MAKING THE MOST OF TRENDS
引领大多数潮流

Experts from Harvard Business School give advice to managers
哈佛商学院对经理人的建议

Most managers can identify the major trends of the day. But in the course of conducting research in a number of industries and working directly with companies, we have discovered that managers often fail to recognize the less obvious but profound ways these trends are influencing consumers’ aspirations, attitudes, and behaviors. This is especially true of trends that managers view as peripheral to their core markets.

大部分经理人能够辨识出下最主要的流行趋势。但在对一系列产业的调研及与商家的直接合作当中,我们却发现,对于潮流在影响消费者的追求、态度和行为方面的一些不明显却深选的方式,经理人却通常意识不到。那些在经理人眼中与核心市场毫无关联的潮流，更是容易被无视。

Many ignore trends in their innovation strategies or adopt a wait-and-see approach and let compe*s take the lead- At a minimum, such responses mean missed profit opportunities. At the extreme, they can jeopardize a company by ceding to rivals the opportunity to transform the industry. The purpose of this article is twofold: to spur managers to think more expansively about how trends could engender new value propositions in their core markets, and to provide some high-level advice on how to make market research and product development personnel more adept at *yzing and exploiting trends.

很多人在创新策略中无视趋势的存在,或采取一种“观望”的态度,让他们的竟争对手先行尝试。往小了说,这种反应会错失盈利良机。往大了说,他们这是在将重塑产业的良机拱手让给竞争对手。本文的目的有二:开阔经理人的思路,启发他们思考潮流如何在核心市场中创造新的价值增长点;针对市场调研组和产品开发部门如何更熟练地分析与挖掘潮流提出一些高层的建议。

One strategy, known as ‘infuse and augment’, is to design a product or service that retains most of the attributes and functions of existing products in the category but adds others that address the needs and desires unleashed by a major trend. A case in point is the Poppy range of handbags, which the firm Coach created in response to the economic downturn of 2008. The Coach brand had been a symbol of opulence and luxury for nearly 70 years, and the most obvious reaction to the downturn would have been to lower prices. However, that would have risked cheapening the brand’s image. Instead, they initiated a consumer-research project which revealed that customers were eager to lift themselves and the country out of tough times. Using these insights, Coach launched the lower-priced Poppy handbags, which were in vibrant colors, and looked more youthful and playful than conventional Coach products. Creating the sub-brand allowed Coach to avert an across-the-board price cut. In contrast to the many companies that responded to the recession by cutting prices, Coach saw the new consumer mindset as an opportunity for innovation and renewal.

策略一:“融汇与扩张”,指设计的产品服务能够最大化保留现有产品范畴内的属性与功能,但也加入其他一些属性与功能以满足主流趋势的需求和欲望。以2008年经济萧条时期Coach公司旗下的新系列Poppy手包为例。70年来, Coach都是奢侈华贵的象征,而应对经济萧条最自然的反应就是折价处理。但是这样会使品牌形象廉价化。而Coach在消费者调查报告中发现,消费者迫不及待地想让自己和这个国家都摆脱萧条的困境。有了这样的观察, Coach发布了一款价格更低的Poppy手包系列,与经典款的Coach产品相比,这些手包颜色亮丽,年轻又充满趣味。Coach用创造全新的子品牌成功避免了全线降价。相比某些公司用打折处理来应对萧条, Coach抓住了消费者的心理,以此为契机,抓住机会实现革新。

A further example of this strategy was supermarket Tesco’s response to consumers’ growing concerns about the environment. With that in mind, Tesco, one of the world’s top five retailers, introduced its Greener Living program, which demonstrates the company’s commitment to protecting the environment by involving consumers in ways that produce tangible results. For example, Tesco customers can accumulate points for such activities as reusing bags, recycling cans and printer cartridges, and buying home-insulation materials. Like points earned on regular purchases, these green points can be redeemed for cash. Tesco has not abandoned its traditional retail offerings but augmented its business with these innovations, thereby infusing its value proposition with a green streak.

超市品牌Tesco对消费者日益增长的环保意识的应对是该策略另一个有力的证明。考虑到消费者的环保意识,作为全球第五大零售商的Tesco超市发起了“绿色生活”活动,吸引消费者参与创造一些活动来产生实实在在的结果,以彰显品牌对于环境保护的投入。比如Tesco的消费者可以通过一些活动来积攒积分,如反复利用袋子、回收易拉罐和墨盒、购*居家保温材料等。和其他普通购物所获得的积分一样,绿色积分也能兑换现金。Tesco没有放弃自己的零售服务,但通过这些创新扩大了自己的业务范围,为产品的价值增长注了一丝绿色环保的元素。

A more radical strategy is ‘combine and transcend.’ This entails combining aspects of the product’s existing value proposition with attributes addressing changes arising from a trend, to create a novel experience – one that may land the company in an entirely new market space. At first glance, spending resources to incorporate elements of a seemingly irrelevant trend into one’s core offerings sounds like it’s hardly worthwhile. But consider Nike’s move to integrate the digital revolution into its reputation for high-performance athletic footwear. In 2006, they teamed up with technology company Apple to launch Nike+, a digital sports kit comprising a sensor that attaches to the running shoe and a wireless receiver that connects to the user’s iPod. By combining Nike’s original value proposition for * athletes with one for digital consumers, the Nike+ sports kit and web interface moved the company from a focus on athletic apparel to a new plane of engagement with its customers.

