施坦威的中國野心 百年品牌的年輕市場(上)
NINGBO, China — Dozens of girls in tiaras and boys in tuxedos who dreamed of becoming China’s next musical sensation stared at the beast on stage. At nine feet long and nearly 1,000 pounds, with a steely black sheen and a price of more than $200,000, the Steinway & Sons D-274 concert grand piano seemed designed to intimidate.
中國寧波――幾十個夢想成爲中國下一個音樂明星的孩子凝視着臺上那個龐然大物；女孩們戴着頭冠，男孩們身穿禮服。那是一架施坦威D-274音樂會三角鋼琴。琴身有9英尺長（約2.7米），重量將近1000磅（約450公斤），泛着金屬般的黑色冷光，價格超過20萬美元——彷彿是專門設計出來嚇唬人的。
There were whispers that the piano had come from far away, in Germany; that it could kill you in an instant if it rolled off the stage; that it had the power to turn even the sloppiest of scales into material primed for Carnegie Hall.
有人竊竊私語，說這臺鋼琴是從遙遠的德國運來的。也有人說，如果從臺上滑下來，能立刻砸死人；還有的說，用它來彈琴，就算彈得再爛，也配得上卡耐基音樂廳的水準。
“It’s flawless, exquisite, with a special sound,” said Li Wei, the mother of an 11-year-old boy who had come to the theater to take part in the final round of the Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition in China last winter.
“完美，精密，音色很特別，”李薇（音）說。去年冬天，她帶着11歲的兒子來到這座劇場，參加施坦威國際青少年鋼琴比賽(Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition)中國賽區的決賽。
“Everyone wants a Steinway,” said Xiao Yunchu, a quiet 13-year-old who favored the pyrotechnics of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. “But none of us can afford it.”
“每個人都想擁有一臺施坦威，”性格文靜的肖雲初（音）說。這個13歲的孩子偏愛匈牙利作曲家富朗茨·李斯特(Franz Liszt)精湛的技巧。“但是我們沒人買得起。”
Steinway, one of the world’s most prestigious musical instrument brands, is looking to China to breathe new life into lackluster sales. To succeed, the company will need more than smart marketing. It will to need to fine-tune a cultural mind-set in a country that once dismissed pianos as bourgeois luxuries.
施坦威是世界上最負盛名的樂器品牌之一。現在，它正把目光投向中國，希望給死氣沉沉的銷售量注入新的生機。爲了達到這個目的，公司需要的不僅僅是精明的市場營銷策略。它還需要精心調校一個國家的國民心理——在中國鋼琴一度被認爲是資產階級奢侈品，受到排斥。
Steinway dealers have to convince their wealthier clientele that the instruments make good investments, avoiding the overly aggressive sales tactics that tripped up some early efforts. They have to educate parents about the potential payoff of buying a piano that can cost as much as an apartment. And they need to woo music students who are increasingly turning to lower-cost keyboards and so-called smart pianos, which use lights, iPads and other technical tools to teach basic skills.
施坦威經銷商盡力避免過分激進、導致了初期失敗的營銷策略，讓富有的客戶羣相信，購買這種樂器是極好的投資。他們得教育父母，告訴他們，購買一臺價格和一套房子差不多的鋼琴會有潛在的回報。他們還得爭取那些學音樂的學生們的支持，他們愈來愈青睞那些價格低廉的鍵盤樂器，以及使用光學、iPad和其他技術手段傳授基本技巧的所謂“智能鋼琴”。
The company, known for its painstaking craftsmanship, has grudgingly entered the digital game. The new Steinway Spirio is a high-tech take on the jazz-era player piano, loaded with standard classical fare and customized for a Chinese audience with local pop hits like “The Moon Represents My Heart” and compositions like “The Yellow River,” a piano concerto that dates to the Cultural Revolution.
