马歇尔 从吉他音箱到手机 Marshall’s leap from amps to phones is not as odd as it seems
Iconic is an overused word, but it is perhaps excusable in the case of Marshall guitar amplifiers, with their handwritten logo, leather-look finish and raucous sound unchanged in 50 years. Something not everyone knows, however, is that, despite the all-American aura, Marshall is a British family company that grew out of a music shop in west London, and still manufactures old-school valve amplifiers in Bletchley.
尽管“标志性”一词的使用已经泛滥，但用这个词描述马歇尔(Marshall)吉他音箱则情有可原。马歇尔音箱的手写商标、皮革纹外观以及浑厚的音色五十年来从未变过。然而鲜为人知的是，尽管散发出浓厚的美国气息，马歇尔却是脱胎于伦敦西部一家音像店、如今仍在布莱切利(Bletchley)生产老式电子管音箱的英国家族企业。
So far, so retro. But Marshall knows how the modern world rocks. For the past few years, it has developed a line in well-received Marshall-styled accessories, from headphones to wireless speakers, designed by a collaborator, Zound Industries of Stockholm, and made in China.
直到现在，马歇尔依旧保持着复古的风格。然而，它却深谙现代社会的流行趋势。过去几年来，它推出了一系列极具自身风格的配件产品，从耳机到无线扬声器，均由来自斯德哥尔摩的合作商尚音(Zound Industries)设计、在中国制造，深受市场欢迎。
Last month, however, Marshall did something less rock and roll than seemingly bonkers. It announced a Marshall mobile phone. The “London” is an Android smartphone that looks like a Marshall amp and is heavy on music features. On hand to give the lavish launch a rock and roll vibe were Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Phil Campbell of Mot爀栀攀愀搀 and Mick Jones of The Clash, plus a gospel choir singing the latter’s “London Calling”.
然而上个月，马歇尔却做了件与其说很“摇滚”、不如说很疯狂的事——它宣布将推出马歇尔手机。这款名为“London”的智能手机采用安卓(Android)系统，外形酷似马歇尔音箱，强调音乐效果。性手枪乐队(Sex Pistols)的格伦氠禚洛克(Glen Matlock)、摩托头乐队(Mot爀栀攀愀搀)的菲尔丠贝尔(Phil Campbell)、冲撞乐队(The Clash)的米克琼斯(Mick Jones)，以及一个演唱冲撞乐队名曲《伦敦呼叫》(London Calling)福音唱诗班，为这次大手笔的产品发布会增添了摇滚氛围。
In a memorable climax to an unusually confident technology product announcement, Zound’s co-founder, Konrad Bergstr洀, who had grown a mighty Viking-type beard for the occasion, warned “the big boys” to watch out, because Marshall was going to, putting it politely, assault them in a highly scatological way.
尚音的联合创始人康拉德伯格斯特龙(Konrad Bergstr洀)将这场极为自信的技术产品发布会推向了难忘的高潮。他特意为这场发布会蓄了维京式的胡须，并警告那些手机业的“大人物”小心，因为，客气点说，马歇尔将狠狠地冲击他们。
Interesting. So how would a small British family business and some enthusiastic Swedes do such an indignity to the likes of Apple and Samsung?
这很有趣。那么，一家小型英国家族企业和几个热情的瑞典人何以如此蔑视像苹果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)这类的行业巨头呢？
I told an Australian investment banker, who spends his day taking pitches from technology hopefuls, about the Marshall London. He laughed, thinking I’d made it up as a hypothetical example of over-optimistic tech start-ups. When I explained this was really happening, he was still giggling. “Does it come with a sweaty roadie to carry it?” he asked.
我向一位澳大利亚投行家讲述了马歇尔推出London手机的事，他成天听科技界的新秀向他推销自己。他哈哈大笑，认为我在编造一个过分乐观的科技初创企业的假想案例。听到我解释说这是真实发生的事，他仍然咯咯地笑。“这款手机是不是得一个大汗淋漓的乐团经理来扛？”他问道。
I went to a Marshall pop-up store in Shoreditch to try the 399 device ahead of its August 21 launch and, I have to say, I like it. The music features — a fancy sound card, the ability to record music in stereo, a proper, turning volume control, and others — are attractive. It’s really a high-specification music player with a built-in mobile phone. Clever.
