巴菲特擬授權海外中介使用伯克希爾品牌
Warren Buffett plans to license the Berkshire Hathaway name to estate agencies in Europe and Asia, in the next phase of a campaign to turn the investment company into a consumer brand.
沃倫•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)打算把伯克希爾哈撒韋(Berkshire Hathaway)名稱授權給歐洲和亞洲的房產中介使用，由此開啓把這家投資公司轉型爲一個消費者品牌的新階段。
After decades of buying into some of the most valuable brands, Berkshire has this year expanded the use of its name, rebadging its family of utility groups, estate agents and a car dealership.
在過去幾十年買入一些最有價值的品牌後，伯克希爾今年擴大了其自身品牌的使用範圍，對旗下的公用事業公司、房產中介和汽車經銷商進行更名。Marketing consultants and company insiders believe the group is sitting on a valuable asset in the Berkshire Hathaway brand, which they say taps into 84-year-old Mr Buffett’s reputation for acumen and longevity.
營銷顧問和公司內部人士認爲，伯克希爾哈撒韋品牌是該集團擁有的一項很有價值的資產，他們表示這一品牌體現出84歲的巴菲特在精明睿智和長壽方面的名聲。
“Like Virgin reflects Sir Richard Branson’s rebelliousness and Apple reflects the genius of Steve Jobs, Berkshire Hathaway has brand equity around trust, stability and integrity,” Oscar Yuan, partner at consultancy Millward Brown Vermeer, said.
諮詢公司Millward Brown Vermeer的合夥人Oscar Yuan說：“就像維珍(Virgin)反映理查德•布蘭森爵士(Sir Richard Branson)的桀驁不馴，蘋果(Apple)反映史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)的天才一樣，伯克希爾哈撒韋的品牌價值在於信任、穩定和誠信。”The number of US estate agencies using the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices brand would swell to almost 1,400 by next spring, Earl Lee, chief executive of HSF Affiliates, a franchising joint venture between Berkshire and Brookfield Asset Management, said.
HSF Affiliates首席執行官Earl Lee表示，到明年春天，使用伯克希爾哈撒韋房地產服務(Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices)品牌的美國房產中介數量將增加到近1400家。HSF Affiliates是伯克希爾與布魯克菲爾德資產管理公司(Brookfield Asset Management)共建的一家特許經營合資公司。The company will then shift to looking for partnerships with big participants in parts of the US where it is not yet strong, including the Midwest, and in the UK, continental Europe and Asia.
接下來，伯克希爾將尋求與中西部等美國房地產市場尚不強勁的地區、英國、歐洲大陸和亞洲的大型企業建立合作關係。“The values of trust, customer service and longevity are important characteristics for people who are making the largest single financial investment they will ever make,” Mr Lee said.
Earl Lee說：“對於那些正在做出一生中最大一筆金融投資的人來說，信任、客戶服務與長久是非常重要的特色。”“We are proud to carry the Berkshire Hathaway brand and we understand the obligation.”
“我們對使用伯克希爾哈撒韋品牌感到自豪，並理解其中的責任。”Revenues in the Berkshire division that includes the real estate business rose 26 per cent to $1.2bn in the first six months of this year, according to a company filing.
公司申報文件顯示，今年上半年，伯克希爾哈撒韋房地產服務部門的收入增長26%，至12億美元。
