How to Create Multilingual Ad Campaigns with AI (15+ Languages)

Why Multilingual Ads Matter

Running ads in only one language means leaving the majority of global consumers unreached. The global digital ad market reached $740 billion in 2025 (Statista), and the fastest-growing segments are non-English-speaking markets in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Brands that advertise multilingually capture market share that monolingual competitors cannot access.

The business case is backed by research. According to CSA Research’s landmark study, 75% of consumers prefer to buy products in their native language, and 60% rarely or never buy from English-only websites. This is not a niche preference. It is the global majority.

Multilingual campaigns deliver measurable advantages:

• 3x reach expansion: Adding 5–10 languages to your campaigns can triple your addressable audience in target markets.
• Higher conversion rates: Ads in the viewer’s native language convert at 2–3x the rate of English-only ads in non-English markets, according to Common Sense Advisory data.
• Lower CPMs: Non-English ad markets often have less competition, resulting in lower cost per thousand impressions. Hindi and Tamil ads on Meta, for example, can cost 40–60% less per impression than equivalent English campaigns in the same geography.
• Brand trust: Advertising in a consumer’s language signals respect and local commitment, building trust that English-only advertising cannot.

Native Generation vs Translation

The distinction between native generation and translation is the most important concept in multilingual advertising. Lapis does not translate your English ad into other languages. Instead, it generates ads natively in each target language. This difference is fundamental.

How Translation Falls Short

Translation, whether human or machine, starts with English text and converts it word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase into the target language. This approach has well-documented problems for advertising copy:

• Literal translations miss cultural context: An English pun, idiom, or cultural reference rarely works in another language. “Break the ice” is meaningless in Hindi. “Hit the ground running” does not translate to Tamil.
• Tone and register shift: Advertising tone (casual, urgent, aspirational) is culturally specific. What sounds friendly in American English can sound unprofessional in Japanese or disrespectful in Arabic.
• Character count changes: Translated text is often 20–40% longer or shorter than the original, breaking carefully designed ad layouts. German text is notoriously 30% longer than English; Chinese and Japanese can be 40% shorter.
• Human review still required: Even high-quality machine translations (Google Translate, DeepL) require human review for advertising copy, adding $0.10–$0.20 per word in review costs and 1–2 weeks in turnaround time.

How Native Generation Works

Lapis’s native generation takes your campaign brief (objective, audience, product, key message) and generates ad copy directly in each target language. The AI understands the cultural context, advertising conventions, and linguistic nuances of each language and produces copy that reads as if a native-speaking copywriter wrote it.

• Culturally appropriate copy: The AI uses idioms, expressions, and cultural references that resonate in each market.
• Native advertising tone: Copy matches the advertising register expected in each language and culture.
• Correct character fitting: Because copy is generated natively, it fits the ad layout naturally without the text-length problems of translation.
• Script rendering: Full support for non-Latin scripts including Devanagari (Hindi), Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, and Arabic (right-to-left).
• No human review for translation quality: Because the copy is not translated, there are no translation artifacts to review.

Languages Supported by Lapis

Lapis supports native ad generation in 15+ languages, covering the world’s major advertising markets and multiple script systems.

How to Create Multilingual Ads with Lapis

Creating multilingual ad campaigns on Lapis takes the same 3 minutes as a single-language campaign. Here is the step-by-step process.

• Step 1: Set up your brand. Sign up at trylapis.com and let Lapis auto-detect your brand assets (logo, colors, typography, products) from your website. This only needs to be done once.
• Step 2: Write your prompt in English. Describe your campaign in English: the product or service, the target audience, the key message, and the desired action. You do not need to write in the target languages.
• Step 3: Select target languages. Choose which languages you want your ads generated in. You can select multiple languages simultaneously.
• Step 4: Generate. Lapis produces native ad creatives for each selected language, complete with culturally appropriate copy, correct script rendering, and proper layout adjustments. The entire generation takes under 3 minutes regardless of how many languages you select.
• Step 5: Review and refine. Use Campaign Studio to make natural-language edits to any language variant. You can adjust messaging, tone, or specific phrases while maintaining cultural authenticity.
• Step 6: Export and launch per market. Export 4K-resolution creatives for each language and platform combination. Launch each language variant in its target market.