我赶在8月21日产品发布前，前往位于肖尔迪奇区(Shoreditch)的马歇尔快闪店，试用了这款售价399英镑的手机。不得不说，我很喜欢。优越的声卡、立体声录音、特有的滚轮式音量旋钮以及其他音乐功能都十分吸引人，可谓是内置手机的高规格音乐播放器，聪明极了。
But I still didn’t understand how Marshall hopes to make the business side work. In a week, the store had presold six phones to walk-ins and online orders at the two week point were approaching 1,000. Nice, but unlikely to give Tim Cook sleepless nights. I called Mr Bergstr洀. He explained that he approached Marshall with the phone idea. “We are up against the most powerful companies in the world, so we need to act right. We need to reach the right customers. We know the hard work starts now.”
然而我还是无法理解马歇尔打算用什么方式进行商业运作。快闪店一周内向进店顾客预售了6部手机，在线订单数在两周内接近1000。这个成绩不错，但不太可能让蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)失眠。我给伯格斯特龙先生打了个电话。他解释说是他找马歇尔提出手机的点子。“我们挑战的是世界上最强大的公司，所以我们必须正确行事。我们必须打入正确的消费群体。我们明白，艰难的工作才刚刚开始。”
It was the first phone Zound had made, but it wasn’t just a rebrand of some existing Chinese model. “This phone has been developed in every way, from the inside out, with some of the former top engineers from Nokia, plus input from people from Ericsson and Sony. It’s not an off-the-shelf product,” he said.
这是尚音首次生产手机，但它并不仅仅是给某种现有中国机型换个品牌。“这部手机从内至外，在各方面都有所改进，几名曾在诺基亚(Nokia)工作的高级工程师以及来自爱立信(Ericsson)和索尼(Sony)的人员都参与了设计，所以并不是市面上已有的产品，”他说道。
Zound has a 10-strong phone team in Stockholm, I discovered, and Marshall’s sound engineers in Bletchley have also been closely involved to ensure the London sounds sufficiently Marshall-like.
我发现，尚音在斯德哥尔摩有一个由十名专家组成的手机团队，马歇尔位于布莱切利的音响师也密切参与了手机的研发过程，以确保London手机的音效充分具备马歇尔的风格。
Marshall’s managing director Jonathan Ellery told me the target is to sell 1m phones by the end of 2016 — “but at 300,000 to 500,000, we break even”.
马歇尔的董事总经理乔纳森埃勒里(Jonathan Ellery)告诉我，公司的目标是到2016年年底售出100万部手机——“不过只要售出30万到50万部，我们就至少不赔本”。
Getting the phones in the right hands was key. “We’ve been approached by a number of high-profile music people saying, ‘Can we have a phone?’ and our view is, sure, so yes, they’re getting them. The more they get seen in the right hands, the better.”
至关重要的一点是把手机卖给正确的消费者。“很多著名的音乐人主动找到我们，问‘能来一部手机吗？’我们觉得当然能。于是现在他们买到了。越多的手机到正确的消费者手中，形势就越有利。“
Mobile phone industry analyst Ben Wood of tech consultancy CCS Insight agrees. He feels the phone is only modestly innovative, but the branding is quite brilliant. “Smartphones are a sea of sameness. People are desperate for something new and differentiated. You drop that Marshall phone on the bar and it’s going to be a talking lit up social media.”
技术咨询公司CCS Insight的手机市场分析师本伍德(Ben Wood)同意该观点。他认为这部手机并无多少创新之处，但是品牌塑造方面做得相当好。“智能手机同质化严重，人们都十分渴望新颖、差异化的产品。只要把马歇尔手机往酒吧一放，它就会立刻成为人们谈论的焦点……它能在社交媒体上点亮话题。”
Although sceptical — “A goal of 1m units is commendable, but Samsung probably do that in a day” — he conceded Marshall’s plan could come off. “A clever, edgy branded deal might grab a small slice of the market. Create a lean business with low overheads and outsource it right, and, yes, you could make money.”
尽管持怀疑态度——“100万部的销售目标值得称赞，不过三星可能一天内就能完成这个数目”——但伍德还是承认马歇尔的计划可能成功。“一个聪明、前卫的品牌有可能从市场中分一小杯羹。创建一项精干的业务，如果能保持低廉的运营成本，并合理的进行外包，那么是的，这可以赚到钱。”
