Welsh. Agencies often ask creators to write the Welsh script themselves, then have it checked, rather than translating an English script word for word.

Subtitles are not optional furniture. Burned-in Welsh subtitles suit social feeds where sound is off. Separate subtitle files suit broadcast delivery. Agree which before the shoot.

Bilingual creator briefing steps

1. Agree the lead language and the secondary language, and say which platform gets which version.
2. Give the creator the brand's Welsh terminology, including product names that must not be translated.
3. Commission the Welsh script from a first-language writer, then have the brand approve it.
4. Set subtitle format, placement and safe areas for each platform.
5. Confirm disclosure wording in both languages before filming.
6. Review the first cut for pronunciation and dialect, not just grammar.

Dialect is a real editorial choice. North Walian and South Walian forms differ, and a Cardiff creator may not sound authentic to a Gwynedd audience. Say which register you want.

Meeting Welsh-language brand and public body requirements

Welsh-language brand requirements usually arrive as a policy, not a preference. Public bodies working in Wales often have Welsh-language obligations written into their own standards, and they pass those down to suppliers.

In practice this means the brief will specify Welsh-language assets, Welsh-language captions, or a Welsh-language version of the same film. Agencies that quote for one language and deliver two lose money.

Brands with Welsh heritage add their own rules. A drinks brand may have a Welsh product name that stays untranslated. A retailer may need store names in Welsh. A tourist body may need place names in their Welsh forms.

Budget for the second version properly. A Welsh cut is not a subtitle pass. It needs its own script approval, its own voice or presenter time, and its own edit.

• Lead language and secondary language agreed in writing
• Brand Welsh terminology list supplied to the creator
• Welsh script written by a first-language writer
• Brand or public body sign-off on the Welsh script
• Subtitle format and placement confirmed per platform
• Disclosure wording approved in both languages
• Separate delivery files named and versioned

Public bodies also care about where the money goes. They may ask how much of the production spend stays in Wales, which is easier to answer when the crew, editor and creator are all local.

Working with S4C and Welsh broadcasters on creator content

S4C creator partnerships are a distinct strand of work. The channel commissions Welsh-language content, and creator-led formats now sit alongside traditional programming.

A Cardiff agency pitching to S4C is pitching a format, not a person. The question is what the creator does across a run of episodes, and whether that holds a Welsh-speaking audience beyond the creator's existing followers.

Welsh broadcasters marketing teams also commission social content around programmes. That work is usually shorter, tied to a transmission date, and delivered in both languages for the channel's own feeds.

Rights need care. A creator format developed with a broadcaster may sit under terms that restrict what the creator can do with the same idea elsewhere. Agencies should read those terms before signing the creator up.

DCMS policy shapes the wider context, including support for UK creative and media sectors and for Welsh-language broadcasting. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport publishes the current position.

Broadcast timelines are slower than social timelines. A creator used to posting within a day will need to plan for commissioning rounds, compliance review and scheduled transmission.

Compliance, disclosure and Ofcom duties in Welsh campaigns

Paid creator content in the UK must be obviously identifiable as advertising. The CAP Code, enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, sets the rules, and they apply to Welsh-language posts exactly as they apply to English ones. The advertising codes are the reference point.

Disclosure wording has to work in both languages. A Welsh post needs a Welsh label such as an ad marker that a Welsh speaker recognises instantly, not an English tag tucked into a caption.

Ofcom duties bite when content is broadcast or sits on a broadcaster's regulated service. That brings editorial responsibility, and it usually means a compliance review before anything goes out.

Creator content that stays on social platforms is not regulated by Ofcom in the same way, but the ASA rules still apply. Agencies should not let the platform distinction blur the disclosure requirement.

Keep a record. Screenshots of the live post, the approved script and the disclosure wording in both languages are the evidence you will want if a complaint arrives.

Measuring bilingual campaign performance in Cardiff

Measure the two language versions separately. A blended figure hides the weaker version, and Welsh-language performance is often the number the client actually cares about.

Set the metrics before launch. Reach, completion rate, saves and click-through should be reported per language and per platform, with the Welsh-language cut shown on its own line.

Benchmarks are thin. Few campaigns publish Welsh-language social benchmarks, so agencies often build their own from previous work. That is where proper audience research pays off, because it tells you what a good result looks like for the audience you targeted.

Watch for small-sample noise. Welsh-speaking audiences are smaller, so a percentage swing on a few thousand views means little. Report absolute numbers alongside rates.

Worked example

A Cardiff agency runs a two-language campaign for a Welsh public body. The English cut reaches 180,000 people with a 22 per cent completion rate. The Welsh cut reaches 40,000 with a 31 per cent completion rate.

The client reads the Welsh cut as the stronger performer on engagement, and the English cut as the reach driver. The agency reports both, plus cost per completed view for each, and recommends shifting budget toward Welsh-language content for the next phase.

Metric	English cut	Welsh cut
Reach	180,000	40,000
Completion rate	22%	31%
Saves	1,100	620
Click-through rate	1.4%	2.1%

Report to the client in the language they briefed in, and keep the raw platform exports. If the campaign later goes to a broadcaster, those exports become part of the delivery pack.

Common questions

Do Cardiff agencies need a Welsh-speaking creator for every campaign? No. A bilingual creator can carry both versions, and some campaigns only need a Welsh cut with subtitles. What matters is that the Welsh version is written by someone who speaks it well.

Can an English script simply be translated for the Welsh version? It can be translated, but it usually should not be. Tone and rhythm differ, so a first-language writer should draft the Welsh script and the brand should approve it.

Does the ASA treat Welsh-language ads differently? No. The CAP Code applies the same recognition rules, so the Welsh post must be as clearly identifiable as advertising as the English one.

How do S4C creator partnerships differ from brand deals? They are commissioned formats with broadcast timelines, compliance review and rights terms. Brand deals are usually faster and sit entirely on social platforms.

What is the biggest measurement mistake in bilingual campaigns? Blending the two language versions into one figure. Report Welsh and English separately, with absolute numbers as well as rates.