策略二更加激进,叫做“跨界合作与超越”。该策略必须结合产品现有价值定住中的某方面与适应潮流变化的特点,以营造全新的体验–一种可能会将品牌带往全新市场空间的体验。乍一看,投入大量资源来融合品牌核心产品与似乎无关的潮流元素,这似乎不太值得。但考虑下Nike当年将自己高性能的知名运动鞋带入数码革命的做法吧。2006年,Nike与科技公司萍果合作,发售了一款Nike+的数码产品,它包含内置传感器的跑鞋和能连到使用者iPod的接收装置。通过把Nike原本针对业余运动爱好者的价值定位与数码消费者的定位结合起来,Nike+运动装备和网络交互将这个市场局限于运动服饰的公司提升到了一个服务消费者的新高度。

A third approach, known as ‘counteract and reaffirm’, involves developing products or services that stress the values traditionally associated with the category in ways that allow consumers to oppose – or at least temporarily escape from – the aspects of trends they view as undesirable. A product that accomplished this is the ME2, a video game created by Canada’s iToys. By reaffirming the toy category’s association with physical play, the ME2 counteracted some of the widely perceived negative impacts of digital gaming devices. Like other handheld games, the device featured a host of exciting interactive games, a full-color LCD screen, and advanced 3D graphics. What set it apart was that it incorporated the traditional physical component of children’s play: it contained a pedometer, which tracked and awarded points for physical activity (walking, running, biking, skateboarding, climbing stairs). The child could use the points to enhance various virtual skills needed for the video game. The ME2, introduced in mid- 2008, catered to kids’ huge desire to play video games while countering the negatives, such as associations with lack of exercise and obesity.

策略三:“反制与强化”。它是指创造一款产品或服务,强化现有产品中的传统价值定位,同时使得消费者可以来反制(或短暂逃离)潮流中他们不认同的方面。成功做到这点的是一家加拿大iToys创造的电脑游戏ME2。通过强化现有产品涉及肢体运动的这一特点,ME2反制了一些电子游戏产品中广受关注的消极影响。与其他的手柄游戏相同,该产品也  主打多种令人兴奋的交互游戏、全彩LCD屏幕和先进的3D图像技术。而让它与众不同的是它融入了传统儿童游戏中的肢体动作:它包含一个计步器,能够追踪肢体动作(走路、跑步、骑自行车、滑板、爬楼梯),并奖励积分。儿童可以用积分去增强各种游戏中的虚拟技能。2008年中发售的ME2满足了孩子们玩游戏的巨大需求,同时抵消了诸如缺乏锻炼肥胖症等一系列游戏的负面影响。

Once you have gained perspective on how trend-related changes in consumer opinions and behaviors impact on your category, you can determine which of our three innovation strategies to pursue. When your category’s basic value proposition continues to be meaningful for consumers influenced by the trend, the infuse-and-augment strategy will allow you to reinvigorate the category. If *ysis reveals an increasing disparity between your category and consumers, new focus, your innovations need to transcend the category to integrate the two worlds. Finally, if aspects of the category clash with undesired outcomes of a trend, such as associations with unhealthy lifestyles, there is an opportunity to counteract those changes by reaffirming the core values of your category.

潮流影响了消费者,改变了他们对你的各类产品的看法与消费行为,一旦你了解到这种变化以后,你可以从三种策略中挑选最恰当的一种。如果你的各类产品固有的价值定位对受到潮流影响的消费者来说依旧有意义的话,“融汇与扩张”策略可以帮助你重振品牌雄风,如果调查显示你的各类产品与消费者新的关注点渐行渐远的话,你的创新应当跨界合作实现两个世界的联结。最后,如果你的各类产品的某方面与当今潮流趋势的消极影响相违背,比如不健康的生活方式,那么就是抵消这些消极面、强化你的各类产品中最核心价值的时机了。

Trends – technological, economic, environmental, social, or political – that affect how people perceive the world around them and shape what they expect from products and services present firms with unique opportunities for growth.

潮流——无论是科技、经济、环境、社会或政治等种种方面的潮流—一都影响着人们如何感知这个世界,塑造者他们对于产品与服务的期待,也为公司提供了一个独特的成长机会。