1、 外文翻译 原文 A view on the future of branding Material Source： Global Brand Stratergy Author： Sicco van Gelder The traditional perception of branding has been shortsighted and has cast brands as being cynically manipulative. This is due to an overly skewed attention to one group of stakeholders, namely
2、shareholders. It is time for brands to prove their worth to consumers, their guidance to employees and business partners and, as a result of these activities, their value to shareholders. The author is founder of Brand Meta, a brand strategy and planning consultancy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He
3、 has over a decade of experience with worldwide research and consultancy on major brands. WHY BRANDING MAY BE IN PERIL Brands and branding are hot topics. It is almost impossible nowadays to open any serious newspaper or magazine(be they general or specialist)without coming across an article that to
4、uts the importance and value of brands. The arguments used to support this assertion generally run something like this: (1)Products and services have become so alike that they fail to distinguish themselves by their quality, efficacy, reliability, assurance and care. Brands add emotion and trust to
5、these products and services, thus providing clues that simplify consumers choice. (2)These added emotions and trust help create a relationship between brands and consumers, which ensures consumers loyalty to the brands. (3)Brands create aspirational lifestyles based on these consumer relationships.
6、Associating oneself with a brand transfers these lifestyles onto consumers. (4)The branded lifestyles extol values over and above the brands product or service category that allow the brands to be extended into other product and service categories. Thus saving companies the trouble and costs of deve
7、loping new brands, while entering new lucrative markets. (5)The combination of emotions, relationships, lifestyles and values allows brand owners to charge a price premium for their products and services, which otherwise are barely distinguishable from generics. If these are the arguments for brandi
8、ng then it is no wonder that brands are increasingly considered manipulative exploitative and objectionable. With friends like these, who needs enemies? Branding appears to be aimed at short-term enrichment of corporations and their shareholders. Consumers are cynically duped into believing that the
9、y are purchasing goods and services that have qualities over and above those offered by competition, while in reality they are paying for fluff and hype. This view of branding is reinforced by triumphant stories, recounted by advertising executives and consultants, of how they helped turn their clie
10、nts watery fruit juice, boxy car or flimsy T-shirt into an instant success through a creative application of branding. It would seem only a matter of time before the masses catch on to this and the branded houses of cards tumble. WHAT HAPPENED Some brands may indeed be cynically manipulative and aim
11、ed at grabbing as much money as possible while the going is good. Such brands, however do not offer lasting value to consumers or their owners. Many writers of articles about brands simply fail to separate causes and effects. This is not because they are dumb or uninformed, but mainly because they h
12、ave become caught up in the whirlwind, that swept through the global corporate establishment during the past decade, called shareholder value. Simply put, this business principle means that no-one matters except for pension funds, financial institutions and people with surplus cash who wish to wager
