未来咨询公司的新样板

    福克斯说，他开始写博客7个月之后，咨询业务不期而至。2005年年初，他意外地收到一封来自安海斯布希公司（Anheuser-Busch）高管的电邮，这位高管请求福克斯和PSFK编制一份双月刊报告，反映英国年轻人饮酒习惯的趋势和观察结果。PSFK的咨询业务由此应运而生。

    如今，大约有一半的客户是通过其网站或组织的活动找到PSFK的，比如该公司于12月初在纽约苏荷馆举办的关于电子游戏的私人沙龙。这个活动由美国前副总统和诺贝尔奖得主阿尔•戈尔共同主持，戈尔聘请PSFK为其气候现实项目（Climate Reality Project）组织了一场游戏设计比赛。苹果成为PSFK的客户已经有三年时间，该公司是在PSFK主办的一场高管会议后找到他们的。帕希娅第一个开腔，她说：“网站和活动的好处在于，我们可以向潜在的客户证明、而不是推销自己的思想领导力……”“还有我们的观点……”福克斯接过她的话茬。“我们与众不同的地方在于，我们非常主观，”维纳补充说。“在其他咨询公司的网站上，你可以了解到它们的服务，也许每个月还会看到一份新发表的研究报告。但在我们的网站上，你会看到海量的内容信。对于一家从事定性研究的咨询公司，这点非常重要。”

    对于客户，PSFK将其研究结果集中在一个私有的内部网络上，然后将这些研究进行组织，形成完整而精炼的书面报告，或是进行现场展示。这些研究结果是关于特定客户如何使用那些信息的建议，以帮助他们部署新的技术或采纳创新性思路。过去18个月，客户们越来越多地要求从PSFK这里得到商业战略方面的建议。福克斯说：“我们已经从原来的趋势研究转向产品概念和未来用户情形的分析。”其背景是，PSFK致力于为客户创造出内部讨论，挑战现有思维，当然有时候也会证实某些已有的观点。PSFK并不设计推向市场的实际产品原型。

    通过PSFK.com，该公司还出版和销售围绕一般性主题的研究报告，比如《零售业的未来》（The Future of Retail）。这些报告每份的售价是150美元，相对于大型咨询公司的主题研究报告——比如福雷斯特研究公司（Forrester Research）售价2,495美元的《消费化推动智能手机增长》（Consumerization Drives Smartphone Proliferation）——PSFK的研究报告算得上价格低廉。对于这些报告的销售情况，帕希娅称一般能带来“一个客户项目2.5倍的收入”，但她没有给出确切的数字。

    与此同时，PSFK最近的咨询项目包括一份《即时资讯的未来》（Real-Time Information）的研究报告，该项目由联合国（the United Nation）全球脉动计划（Global Pulse Initiative）委任，后者的使命是为联合国成员提供信息工具以改善决策方式。

    The consulting business came about unintentionally, seven months after he began blogging, Fawkes says. In early 2005, he received an unsolicited e-mail from an executive at Anheuser-Busch (BUD), asking him and PSFK to compile a bi-monthly report of trends and observations regarding the drinking habits of young adults in the UK. The business was born.

    Today, about half of consulting clients come to PSFK via its Web site or events like an invite-only salon on video games at New York's tony SoHo House in early December, co-hosted by former U.S. Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore, who hired PSFK to organize a game-design competition for his Climate Reality Project. Apple, a client for three years, approached the company after an executive attended one of PSFK's conferences. "The nice thing about the site and the events is that we prove our thought leadership to potential clients rather than having to sell it to them..." starts Parsia. "And our point of view..." Fawkes finishes her sentence. "What differentiates us is that we're very subjective," adds Weiner. "At other consultancies' web sites, you read about their services, and maybe there's new research posted once a month. But on our site, you'll find an almost overwhelming amount of content. For a qualitative consultancy, that's important."

    For consulting clients, PSFK gathers trend insights into a private, intranet version of the PSFK web site, then assembles their research into a slick print report, as well as in-person presentations of the analyses. All of these offer advice on how a specific client might use the information to help deploy new technologies or adapt innovative ideas. In the last 18 months, clients have been increasingly asking for advice on business tactics. "We've moved from classic trends research to product concepts and future user scenarios in that time," Fawkes says. The context is to create discussion internally for clients, to challenge existing thinking and sometimes affirm existing ideas. PSFK doesn't design the actual product prototypes to eventually bring to market.

    PSFK also publishes and sells, via PSFK.com, glossy print reports around general topics, such as "The Future of Retail." These reports cost $150 a copy. They're a bargain compared to, say, a $2,495 topic-focused report such as "Consumerization Drives Smartphone Proliferation" from Forrester Research. The sales of the publicly available PSFK reports, Parsia says, generally result in "two and a half times the revenue of a typical client project," without stating exact numbers.

    Recent consulting projects, meanwhile, have included a "Future of Real-Time Information" report, commissioned by the United Nation's Global Pulse Initiative, which seeks to provide U.N. members with informational tools to improve evidence-based decision-making.