BBC Benefits From One Man’s Vision
by Matthew Clark
The British Broadcasting Corporation, better known to the World as the BBC, has been around for almost 100 years. They began in 1927 as a corporation operated under terms of a Royal Charter. They are a network conglomerate with many channels watched by audiences around the world including BBC News and Animal Planet. With so much programming in so many different countries, the programming people at the BBC have to be pulling their hair out trying to keep their content translated for the numerous different markets.
That is where David Garcia-Gonzalez comes in. In 2008, the Essex University graduate decided to put his numerous degrees (Bachelor of Arts with Honors in TEFL as well as a Master’s Degree in Applied Translations Studies and Audio-Visual Translation) to the test. After working for numerous media companies, Garcia-Gonzalez saw a need in the market of translation, voice-over, dubbing, and language localization. Although all of these services were offered through various companies, he found that they were not all offered under a single company. That is how GoLocalise, the brainchild of his experience, was started.
Garcia-Gonzalez was initially the only employee of GoLocalise. Four years later, the company now employs over 3,000 translators and voice over talents. They contract with some of the most famous voice-over artists including Javier A Fernandez-Pena (the voice of Buzz Lightyear in the Spanish version of Toy Story 3), Al Gregg (voice-over artist for Master Card “Priceless” commercial campaign), Tom Wessel (German voice-over artist), and even Garcia-Gonzalez himself jumps in the mix for a project here and there.
BBC has benefited from using GoLocalise as the company contracts with so many different artists. While many companies have to rely on translators who learned a second language in school, GoLocalise promotes using translators who were taught in their native tongue. This brings authenticity to their projects. BBC produced Big Cat Diary Season 4 in Castilian Spanish with the help of GoLocalise using Javier A Fernandez-Pena and Mari Luz Rodrigo. They also used GoLocalise and Tom Wessel to provide German voice-over for the BBC three part series “Tiger: Spy in the Jungle” with David Attenborough and “Bears: Spy in the Woods.”
Staying global is a challenge for BBC and all of the stations that they own. With the vision of only a single man, they now have access to over 3,000 professionals who have helped them stay ahead of other networks. Garcia-Gonzalez has created something unique in the industry that BBC has taken advantage of. Other companies, including Coca-Cola, British Airways, Bausch & Lomb, and Microsoft have also taken advantage of his vision. Amazing how the vision of one man can change the way we do business.
