In the digital age, scaling a brand to over 265 million users across 190 countries often leads to a homogenization of messaging—a "global voice" that feels disconnected from the nuances of individual cultures. However, for design powerhouse Canva, the path to growth has been paved with a radical commitment to the opposite: radical localization.
By treating social media as a living, breathing extension of local culture rather than a megaphone for global corporate announcements, Canva has managed to maintain a startup-like agility. Lachlan Stewart, Social Lead at Canva, recently pulled back the curtain on the strategy that allows the brand to feel like a neighbor in Tokyo, a friend in São Paulo, and a creative partner in London.
The Philosophy of "Being Local"
For a global entity, the term "local" is often relegated to translated captions or region-specific hashtags. For Canva, it is a foundational pillar of their marketing architecture.
"If you look at Canva in different countries, you’ll see real people and real stories from those markets," Stewart explains. "When it comes to our marketing strategy, it’s really about being truly local."
This strategy shifts the focus from brand-centric content to culture-centric content. Instead of pushing global product updates as the primary narrative, the social team embeds the brand into the existing conversations, memes, and cultural milestones of each specific region. This approach transforms the brand from a software tool into a participant in the user’s daily life.
Chronology of a Campaign: The "Gemma Collins" Blueprint
To understand how Canva executes this, one must look at their recent high-profile collaboration in the United Kingdom with reality star Gemma Collins. The campaign serves as a masterclass in modern, narrative-driven social marketing.
- Phase 1: Pre-Campaign Seeding. Before any formal announcement, the team launched a LinkedIn profile for Collins, positioning her as an "employee" of Canva. This created immediate curiosity and chatter, treating the platform as a storytelling device rather than just a distribution channel.
- Phase 2: Cultural Integration. The brand didn’t just pay for an endorsement; they integrated Collins into the product itself. By utilizing the "change voice" functionality within Canva, users could interact with the software using the iconic voice of the UK star.
- Phase 3: The Reveal. The reveal was treated as a major corporate milestone, blurring the lines between a brand partnership and a genuine career move. The campaign exploded across UK social media, not because it was an ad, but because it felt like a legitimate piece of entertainment.
- Phase 4: Sustained Momentum. Post-launch, the team utilized a "back pocket" strategy, keeping a suite of assets ready to deploy. By having Collins participate in trending formats like the #WhatsOnMyDesk challenge, the brand ensured the campaign remained relevant long after the initial buzz subsided.
Data-Driven Creativity: Beyond the Like Button
A common pitfall for large organizations is a reliance on "vanity metrics"—likes, shares, and follower counts. Stewart argues that at the enterprise level, these numbers are insufficient for measuring impact.
Canva’s internal evaluation process mandates that the objective of the creative must dictate the metrics used to measure it.
Measuring Success by Intent
- Entertainment-Focused Content: If the objective is to produce a viral video, the team tracks "view-through rate" (completion rate) and shareability. The goal here is to see if the audience found the content compelling enough to consume in its entirety.
- Educational Content: For tutorials or product-focused videos, the metric shifts to "saves." A save indicates that the content has long-term utility for the user, signaling that the brand is providing genuine value rather than just noise.
- Holistic Growth: While the team monitors global performance, they prioritize the health of regional accounts, ensuring that the "local flair" is translating into actual engagement within those specific, diverse demographics.
Internal Synergy: Giving Social a Seat at the Table
In many legacy organizations, social media is an afterthought—a department tasked with "amplifying" a finished campaign. At Canva, the social team is involved from the project’s inception.
Stewart highlights that this collaborative structure is key to their success. By including social leads, campaign managers, producers, and creative directors in the strategy phase, the brand ensures that "social-first" ideas are not just add-ons, but the foundation of the campaign itself.
"I come from a creative agency background where it took a lot of convincing to be included early in those creative, strategic conversations," says Stewart. "But at Canva, we have a really collaborative structure that empowers the entire social team to put forward suggestions from the very beginning."
Implications for the Industry: The Shift to Experimental B2B
The success of Canva’s social strategy carries significant implications for the B2B and enterprise software sectors. For years, these sectors have been characterized by dry, overly professional, and often robotic social media personas.
Canva’s approach suggests that even the most "serious" tools can benefit from a dose of personality, experimentation, and cultural relevance. The lesson for marketing leaders is clear:
- Risk is a Component of Growth: Sticking to "tried and tested" formats guarantees stagnation. If the audience is comfortable with what you produce, they are likely no longer being challenged or engaged.
- Test Before You Invest: Social media serves as a massive, real-time focus group. By testing ideas on a smaller scale before committing to a full-blown global push, brands can refine their messaging with minimal risk.
- Drive the Conversation, Don’t Just Jump In: There is a distinct difference between "trend-jacking" (jumping on a meme) and "cultural leadership" (starting a conversation). Brands that aim to be the first to do something—like giving a brand ambassador a LinkedIn profile—are the ones that define the digital zeitgeist.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Social Marketing
As AI and automation continue to reshape the digital landscape, the human element of social media becomes more—not less—important. For Canva, the future of social lies in its ability to facilitate real, human-centric connection on a massive scale.
"When you look at social performance, it’s about surfacing the objective of the creative before evaluating it against typical metrics," Stewart notes. As the company continues to scale, this nuanced, objective-first approach will likely serve as the blueprint for other global brands attempting to navigate the tension between global consistency and local relevance.
In an era where consumers are increasingly immune to traditional advertising, Canva has discovered that the most effective way to sell a tool is to stop selling the tool and start participating in the culture that uses it. By prioritizing local nuance, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, and treating every campaign as a potential cultural moment, they have proven that even a global giant can maintain the heartbeat of a local community.
For marketing teams looking to emulate this success, the directive is straightforward: empower your social team, prioritize the "why" behind your metrics, and never be afraid to take the lead in a conversation, rather than simply echoing what everyone else is saying.
