馬歇爾 從吉他音箱到手機 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.
儘管“標誌性”一詞的使用已經氾濫，但用這個詞描述馬歇爾(Marshall)吉他音箱則情有可原。馬歇爾音箱的手寫商標、皮革紋外觀以及渾厚的音色五十年來從未變過。然而鮮爲人知的是，儘管散發出濃厚的美國氣息，馬歇爾卻是脫胎於倫敦西部一家音像店、如今仍在布萊切利(Bletchley)生產老式電子管音箱的英國家族企業。
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.
直到現在，馬歇爾依舊保持着復古的風格。然而，它卻深諳現代社會的流行趨勢。過去幾年來，它推出了一系列極具自身風格的配件產品，從耳機到無線揚聲器，均由來自斯德哥爾摩的合作商尚音(Zound Industries)設計、在中國製造，深受市場歡迎。
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爀梔攀愀攙 and Mick Jones of The Clash, plus a gospel choir singing the latter’s “London Calling”.
然而上個月，馬歇爾卻做了件與其說很“搖滾”、不如說很瘋狂的事——它宣佈將推出馬歇爾手機。這款名爲“London”的智能手機採用安卓(Android)系統，外形酷似馬歇爾音箱，強調音樂效果。性手槍樂隊(Sex Pistols)的格倫氠禚洛克(Glen Matlock)、摩托頭樂隊(Mot爀梔攀愀攙)的菲爾丠貝爾(Phil Campbell)、衝撞樂隊(The Clash)的米克瓊斯(Mick Jones)，以及一個演唱衝撞樂隊名曲《倫敦呼叫》(London Calling)福音唱詩班，爲這次大手筆的產品發佈會增添了搖滾氛圍。
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.
尚音的聯合創始人康拉德伯格斯特龍(Konrad Bergstr洀)將這場極爲自信的技術產品發佈會推向了難忘的高潮。他特意爲這場發佈會蓄了維京式的鬍鬚，並警告那些手機業的“大人物”小心，因爲，客氣點說，馬歇爾將狠狠地衝擊他們。
Interesting. So how would a small British family business and some enthusiastic Swedes do such an indignity to the likes of Apple and Samsung?
這很有趣。那麼，一家小型英國家族企業和幾個熱情的瑞典人何以如此蔑視像蘋果(Apple)、三星(Samsung)這類的行業巨頭呢？
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.
我向一位澳大利亞投行家講述了馬歇爾推出London手機的事，他成天聽科技界的新秀向他推銷自己。他哈哈大笑，認爲我在編造一個過分樂觀的科技初創企業的假想案例。聽到我解釋說這是真實發生的事，他仍然咯咯地笑。“這款手機是不是得一個大汗淋漓的樂團經理來扛？”他問道。
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.
我趕在8月21日產品發佈前，前往位於肖爾迪奇區(Shoreditch)的馬歇爾快閃店，試用了這款售價399英鎊的手機。不得不說，我很喜歡。優越的聲卡、立體聲錄音、特有的滾輪式音量旋鈕以及其他音樂功能都十分吸引人，可謂是內置手機的高規格音樂播放器，聰明極了。
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.”
然而我還是無法理解馬歇爾打算用什麼方式進行商業運作。快閃店一週內向進店顧客預售了6部手機，在線訂單數在兩週內接近1000。這個成績不錯，但不太可能讓蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)失眠。我給伯格斯特龍先生打了個電話。他解釋說是他找馬歇爾提出手機的點子。“我們挑戰的是世界上最強大的公司，所以我們必須正確行事。我們必須打入正確的消費羣體。我們明白，艱難的工作纔剛剛開始。”
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.
這是尚音首次生產手機，但它並不僅僅是給某種現有中國機型換個品牌。“這部手機從內至外，在各方面都有所改進，幾名曾在諾基亞(Nokia)工作的高級工程師以及來自愛立信(Ericsson)和索尼(Sony)的人員都參與了設計，所以並不是市面上已有的產品，”他說道。
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.
我發現，尚音在斯德哥爾摩有一個由十名專家組成的手機團隊，馬歇爾位於布萊切利的音響師也密切參與了手機的研發過程，以確保London手機的音效充分具備馬歇爾的風格。
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”.
馬歇爾的董事總經理喬納森埃勒裏(Jonathan Ellery)告訴我，公司的目標是到2016年年底售出100萬部手機——“不過只要售出30萬到50萬部，我們就至少不賠本”。
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.”
至關重要的一點是把手機賣給正確的消費者。“很多著名的音樂人主動找到我們，問‘能來一部手機嗎？’我們覺得當然能。於是現在他們買到了。越多的手機到正確的消費者手中，形勢就越有利。“
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.”
技術諮詢公司CCS Insight的手機市場分析師本伍德(Ben Wood)同意該觀點。他認爲這部手機並無多少創新之處，但是品牌塑造方面做得相當好。“智能手機同質化嚴重，人們都十分渴望新穎、差異化的產品。只要把馬歇爾手機往酒吧一放，它就會立刻成爲人們談論的焦點……它能在社交媒體上點亮話題。”
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.”
儘管持懷疑態度——“100萬部的銷售目標值得稱讚，不過三星可能一天內就能完成這個數目”——但伍德還是承認馬歇爾的計劃可能成功。“一個聰明、前衛的品牌有可能從市場中分一小杯羹。創建一項精幹的業務，如果能保持低廉的運營成本，併合理的進行外包，那麼是的，這可以賺到錢。”
