营销大师公开课：竞争制胜之道

    我们旅行了大概4万多英里，采访了几十位企业高管。我们既访问了一些拥有丰富的成功经验、实干的文化、以及持续顶线增长历史的企业，也访问了那些正面临一定的困难、正处在增长曲线不同节点上的企业。我们的访问对象既包括IBM和联合利华（Unilever）这样的大企业，也包括Method 和Innocent这样名不见经传的小公司【后者是可口可乐（Coco-Cola）旗下的一家饮料公司】。我们花很多时间研究了路易斯威尔—斯拉格（Louisville Slugger，美国棒球装备品牌——译注）、汽车网站Edmunds.com和日本网购巨头乐天集团（Rakuten）的成功秘诀，另外也访问了像探索通信公司（Discovery Communications）、财捷（Intuit）和摩托罗拉解决方案（Motorola Solutions）等创新型公司。在接下来的几周里，我们将分享我们探索到的经验，把它根据不同的主题奉献给大家。

    We traveled roughly 40,000 miles interviewing dozens of senior leaders. We visited companies that have growth heritages and can-do cultures and consistent track records of top-line success. But we also sought out companies that are facing headwinds and are at different points on the growth curve. We met with established giants like IBM (IBM) and Unilever (UL) and upstarts like Method and Innocent, a drinks business now part of Coca-Cola (KO). We spent time inside mighty market leaders like Louisville Slugger, Edmunds.com and online shopping giant Rakuten. We also visited innovative stalwarts like Discovery Communications (DISCA), Intuit (INTU), and Motorola Solutions (MSI).

    In the weeks ahead, we'll share what we discovered, and we'll organize the lessons by several themes or topics.

    我们实地研究访问得出的一条经验是，永远不要忽视最基本的东西。比如，Method作为一家非常注重环保的清洁产品公司就非常清楚这个道理。这家企业的管理也同样基于理念，它把自己的第一个生产车间放在了芝加哥的南边，而且它有一个225英尺高的风能广告牌，在打广告的同时还为工厂提供了电力。

    我们还注意到，将一个公司的理念提取后，编成朗朗上口的故事讲给顾客和员工也是很重要的。比如路易斯威尔—斯拉格的口号是“成就球员”，汽车网站Edmunds.com擅长的是“让生活中的重大决定变简单”，这些都是擅于讲故事的例子。成功从摩托罗拉的困局中脱围的数码通讯和电信设备公司摩托罗拉解决方案也是一样，它的口号和它讲的每个故事的核心就是“我们帮人们在重要的时刻完美表现”。

    我们认为在《财富》上刊登的系列文章能进一步帮助企业领导们了解增长的艺术，真正帮助他们加快顶线增长。

    从2008年开始，吉姆•斯登格在宝洁公司担任了7年全球营销总监，他在宝洁管理着80亿美元的营销预算和7000名员工。现在他管理着一家名叫吉姆斯登格公司（Jim Stengel Company）的咨询公司/智库。他也是《增长力：如何打造世界顶级品牌》一书的作者。这本书根据一项长达十年的研究写成，研究涉及的有关品牌多达5万个，向我们展示了在最优秀的企业里，财务业绩是如何与基本的人的因素、价值和更高级的目标联系在一起的。今年58岁的斯登格也是加州大学洛杉矶分校安德森管理学院的客座教授，而且也是美国在线（AOL）的董事会成员。目前他与辛辛那提大学营销学教授克里斯•亚伦共同主笔《财富》杂志的系列专栏文章。（财富中文网）

    译者：朴成奎

    Some of our road-trip learning is about never losing sight of the basics. Method, the environmentally progressive cleaning-products company, totally gets that. And management is building on its ideals, literally, by putting its first manufacturing on the south side of Chicago -- with a 225-foot-tall whirling billboard that doubles as a wind turbine and powers the factory.

    We also realized the importance of distilling a company's ideals into stories that can be readily told and shared with customers and employees. Louisville Slugger, which promises "to make players great," and car-buying service Edmunds.com, which professes to be about "simplifying life's big decisions," are masters of storytelling. So is Motorola Solutions, the data communications and telecom equipment company that successfully transformed out of old struggling Motorola. "We help people be their best in the moments that matter" is Motorola Solutions' promise and the core of every story it tells.

    We think this Fortune series will be a step forward in helping leaders practice what they're preaching about how to grow -- and yes, actually help them accelerate top-line growth.

    For seven years until 2008, Jim Stengel was the chief global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble (PG), where he oversaw an $8 billion advertising budget and 7,000 employees. Now heading a consulting firm/think tank aptly called The Jim Stengel Company, he advises companies on how to grow globally by driving ideals. He's the author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies, which uses a 10-year study involving 50,000 brands to show how at the best companies, financial performance relates to an ability to connect with fundamental human emotions, values and greater purposes. Stengel, 58, is also an adjunct professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and on the board of directors of AOL (AOL). He's writing this series for Fortune.com with Chris Allen, the Arthur Beerman Professor of Marketing at the University of Cincinnati.