13、 on the future value of a listed company. The experience during the last few years shows that these institutions and individuals are often not good at estimating such future value. As a result they have undervalued perfectly healthy companies with esteemed brands and overvalued companies with petty
14、brands and lacking decent business models. This unfortunate situation has led even some of the healthiest companies to develop brands without substance in the pursuit of higher share prices. Consumers, however, are generally neither foolish nor short sighted and they have refused to be tempted by al
15、l the pointless excitement generated by such brands. Hopefully, this experience brings back the realisation that shareholder value depends on the willingness of consumers to purchase and use a companys goods and services now and to continue to do so in the future. The real value of a brand thus lies
16、 in its ability to persuade and please consumers. This does not necessarily mean that the best product or service(in a technical sense)will always win over consumers, but rather that the knowledge of what consumers need, how they behave, what they think, how they perceive value, and how they reason
17、and decide defines such outcomes. Although none of this is new, the management of many companies are so involved in meeting(short-term) shareholder demands that they are unable implement policies aimed at improving consumer experience. WHY DO WE BRAND The main reason why brands have been developed i
18、n the first place has to do with competition and subsequent increased consumer choice. However, contrary to popular belief, consumers do not desire choice per se. Choice is mainly a mechanism that allows consumers to obtain the products and services that they want at a price that they want to afford
19、. As peoples wants, needs and budgets differ, choice functions as a way to fulfil the requirements of different consumers. Thus, brands cater to this diversity. In some cases, choice is also a mechanism for consumers to gain information about developments(e.g. trends)in a product or service category
20、, as is the case in clothing stores and shoe shops. This does not mean that choice does not also cater to a need for variety, something that helps bring colour to peoples lives. However, variety is a fleeting affair and brands that are introduced merely to provide variety or as an alternative have l
21、ittle raison dtre. This explains the demise of many foreign beer brands in China. Introduced during the 1990s,with the thought that Chinese consumers would lap them up as an alternative to dubious local brews, they withdrew within a decade. Foreign competition had spurred local Chinese brewers to im
22、prove their quality, bottling, distribution and advertising. Subsequently, Chinese consumers chose to remain largely loyal to their local brands, and to spurn expensive and irrelevant foreign ones. Only those foreign beer brand that were able offer rewarding experiences, distinct from those offered
23、by local brands, are still active in China. Thus, the reason why we brand is that brands provide specific consumers with specific rewarding experiences. Experiences that make consumers happy to part with their money, and make them satisfied in the process. IMPLICATIONS FOR BRANDING Branding needs to
24、 be increasingly consumer-oriented and driven by the readiness to provide individual consumers with worthwhile experiences. This implies investments in product and service innovation, consumer understanding, consumer-oriented ordering and delivery systems, and brand-based employee training and guida
