新托福阅读材料：怎样经营品牌声誉
In February, Google found itself in an unusual position: out of step with its customers. When the company launched Buzz, its social networking service, it faced a barrage of criticism from users who objected to the way it had automatically enrolled users of Gmail, its e-mail service, into the new offering. Their gripe was that it would make their private contacts public. Google was stung by the uproar but put it down to a mistake made in good faith and quickly made Buzz optional. 今年2月，谷歌(Google)发现自己陷入了一个不同寻常的境地：与客户步调不合。公司推出社交网络服务Buzz时，遭到用户的猛烈批评，他们反对谷歌将电子邮件Gmail的用户自动注册为新服务的用户，抱怨这会公开自己的私密联系人。这场骚乱对谷歌造成了打击，但公司将此归为无心之失，并迅速把Buzz变成可选服务。For a company that ranked second in a recent survey by Fortune magazine of the world's most admired companies, getting it so wrong with users was uncomfortable. It also begged the question of how a company known for being so intuitively connected to consumers could get it so wrong.
在《财富》(Fortune)杂志近期的世界最受尊敬公司调查中，谷歌排名第二。对这样一家公司来说，对用户的了解错到如此地步是令人不安的。这也提出了一个问题：一家以与消费者心有灵犀而出名的公司怎么会犯错呢?
Google had established its reputation on the back of the functionality and ease of use of its search engine, a stream of popular innovations and a declared commitment to free access to information and the democratisation of the internet. Estimates vary wildly, but in 2009 one research agency, Millward Brown Optimor, valued the Google brand at $100bn.
谷歌的声誉依赖于搜索引擎的功能性和易用性、接连不断广受欢迎的创新、以及对自由获取信息和网络民主化的公开推崇。市场对谷歌品牌价值的估算相去甚远，但2009年，研究机构Millward Brown Optimor对它的估值为1000亿美元。
But, even before the furore over Buzz, there were signs of cracks in the edifice. Google's reputation took a beating over its decision to enter the Chinese market, where it initially agreed to government demands to censor search results, only to recant and redirect users to a non-censored site in January based in Hong Kong. Observers wondered if the decision to enter China in the first place had compromised Google's founding values, summed up in its unofficial motto: "Don't be evil."
然而，甚至在Buzz事件引发众怒之前，谷歌大厦便已出现了裂痕。进军中国市场的决定给谷歌的声誉造成了冲击——谷歌最初接受了中国政府对搜索结果进行审查的要求，但在今年1月被迫放弃，并将用户重新链接至香港的站点(最近为了申请延长其在中国的ICP牌照，谷歌不再把中国内地用户自动转往其香港站点——编者注)。观察人士怀疑最初进军中国的决定是否损害了谷歌的创始价值观：用其非官方的座右铭总结就是“不做恶”。
Google, of course, is not the only brand to have seen its reputation suffer recently. The public image of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, has suffered in the wake of the credit crunch with a famous article in Rolling Stone magazine describing the organisation as a "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity". BPis widely perceived to have compounded the damage done to its image by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico through a poor public relations and crisis management strategy in its aftermath.
当然，谷歌不是最近声名受损的惟一品牌。信贷危机爆发后，投资银行高盛(Goldman Sachs)的公众形象也受到了损害，《滚石》(Rolling Stone)杂志上一篇著名的文章将该公司描述为“缠绕在人性面孔上的巨大吸血乌贼”。而外界广泛认为，英国石油(BP)事后不力的公共关系和危机管理战略，进一步加重了墨西哥湾原油泄漏事件对其形象的损害。
What affects reputations in turn affects brands. It is too soon to say how badly the Goldman Sachs and BP brands will be affected but it seems certain that they will be. And what all of these examples highlight is how hard it is to manage reputations.
影响声誉的事情反过来也会影响到品牌。要判断高盛和英国石油的品牌会受到多么严重的冲击，现在还为时过早，但冲击似乎已不可避免。这些例子都突显出管理声誉有多么困难。
Rohit Deshpandé, professor of marketing at Harvard Business School, says the pressures to grow mean that some businesses, and start-ups in particular, forget to adapt their strategies as they become bigger. "When you are growing, your focus is on growing rapidly and you tend to be opportunistic about growth," he says. "You are not thinking about the vision and strategy. You are doing everything, so you have no time to sit back and think about things."
哈佛商学院(HBS)营销学教授罗希特•德什潘德(Rohit Deshpandé)表示，增长的压力会让部分企业(尤其是初创企业)在发展壮大时忘记调整自己的战略。“在发展阶段，你的关注重点是迅速成长，对于发展往往抱着机会主义心态，”他说。“你没有考虑到愿景和战略。你什么事都要做，所以没有时间坐下来想事情。”
In other cases, companies lose sight of the core values that define their brand. "Brands are attitudes and perceptions in customers' minds," says Patrick Barwise, a professor of marketing at London Business School and chairman of Which?, the consumer organisation. Successful reputations, he says, are built on customer experience. Those companies that have built strong global brands, such as Apple and Procter & Gamble, have done so by first creating a strong customer promise and then delivering on that promise consistently.
