Localization Leaders: Yoram Pollack on Why Localization Needs a Rebrand

Localization isn’t just about translating words into another language. It’s about telling the right story in every market so your product is understood, valued, and chosen. In this episode of Localization Leaders, BLEND CEO Yoav Ziv sits with veteran product marketer Yoram Pollack to unpack how localization fits inside a strategic content creation flow, why the term “localization” often sets the wrong expectations with executives, and how a simple rebrand toward “multilingual content strategy” can open doors and budgets.

Yoram explains the bridge that product marketing builds between R&D, marketing, and sales, and why the same bridge is required when you expand globally. Together, Yoav and Yoram discuss where translation fits, when content must be recreated, and how AI can speed the work while sharpening the human edge.

What you’ll learn

• Why translation ≠ localization, and when content must be recreated for a market
• How to position localization as content strategy and demand generation
• Why the function may need a rebrand to resonate with executive stakeholders
• The three essentials for product success: it works, it solves a need, it has a story
• How to talk to executives about value, not features or workflows
• Where AI helps and where humans stay critical

Watch or read the full interview below:

Yoram, can you start by giving us a quick intro to you for those who don’t know you?

I’m Yoram, and I’ve been a product marketer for about 25 years.

Product marketing has three legs. One sits in product and R&D, and the other two in marketing and sales. The point is to speak the language of engineers and product teams, understand what they’re building, and then turn that into a story. That story becomes content that marketing and sales can use to drive revenue.

From my experience, it’s one of the most important functions in a B2B professional services company, and also one of the biggest challenges. You often have strong marketers and salespeople, and excellent engineers and product teams, but the connection between them is missing. Product marketing creates that bridge. That’s what I’ve been doing for 25 years.

I’ve worked with large companies like HP, BMC Software, and Teva Pharmaceuticals – as well as Tambour Paints, where we built product marketing and storytelling for architects, and Phoenix Insurance, where we did the same for insurance agents. 

Anywhere subject matter expertise is needed to market and sell, product marketing is crucial. This links to our discussion. Content is usually created in the language of the main market, often English. When you want to expand globally, people often assume localization is just translation. It isn’t. It’s recreating the content in another language.

To recreate professional, subject-matter content, you need people who know how to do that. It isn’t simple. Just as we explain why product marketing and storytelling matter, we also need to explain why companies expanding to new markets need partners with expertise in recreating content, not merely translating it.

Let’s reflect that back. When you take a complex product or service, you need to bridge the gap between the experts, who aren’t marketers, and the people who need to understand the value. You need a story that makes the product or service easy to grasp.

To do that across languages, translation alone isn’t enough. Translation is part of it, but the real work is recreating the content in the local language while preserving the original story.

I completely agree. Often, the only people who can bridge that gap are CEOs or top executives, because they understand both go-to-market and the product.

I agree. It’s often CEOs with business development backgrounds, or technical CEOs who failed once and realized the failure was due to weak storytelling.

I say there are three things a product needs to succeed long term. First, it must work. Second, it must answer a real need. Third, it needs a good story. 

Many startups fail even with a solid product and market need because they can’t tell their story well enough before funding runs out.

That resonates. We went through a similar go-to-market transformation at BLEND. We knew our product was different and spent time articulating that positioning. At first, we described the technical flow (MT, QE, PE), but people got lost in the details.

Eventually, we realized what we truly provide is hassle-free localization. We take the technological complexity, the platform, the project managers, and the experts, and wrap it into a simple service for people who want quality without the hassle. It took time to verbalize that. Product marketers help with exactly this.

Exactly. Engineers know features and technology. Executives don’t care about that; they want to know what you do and the value. Marketers know their craft, but often lack the “ammunition.” They can’t tell the story. That’s where product marketing sits.

In localization, there’s a similar challenge. Buyers are often operational, not executives. They manage translation day to day and may not have the mandate or interest to consider the bigger picture.

What I find compelling about your approach is that you naturally speak to executives. Your work has to be done at that level, right?

Yes. Sometimes it starts with a request for a video or blog. When you get the right people in the room, they see the issue sits higher. You can then move the conversation to the executive level.

Still, storytelling and product marketing are often misunderstood or delayed. Companies focus first on initial sales, then realize they need to reposition and end up “pivoting.”

Also, the word “localization” has a branding problem. Historically, it’s seen as technical. Good localization today is marketing in different languages. For executives, it’s not “localization,” it’s business.

I agree. Before joining this industry, I didn’t know the word “localization.” It felt like a fuzzy term created to avoid saying “translation.” I’m not sure the term sets the right expectations when you enter a room.

Let’s move on to speak about AI. Generative AI is considered strong at creation, and it struggles with translation unless you prepare with terminology and infrastructure. How does generative AI affect product marketing?

Generative AI isn’t always good at creation, especially for professional, complex material like new technologies or services. LLMs build on existing data.

They can quickly produce readable text, but in professional B2B contexts it’s often not enough. You still need subject matter experts to guide and refine. AI can deliver a first draft in minutes, but humans must add the missing knowledge and context.

I think AI is overhyped at the moment. There’s a herd mentality. Yes, it’s changing a lot, but people are anxious about missing the train. True intelligence is creating something new. LLMs remix what already exists.

That’s why the human factor is critical, especially in B2B. AI reduces hassle and speeds drafts, but humans still do the core professional work.

I see AI as crystallizing our human edge. It removes repetitive work so we can focus on uniquely human value: connecting dots, shaping stories, and creating meaning.

Exactly. AI makes me a better product marketer. It takes away manual tasks and sometimes sparks strong ideas. It lets me focus on the core of my profession: storytelling and positioning.

To close, what advice would you give localization experts who want to elevate their role?

First, localization needs rebranding. The term sets the wrong expectations at the executive level. Second, focus on the human connection. Have someone in the room who speaks the customer’s professional language – finance, tech, insurance, and so on. That builds trust and makes you a partner, not just a vendor.

Translation is a commodity. Executives don’t want to discuss it. They just need it done. 

The value appears when you bring subject matter expertise and human connection into the conversation.

Yoram, thank you. This has been a pleasure, enlightening and thought-provoking.