25、nce. Consumers increasing power over manufacturers and retailers, which is a function of competition, spending power and technological developments, mean that they will increasingly require more real- time gratification from brands. From ordering a customised car from the comfort of their homes to t
26、he immediate effectiveness of drugs, consumers expectations will need to be met with more urgency than ever before. NO COMPLACENCY! It is clear that the days of brands as great wealth generators are numbered. As competition catches up with the traditional power brands and as consumers become more di
27、scerning, brands will need to work not only harder but also smarter to prove their worth. The increased focus on consumers means that employees and business partners need to be instilled with a clear sense of the brand to be able to deliver on the brand experience. In addition, they will need to rec
28、ognise the differences between consumers and tailor the brand to meet differentiated brand experiences for different consumer segments and ultimately individual brand experiences for individual consumers. Shareholders will need to recognise those companies that take on this challenge and reward them
29、 accordingly. Share prices must reflect companies current endeavours on behalf of their brands and the current and future company value that these activities affect. The use of brands for manipulative purposes will be penalised and the use for value creation rewarded. 译文 对未来品牌化的思考 资料来源 :全球品牌战略 作者： S
30、icco van Gelder 对于品牌化的传统观念没有远见，并怀疑品牌被操纵。这是由于一个团队参与人，即股东的过度不平衡的重视。品牌是时候向消费者证明它们的影响力，向雇员和生意合伙人证明它们的指导性，向股东证明他们的价值。 作者是 brand meta的创始人，是荷兰阿姆斯特丹的一位品牌战略和设计顾问。他在世界范围的研究和主要品牌顾问工作上有十年经验。 为什么品牌化有很大的风险 品牌和品牌化是热门话题。如今打开任何一份非娱乐报纸或 杂志（无论是一般或专家）几乎不可能没有关于吹捧品牌的重要和价值的文章。用来支持这种说法通常运用一下论据： （ 1）产品和服务已变得非常相像，他们无法辨别其质量，功
31、效，可靠性，保证和保护。品牌情感与信任，加上这些产品和服务，从而提供线索，简化了消费者的选择。加上情感和信任，品牌为产品和服务提供了线索，从而简化了消费者的选择。 （ 2）这些增加的情感和信任有助于建立品牌和消费者之间的关系，以确保消费者对品牌的忠诚度。 （ 3）在这些消费者关系上，品牌创建了理想的生活方式。 （ 4）品牌生活方式吹捧了品牌产品或服务类别之 外的价值，使品牌得以向其他产品和服务类别延伸。从而当进入新的有利可图的市场时节省了公司的麻烦和开发新品牌的成本。 （ 5）情感、关系、生活方式和价值观的结合使品牌拥有者收取产品和服务的高昂费用，这样的问题对无商标的生产者来说几乎没有区别。
32、如果有关于品牌化的争论，那么也难怪越来越多人认为品牌被操作剥削，并因此觉得反感。有这样的朋友，谁需要敌人？ 品牌似乎是公司及其股东发财致富的短期目的。消费者的被欺骗，误以为他们所购买的商品和服务的质量超过生产者提供的竞争，而事实上他们为自己的失误和夸张的宣传买单。成功的经历 加固人们对品牌化的看法，广告决策人和顾问如何通过创造性的应用品牌化将客户的稀果汁、四四方方的汽车或单薄的 T 恤描述成瞬间的成功品。这似乎只是时间的问题，当群众发现后，一切将被摧毁。 什么在改变 有些品牌确实是在自私地操控着，旨在行情好的时候抢占尽可能多的金钱，这样的品牌不能为其消费者或拥有者提供持久的价值。许多关于品牌的
33、文章作者容易分不清原因和影响。这并不是因为他们愚蠢或物质，主要是因为他们以身处旋风中，在 过去十年中席卷了全球企业的建立，这就是所谓的股东价值了。简而言之，这项商业原则意味着没有人会在意，除了养老基金会、金融机构和有过多现金在手的人们，愿意在上市公司的未来价值上压赌注。过去几年的经验表明，这些机构和个人往往不能准确地评估未来的价值。因此，他们大大低估了发展良好的大品牌公司，高估了拥有小品牌和缺乏像样商业模式的公司。这种不幸的局面，甚至导致一些发展很好的公司无法不追求股票价格更高的品牌。不过，消费者一般也都不愚蠢或盲目，他们拒绝被这些由品牌产生的无谓的兴奋所诱惑。如果顺利的话，这方面的经验使我们
34、认 识到，股东的利益依赖于消费者购买和使用该公司产品和服务并在今后继续做这样决定的意愿。一个品牌的真正价值在于它说服和讨好消费者的能力。这并不一定意味着最好的产品或服务（从技术上讲）将赢得消费者，而是了解消费者需要什么，他们有什么反应，他们在想什么，他们如何看待价值，他们如何思考并定义这样的结果。 虽然这一切都不是新的，许多公司的经营都包括满足股东（短期）的要求，他们无法实施改善消费者体验的政策。 我们为什么品牌化 品牌发展立于首位的主要原因，是因为竞争和随之增加的消费者选择。不过，与普遍观点相反的是，就消费者 其本身而言，他们不愿意做选择。在多数情况下，选择是一种机制，它使消费者获得他们愿意
35、支付的价格相应的产品或服务。由于人们的欲望、需求、预算不同，选择起着满足不同消费者需求的作用。因此，品牌迎合这种多样性。在某种情况下，选择也是一种使消费者获得产品或服务类别发展情况的机制，例如在服装店或鞋店。 这并不意味着选择不会迎合各种使人们生活丰富的需求。然而，多样化是短暂的策略，引进的品牌仅仅提供品种或作为没有存着理由的替代品，于是我们可以理解许多国外啤酒品牌在中国失败的事实。在 1990 年中国消费者接受引进的啤酒作为无法 信赖的本地啤酒的替代品，但在十年后便退出中国市场。国内外产品的竞争促使当地华人酿酒商改进他们的质量、装瓶、分销和广告。随后，中国消费者选择继续忠于自己的本地品牌，拒
36、绝昂贵和不相关的外国产品。只有那些提供有益经验、与本地品牌截然不同的国外品牌仍然活跃在中国。 因此，我们之所以做品牌是因为品牌提供给消费者特别的收获，使他们花钱享受快乐并满意这个过程。 品牌的影响 品牌化需要不断地以消费者为导向并以随时为消费者提供有价值的经验。这暗示着产品和服务的创新、消费者认知、以消费者导向的订货和交付系统、以品牌为基础的员工 培训。消费者给予制造商和零售商日益增加的压力具有竞争、消费力合科技提高的作用，意味着他们将越来越需要更多对品牌的实时的满足。从一家的舒适定购一辆定制汽车到直接有效的药物，消费者的预期将需要比以往任何时候更加紧迫。 没有最好，只有更好 很显然，将品牌作为巨大财富发电机的日子屈指可数。当竞争力赶上传统影响力品牌，消费者变得更加挑剔，品牌的运用将需要更大难度并更灵活，以证明自己的价值。对消费者的日益重视意味着员工和商业伙伴需要被灌输一个明确的品牌意识，那就是品牌体验能推动一个品牌。 股东也需要认识到这些公司采取这 一挑战，并给予相应的奖励。股票价格必须反映公司现在为品牌利益和今后公司价值的影响做出的努力。以操纵目的使用品牌的人将会受到惩罚，以创造价值为目的的人将得到回报。
