Two kinds of multilingual campaign
If your campaign is digital-only, ad copy, social posts, email, a landing page, a fast AI engine paired with a human review step is usually enough. The content is short, the format is plain text or HTML, and there's no layout to preserve.
If your campaign includes marketing materials that live in a document, a catalogue, a brochure, a datasheet, an InDesign file, the requirements change completely. Marketing teams at manufacturers translate into 8 or more target languages on average, and since one language, English, for example, often covers more than one export market, the number of markets involved is usually higher still. At that scale, you need a tool that translates the document itself, not just the words inside it, and that keeps every translator using the same terminology as the campaign rolls out across markets.
Three kinds of tool
Once you know which situation you're in, the shortlist narrows fast. AI translation tools split into three broad categories, and each one solves a different problem.
AI translation engines, DeepL, Google Translate and ChatGPT (and other AI tools), translate text quickly and well. They don't handle documents. Paste an InDesign export into any of them and you get translated words back, not a translated file, so someone still has to rebuild the layout by hand.
Localisation platforms built for software and digital content, Lokalise and Transifex among them, manage translation strings inside a codebase or a website. They're built for app interfaces and web pages, not print marketing materials. Using one for a catalogue means fitting a document into a tool designed for something else entirely.
Document translation platforms, Pairaphrase and Redokun, are built to translate the file itself, layout included. This is the category that actually answers the question for a catalogue, brochure or InDesign-based campaign.
Two more worth placing: Smartcat sits between the first two categories, a platform with a built-in marketplace of translators, useful if you want to source translators through the tool itself, more coordination if you already have translators you want to keep working with. XTM Cloud can handle documents at real scale, but it's built for large translation agencies and enterprise localisation teams with the resources to run it.
Comparing the tools
Pairaphrase is the closest comparison to Redokun: a document translation tool that also handles InDesign. The main difference is depth of InDesign support. Redokun is an Adobe Technology Partner, and InDesign handling was the reason the product exists in the first place.
If your campaign includes InDesign files
This is where the "best tool" question actually gets answered for a manufacturing marketing team, because InDesign is where most AI translation approaches fail first.
Redokun works with InDesign files exported as IDML, not the native INDD project file, which is what preserves paragraph styles, linked images and layout when the translation comes back. Rockfon translates its product catalogue into 8 markets in a couple of minutes using this workflow, and reports a 70% reduction in production time compared with their previous process.
Every translation also builds a Translation Memory and a shared Glossary. That matters most in a campaign, specifically, because a campaign usually means the same product names, technical terms and taglines repeating across a catalogue, a datasheet and a brochure. Get the product name wrong once and it's wrong everywhere it repeats, across every market. EMS used this consistency to run a 300% increase in campaign output without a corresponding increase in translation errors or coordination time.
For a closer look at exactly what breaks when a generic tool touches an InDesign file, and which tools actually preserve the structure, read our article, How to Translate a Document and Keep the Layout.
Before you commit, run one real project
A demo shows you a tool working on someone else's file. A pilot shows you whether it works on yours.
Before choosing a platform, answer 5 questions. Does it support the exact file types this campaign uses: InDesign, Word, PowerPoint? Does it keep every translator working from the same Glossary, so a product name translated once is right everywhere it repeats? Do your translators work in a shared space, or are you still emailing files back and forth? Does the file come back ready to use, or does someone still need to rebuild the layout? And is the pricing a flat price for the project, or a per-word charge that gets harder to predict as the campaign grows?
Then test it on a real document, not a sample file. Pick one catalogue page or brochure spread that represents your actual complexity: mixed text, images, a table or two. Translate it into your actual target languages with your actual terminology. Score what comes back on 2 things: how much editing the translation needed, and how much the layout needed rebuilding.
This is exactly what Project Pass is built for. Instead of a sandbox trial on a sample file, you complete one real project, a catalogue, a brochure or a datasheet, InDesign files included, for €95, and you find out whether the platform fits your campaign because you've already used it on one.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI alone translate a multilingual marketing campaign?
For text, yes, with a human reviewing the output before it goes live. For a campaign that includes documents, AI translation on its own doesn't preserve the layout, and it doesn't keep terminology consistent across every document and market on its own. That's what a Glossary and Translation Memory are for, sitting alongside the AI engine, not replacing it.
What's the difference between an AI translation engine and a translation management platform?
DeepL, Google Translate and ChatGPT translate text. A translation management platform like Redokun manages the full process around that text: file handling, translator coordination, terminology consistency and format preservation. Redokun uses AI engines, including DeepL, Google Translate and ChatGPT, as part of that process. It isn't a replacement for them, and it isn't just a wrapper around them either.
Do I need InDesign support for a marketing campaign translation?
If any part of your campaign, a catalogue, a brochure, a datasheet, a trade show handout, was designed in InDesign, yes. Translating the text separately and asking a designer to rebuild the layout in every language adds time and cost that InDesign-native translation avoids.
How much does it cost to translate a product catalogue into multiple languages?
A translation agency for a 20-page catalogue into 3 languages typically costs €1,500 to €3,000 and takes 3 to 4 weeks, see our full comparison of Redokun and translation agencies for the complete picture. Redokun's Project Pass covers a single project like this, InDesign files included, for €95, with AI translation and a Glossary included at no extra cost.
Can I try a document translation platform before committing to a subscription?
Yes. If you're evaluating a platform for ongoing use, a 14-day free trial of the Workspace Plan is the right starting point. If you have one campaign in front of you right now and want to complete it while you evaluate, Project Pass is built for exactly that: one project, one price, no subscription.
Which one is right for your campaign
If you translate a few times a year, Project Pass is built for that: one project, one price, InDesign files included, no subscription. If translation is a regular part of running campaigns across your markets, a free trial of the Workspace Plan is the place to start, and everything you build during the trial, your Glossary, your Translation Memory, your translator accounts, carries over if you decide to continue.