Cost Savings vs Traditional Translation

The cost difference between traditional multilingual ad production and Lapis native generation is dramatic. Here is a direct comparison for a typical campaign translated into 10 languages.

For a company running monthly multilingual campaigns across 10 languages, the annual cost comparison is stark:

• Translation agency: $5,000–$15,000/campaign × 12 months = $60,000–$180,000/year
• Freelance translators: $2,000–$5,000/campaign × 12 months = $24,000–$60,000/year
• Lapis Pro: $599/month × 12 = $7,188/year (90%+ savings)

Use Cases for Multilingual Ad Campaigns

Multilingual advertising is not just for global corporations. Here are four common use cases where Lapis’s native generation delivers immediate value.

Global Brands Launching in New Markets

When expanding into new geographies, brands need localized advertising that connects with local audiences. Traditional market entry requires hiring local agencies or translators for each market. With Lapis, a brand can generate native ads for 10 new markets simultaneously from a single prompt, reducing market entry time from months to minutes.

Local Businesses Targeting Multilingual Audiences

The US Hispanic market alone represents $2.8 trillion in buying power (Latino Donor Collaborative, 2024). India has 22 official languages and over a billion internet users. Businesses in these markets need ads in multiple languages to reach their full audience. A restaurant in Houston targeting Spanish-speaking customers, or a retailer in Mumbai targeting Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu speakers, can all benefit from Lapis’s multilingual generation.

E-Commerce with International Shipping

E-commerce brands that ship internationally leave revenue on the table by advertising only in English. Generating native-language ads for each shipping market increases conversion rates and lowers customer acquisition costs. Product catalog import from Shopify and Amazon makes it easy to feature specific products in each market’s ads.

Tourism and Hospitality

Hotels, airlines, travel agencies, and tourism boards serve audiences from dozens of countries. Native-language advertising in source markets drives higher booking rates than English-only campaigns. A hotel in Dubai can generate ads in Arabic, Hindi, English, German, and Russian simultaneously to target each key source market.

Competitor Multilingual Comparison

Native multilingual ad generation is exclusive to Lapis. Here is how competitors compare on multilingual capabilities.

The gap is significant. No other AI ad generator offers native multilingual generation with support for non-Latin scripts and right-to-left rendering. Teams that need multilingual capabilities must either use Lapis or cobble together separate translation and design workflows.

Best Practices for Multilingual Campaigns

While Lapis handles the heavy lifting of native generation, following these best practices will maximize your multilingual campaign results.

• Use market-specific imagery: Visual preferences vary by culture. Lifestyle imagery that resonates in the US may not connect in Japan or Saudi Arabia. When possible, reference market-appropriate visuals in your prompt.
• Test per market: Even with native generation, performance will vary by market. Monitor metrics per language and market, and adjust messaging based on local performance data.
• Monitor performance by language: Use Lapis’s web analytics and performance forecasting to compare how different language variants perform. Some languages may over- or under-index for your product category.
• Consider cultural calendar: Promotional timing varies by market. Diwali promotions for Hindi-speaking audiences, Ramadan for Arabic markets, Singles Day for Chinese markets. Build your multilingual campaign calendar around local events.
• Leverage lower-competition markets: Non-English ad markets often have lower CPMs and less competition. Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese campaigns can deliver significantly lower customer acquisition costs than saturated English markets.
• Start with your largest secondary market: If you are new to multilingual advertising, start with the non-English language that represents your largest addressable audience. Prove ROI in one language, then expand to others.

Getting Started with Multilingual Ads

Multilingual ad generation is available across all Lapis plans, including the Free plan. Sign up, add your brand (auto-detected from your website), write your campaign prompt in English, select your target languages, and generate native ads in under 3 minutes.

You can also try the free ad generator without signing up to see how Lapis generates ad creatives, or rate your existing ads for free.

For related guides, explore our articles on the best AI ad generators of 2026, how AI ad generators work, AI ad generator ROI analysis, and AI marketing tools for startups.