OLDER people are not the only ones to try too hard to be hip and youthful. Long-established firms can, too. Just look at Procter & Gamble (P&G), one of the world’s largest consumer-goods firms, which this year applied to America’s federal patent office to trademark LOL, NBD, WTF and FML, abbreviations commonly used in text messages and social media. If it succeeds, the 181-year-old firm plans to use the phrases to market soap, cleaners and air fresheners to young buyers. Its move is the intellectual-property equivalent of Dad dancing. But it is a sign of large firms’ eagerness to woo millennial consumers.
并不只有上了年纪的人努力想变得时髦和年轻。老牌公司也能想。看看世界上最大的消费品公司之一宝洁(P&G)今年向美国联邦专利局申请了LOL, NBD, WTF和FML的商标，这些缩写在短信和社交媒体上经常使用。如果成功，这家拥有181年历史的公司计划用这些词向年轻买家推销肥皂、清洁剂和空气清新剂。它的这种举动是相当于爸爸跳舞式的知识产权保护。不过，这是大企业渴望吸引千禧一代消费者的一个信号。
To many firms they are a mystery. KPMG, a consultancy, reckons nearly half do not know how millennials—typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000—differ from their older counterparts. That may be because such differences are overblown. According to Ipsos-MORI, a pollster, millennials are “the most carelessly described group we have ever looked at”. Many claims about them are simplified or wrong. It is often said, for example, that they ignore conventional ads; in fact they are heavily influenced by marketing.
对许多公司来说，千禧一代是未知的谜。毕马威会计师事务所(KPMG)估计，近一半的人不知道1980 - 2000年出生的人与上一辈有何不同。这可能是因为这些差异被夸大了。根据*意民**调查机构Ipsos-MORI的说法，“千禧一代”是“我们观察过的最随意描述的群体”。许多关于他们的说法被简化或错误。例如，人们常说，他们忽视传统广告；事实上，市场营销对他们影响深远。
Given such misconceptions, it is little wonder that firms sometimes get it wrong. In February, MillerCoors, an American brewer, released Two Hats, a light fruit-flavoured brew the beer-maker said would suit millennials’ tastes and budgets (tagline: “Good, cheap beer. Wait, what?”). Consumers just waited; the beer was pulled from shelves after six months. But some stereotypes about millennials have roots in reality. Companies are finding that three broad approaches do succeed when trying to sell to them: transparency, experiences (over things) and flexibility.
考虑到这些误解，一些企业有时会出错，也就不足为奇了。今年2月，美国酿酒商米勒康胜(MillerCoors)发布了一种水果味啤酒Two Hats。该公司表示，这款啤酒符合千禧一代的口味和价格预期。(广告标语:“啤酒好喝，便宜。”等等，什么?”)。消费者就这么等着；六个月后，这款啤酒下架了。可是，一些关于千禧一代的刻板印象在现实中根深蒂固。有企业发现，在向千禧一代推销产品时，有三种宽泛的方法确实有效：透明度、(对事物和)体验和灵活性。
On the first of these, transparency, younger brands have led the way. In clothing, one example is Everlane, an online clothing manufacturer based in San Francisco. It discloses the conditions under which each and every garment is made and how much profit it generates as part of its philosophy of “radical transparency”.
首先是透明度，年轻品牌引领了这一潮流。在服装领域，旧金山的在线服装制造商Everlane就是一个例子。作为其“彻底透明”理念的一部分，它会披露每件服装的生产条件以及产生的利润。
Some large companies have made dramatic changes. ConAgra, an American food giant, has simplified its recipes and eliminated all artificial ingredients from many of its snacks and ready meals. After years of falling sales, it is growing again; millennials now account for 80% of its customer growth. “Bringing in these folks has been absolutely critical to growing the brands,” says Bob Nolan, ConAgra’s senior vice-president of insights and analytics.
一些大公司做了巨大的改变。美国食品巨头康尼格拉公司简化了其食谱，并从许多快餐和即食食品中剔除了所有非自然成分。在经历了多年的销售下滑之后，它又开始增长了;千禧一代现在占到了客户增长量的80%。康尼格拉分析高级副总裁鲍勃•诺兰(Bob Nolan)说道:“引入这些人对提升品牌至关重要。”
Millennials’ appreciation of experiences over “stuff” is also real. Online platforms such as Airbnb have capitalised on youngsters’ taste for splurging on holidays, dinners and other Instagrammable activities, but so too have some older bricks-and-mortar firms. In 2016 JPMorgan Chase, a bank, launched Sapphire Reserve, a premium credit card that offers generous rewards for spending on travel and dining. Touted as “a card for accumulating experiences”, the $450-a-year product has been a hit with well-off millennials, who represent more than half of cardholders.
千禧一代对体验欣赏胜过“物质”的，这是真实的。Airbnb等在线平台利用了年轻人在假期、晚餐和其他instagram活动上挥金如土的癖好，但一些老牌实体公司也是这么做的。2016年，摩根大通银行(JPMorgan Chase)推出了高级信用卡“蓝宝石储备”(Sapphire Reserve)，为旅游和餐饮支出提供了丰厚的回报。这款售价450美元的产品被誉为“积累经历的卡片”，受到了富裕的千禧一代的青睐，他们占到了超过一半的持卡人。
Younger consumers also have more debt, fewer assets and less job security than previous generations. In this regard, flexibility matters. Ally Bank, a subsidiary of Ally Financial, the former financial wing of General Motors, for example, does not charge its current-account customers any maintenance fees or require them to hold minimum balances. Such features have earned it the loyalty of millennials.
与前几代人相比，年轻的消费者负债更多、资产更少和工作保障也更少。在这方面，灵活性很重要。例如，前通用汽车金融子公司Ally Financial的子公司Ally银行不向其经常账户客户收取任何维修费或要求他们保持最低余额。这些特点为它赢得了千禧一代的忠诚。
Business models are being revamped to serve commitment-phobic millennials. Big carmakers, including GM, Volvo and BMW, offer subscription services for their cars, offering access to new vehicles without lengthy financial obligations.
商业模式正在更新，以服务“承诺恐惧症”的千禧一代。通用汽车(GM)、沃尔沃(Volvo)和宝马(BMW)等大型汽车制造商都为自己的汽车提供订购服务，让消费者无需承担冗长的财务责任就能购买到新车。
Yet many firms still have too homogeneous a view of millennials, says Laura Beaudin, a partner at Bain & Company, a consultancy. “If you want to resonate with a group that prides itself on diversity, having a one-size-fits all solution does not make sense,” she says. Some firms do embrace customers’ individuality—in May, Gucci, an Italian fashion house, introduced customised versions of a popular tote bag and pair of sneakers as part of a campaign called Gucci DIY. Gucci reportedly maintains a cadre of under-30 staffers to advise its boss. Expect more companies of a certain age to hark back to youth.
然而，贝恩咨询公司(Bain & Company)合伙人劳拉•博丁(Laura Beaudin)表示，许多企业对千禧一代的看法过于单一。“如果你想与一个以多样性为傲的群体产生共鸣，采用一种适合所有人的解决方案是没有意义的。”她说道。一些企业确实拥抱消费者的个性化——五月，意大利时尚公司古驰(Gucci)在一名为“古驰DIY”活动中，推出了定制版的流行手提袋和一双运动鞋。据报道称，古驰有一位年龄不超过30岁的骨干，专门为老板提供建议。预计会有更多成立时间相仿的企业要回归年轻时代。
编译：何坤
编辑：翻吧君