A couple of weekends ago, I went to Paris. It was sunny, it was stylish, and I had a lovely croque madame.

But that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about this poster:

The eagle eyed among you may have noted that this is the poster for The Hangover 2.

Except it isn’t called that.

It’s called Very Bad Trip 2. Which is brilliant if you’ve just popped over from the UK for the day.

Now three things struck me when I saw this:

Firstly, the obvious. Why don’t the French have a word for hangover? (In reality this is probably to do with the fact that alcohol advertising is banned in France, but given the context, it still struck me as intriguing).

Secondly, possibly more obvious: why have they re-translated the name into another English phrase?

But thirdly, and of far more interest, I was struck with an overwhelming desire to see the film.

Sure, I’d enjoyed The Hangover (sorry, Very Bad Trip) on its first outing, but I was only mildly taken by the thought of seeing the sequel. And then I saw this poster. And I’ll be there munching on my popcorn with the rest of the world.

Now sure, I’ve been seduced by a comical foreign title of a film I may already see, but what stands out as fascinating here is something far deeper:

How much content exists around a product, service or brand that is out there already, that exists, that is waiting to be shared… but never is?

In this case it’s what the French choose to call the film.

That’s engaging, and amusing and bizarre (and funnily enough, those are also things that chime with the film’s target audience).

So what might there be that’s amazing about the employee welcome pack they get at ABC Corp?

What might we learn about the data on the local intranet of our favourite retailers?

What brilliance may be lurking in the applications form interns submit to work in a local charity?

There’s a huge wealth of exciting content in the world already, sometimes surfacing it in the right place could just make an impact…

Tags: film, france, marketing, paris, translation