在其他一些案例中，企业忘记了诠释其品牌的核心价值观。“品牌就是顾客心目中的态度和认知，”伦敦商学院(LBS)营销学教授、消费者组织Which?的主席帕特里克•巴韦斯(Patrick Barwise)表示。他说，成功的声誉建立在顾客的体验上。打造了知名国际品牌的公司，如苹果(Apple)和宝洁(P&G)，都是先对顾客做出强有力的承诺，接着不间断地履行这个承诺，才取得成功。
Other companies start out well and then lose their way. Café chain Starbucks was a very powerful and successful brand in North America, in part because it became very good at delivering what customers wanted. But somewhere along the way, says Prof Deshpandé, hubris set in. "It was so focused on growth by opening new stores that it lost touch with its core customers," he says. As a result in some markets, such as the UK, Starbucks has seen its image and reputation decline.
还有一些企业开头不错，但后来迷失了方向。连锁咖啡店星巴克(Starbucks)曾是北美地区一个非常强大和成功的品牌，部分原因就在于它非常善于满足客户需求。但在发展过程中，德什潘德表示，傲慢不知不觉地滋生了。“它过于重视发展壮大，不断开设新店，以至于失去了与核心顾客的联系，”他表示。结果在英国等部分市场，星巴克的形象和声誉都直线下落。
Prof Deshpandé adds that most companies make a big mistake by relegating brand management issues to the marketing department.
德什潘德补充表示，大多数公司都犯了个大错：把品牌管理事务托付给了营销部门。
Martin Roll, chief executive of brand consultancy VentureRepublic, agrees. Many companies, he says, think of brands only in terms of advertising and positioning. "Most companies do not put brands at the heart of their strategy," he says.
品牌咨询公司VentureRepublic首席执行官马丁•罗尔(Martin Roll)对此表示赞同。他说，许多公司只是从广告和定位的角度去考虑品牌。“大多数公司没有把品牌作为战略的核心。”
Another challenge for companies is how to manage their reputations as their operations become more global. It was easier for Google, for example, to adhere to its motto when it operated in open markets such as the US and western Europe but in a more controlled economy, such as China, this proved more tricky.
企业面临的另一个挑战是，在业务进一步全球化之时，如何管理品牌声誉。例如，当谷歌在美国和西欧等开放市场里经营时，要坚守自己的信条会比较容易，但在中国这样管控更加严格的经济体，问题就会更加棘手。
A similar difficulty is faced by Asian companies as they try to grow outside their home markets. The Tata group, for example, is India's biggest and most valuable brand but the country's own brand image is weak in the west. Apart from IT services, India is considered by many to be a source of low-cost, low-quality goods and services. How can Tata transcend that image? One option is to follow the example of Sony and create a global brand that is not country-specific.
当亚洲企业试图在本土市场以外发展时，也面临类似的难题。比如，塔塔集团(Tata)是印度最大、最有价值的品牌，但在西方，这个国家自身的品牌形象很弱。除了IT服务之外，许多人都将印度视为廉价低质商品和服务的来源。塔塔如何才能超越这种形象?选择之一是效仿索尼(Sony)，打造一个没有国别色彩的全球化品牌。
新托福阅读材料：怎样经营品牌声誉
But there are risks here, too. Tata's brand is linked to its Indian identity. "To tell a story about Tata is to tell a story about India," says Peter Unsworth, chief executive of Tata Global Beverages. Cutting the links with its Indian identity could do the Tata brand much more harm than good. 但这种做法也有风险。塔塔的品牌与其印度身份是连在一起的。“讲述塔塔的故事就是在讲述印度的故事，”塔塔全球饮品业务首席执行官皮特•昂斯沃斯(Peter Unsworth)表示。对于塔塔品牌而言，切断与印度身份之间的联系，弊远远大于利。How can companies avoid these problems? Prof Barwise advocates a "back to basics" approach. A key element in any successful brand, he says, is trust. Customers have to believe that a brand's values are real, not just corporate communication-speak.
那么企业如何才能避免这些问题呢?巴韦斯推荐一种“回归根本”的做法。他说，任何成功品牌都有一个关键要素，那就是信任。顾客必须相信品牌的价值是真实的，而不只是企业的公关说辞。
The Tata brand in India has been built on this basis. Indian customers know that Tata products and services will always deliver what they promise. Maintaining trust is key to maintaining the brand. "Our brand represents a framework of fairness and equality," says Ratan Tata, leader of the Tata group.
塔塔在印度的品牌就建立在这个基础之上。印度顾客知道塔塔的产品和服务总是能兑现承诺。维系信任是维系品牌的关键所在。“我们的品牌是公平和平等准则的象征，”塔塔集团董事长拉坦•塔塔(Ratan Tata)表示。
Corporate communications, such as advertising, play a relatively minor role in this process. It is what the company does, not what it says, that reinforces the brand in the minds of customers. Apple has superb corporate communications, says Prof Barwise, and it is "brilliant at the theatre of product launches". But the products themselves are what keep people buying Apple products. If they did not deliver on the promise made through corporate communications, Apple would not have a brand.
广告之类的企业公关活动在这个过程中发挥的作用相对较小。巩固品牌在顾客心目中的地位在于行，而不在于言。巴韦斯说，苹果公司的企业公关做得超棒，而且“在新品推介的舞台上表现得才华横溢”。但产品本身才是促使人们不断购买苹果产品的原因所在。如果没有兑现通过企业公关活动作出的承诺，苹果就不会拥有品牌了。
By contrast, BP's switch to an eco-themed logo in 2000 and a new slogan, "Beyond Petroleum", to highlight the company's apparent switch to more environmentally friendly energy, has not protected it from criticism in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. If anything, as with Google in China, it has become a stick with which critics have been able to beat the company.
相比之下，英国石油在2000年转而采用以生态为主题的新标识和“不仅贡献石油”的新口号，来突显公司向更环保性能源的明显转型，但这未能使其在“深水地平线”(Deepwater Horizon)钻井平台的灾难之后免受指责。要说有什么的话，就和谷歌在中国的遭遇一样，新公关战略变成了批评人士用来抨击该公司的大棒。
"Brands have to understand that they are service providers," says Prof Deshpandé. "They no longer shape people's ideas."
“各大品牌必须明白自己是服务提供商，”德什潘德表示。“他们不再能左右人们的想法。”
Instead, people engage in what Jonathan Schroeder, a professor at University of Exeter Business School, calls "brand co-creation". Customers do not just communicate with the company, he says. Increasingly, they also communicate with each other, and it is the stories they share that shape the brand. Companies that recognise this accordingly spend more time listening to customers than talking to them. "It is the stories that consumers tell each other, the experiences and values they share, that really shape the brand," he says.
相反，人们会参与到埃克赛特大学商学院(University of Exeter Business School)教授乔纳森•施罗德(Jonathan Schroeder)所说的“品牌共建”活动中。他说，顾客不仅与公司沟通，他们彼此之间的沟通也越来越多，而正是他们口口相传的故事塑造了品牌。那些意识到这一点的公司会相应地花更多时间倾听顾客的需求，而不是对他们发表长篇大论。“真正塑造品牌的是顾客们口口相传的故事和互相分享的体验和价值观，”他表示。
The rise of social media has only amplified this. Reinier Evers, founder of Trendwatching.com, says the rise of Twitter, the microblogging website, enables companies to monitor what people are saying about them but also help them to engage actively with consumers.
社会媒体的崛起只会放大这一效应。Trendwatching.com网站的创始人雷尼耶•埃弗斯(Reinier Evers)表示，微博网站Twitter的兴起，让企业得以监控人们对它们的评论，但也帮助他们与消费者积极展开互动。
"Many companies say they can't afford two people to monitor and engage with comments, but this is what companies need to do," he says. "They need to be engaged in a constant conversation so that massive surprises don't occur."
“许多公司说，他们负担不起让两个人专门监控和参与网络评论，但这正是企业们需要做的，”他说道。“他们需要坚持参与对话，这样才不会发生重大意外。”
Above all, brands need a chief executive to be their champion. "Experience shows that if the leader is not involved, the chance of success is greatly reduced," says Mr Roll. At Apple, for example, Steve Jobs defines and champions the brand.
最重要的是，品牌需要一位首席执行官来担任捍卫者。“经验显示，如果领导者不亲身参与，成功的机率会大大降低，”罗尔表示。比如在苹果，史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)就是品牌的界定者和捍卫者。
Will Google's reputation survive the assaults on its image? It is taking steps to remedy perceptions of the company. More important, the warning signs are clear: Google, and other global companies, cannot rely forever on past goodwill to keep them going.
谷歌的声望能否经受住对其形象的攻击?要修复人们对公司的认知，需要一步步的努力。更重要的是，警告信号明确无误：谷歌及其他全球性企业不能永远依赖过去的商誉作为前进的动力。
As Markham Erickson, executive director of the Open Internet Coalition, an industry trade group of which Google is a member, puts it: "When you're big, you're not cute any more."
正如开放互联网联盟(Open Internet Coalition)——谷歌是这家行业贸易组织的成员——执行董事马卡姆•埃里克森(Markham Erickson)所言：“当你变大时，就不再可爱了。”。
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