這家以嚴格工藝著稱的公司不情願地進入了數字領域。新款施坦威Spirio新悅鋼琴就是一款應用了高科技的爵士樂時代自動演奏鋼琴，內置除了標準古典曲目，還有爲中國顧客定製的《月亮代表我的心》等本地流行音樂，以及文革時代的《黃河》鋼琴協奏曲等作品。
Founded in 1853 in a Manhattan loft by a German immigrant, Steinway flourished for generations by selling high-end pianos, each crafted by hand from materials like Sitka spruce and cast iron, in the United States and Europe. But the company has suffered as piano playing wanes in the West. Music schools and concert halls have cut back on orders. Piano stores have closed. In the face of uncertainty about its future,Steinway was sold three years ago to an investment firm owned by the hedge fund billionaire John A. Paulson.
施坦威公司1853年由一位德國移民在曼哈頓的一間閣樓上創立，靠着銷售高端鋼琴代代繁榮，每一臺鋼琴都是在美國或歐洲手工製造，使用西提卡雲杉和鑄鐵等材料。但是，鋼琴演奏在西方開始衰落，這家公司頗受打擊。音樂學校和音樂廳的訂單在減少。鋼琴店陸續關門。面對不確定的未來，三年前，施坦威公司被賣給紐約的億萬富翁對衝基金經理約翰·A·保爾森(John A. Paulson)。
In China, Steinway sees potential in what it calls the “tiger mom” phenomenon, middle-class parents willing to spend small fortunes to produce high-achieving children with musical talent. By some estimates, the country has as many as 40 million piano students, compared with six million in the United States.
在中國，施坦威從“虎媽”現象中看到了潛在的機會。中產階級父母希望投入小筆財富，把有音樂天賦的孩子培養成才。有估計認爲，這個國家學鋼琴的孩子有4000萬人，美國只有600萬。
“In America, you’ve already had the piano for hundreds of years,” said Lang Lang, a classical pianist with a rock star flair who is one of China’s most prominent musicians. “In China, it’s fresher, it’s newer. Everyone wants to play.”
“美國人彈鋼琴已經有幾百年了，”帶點搖滾明星氣場的古典鋼琴家郎朗說。他是中國最有名的音樂家之一。“在中國，它還很新鮮，是新事物，所有人都想彈鋼琴。”
As it pushes to remake the country into a cultural superpower, the Chinese government has encouraged students to take up the piano by building concert halls and investing in music education. Among the country’s wealthiest families, the arts have become a source of spiritual fulfillment and a status symbol. In rich coastal cities, real estate scions and technology executives are buying Steinway pianos — some outfitted with diamonds and wood from Africa and India — to complement collections of Porsches and Picassos.
中國政府也在致力於將中國重塑爲文化大國，因此鼓勵學生們學習鋼琴，興建音樂廳，並投資音樂教育。對於這個國家最富有的家庭來說，藝術已經成爲一種充實精神生活的來源，以及一種地位的象徵。在富有的沿海城市，除了保時捷跑車和畢加索名畫，地產商的子弟和科技公司的老總也開始買施坦威鋼琴，有些琴上還裝點着來自非洲和印度的名貴木材和鑽石。
Steinway has pitched its pianos both as durable instruments and luxurious artifacts. It has recruited celebrities like Mr. Lang to offer endorsements, which carry special force in the crowded Chinese marketplace. And it has infused its messaging with themes of success and ambition.
施坦威既把公司出品的鋼琴當做耐用的樂器，也把它們當做奢侈的工藝品。它聘請郎朗之類名人爲自己做宣傳，這對於擁擠的中國市場來說，有特別的效力。它還在公司的商業宣傳裏面滲透了有關成功和雄心大志的主題。
As China’s middle class swells to some 200 million people, many Western brands like Steinway have arrived in search of a new generation to offset slowing sales at home. Mattel, the toymaker, has entered the market with products like Violin Soloist Barbie. La Perla, an Italian lingerie maker founded in 1954, has 11 stores in mainland China, its fastest-growing market.
中國的中產階級規模擴大到了2億人，包括施坦威在內的許多西方品牌爭相來到中國，尋覓新一代市場，彌補本土市場發展緩慢的銷量。美泰(Mattel)玩具公司帶着小提琴樂手芭比等產品進入中國。創建於1954年的意大利內衣生產商La Perla在中國大陸已經有11家分店，這裏是它增長最快的市場。
For Steinway, China has proved to be a shot to the arm. Sales increased more than 15 percent a year over the last decade, far outpacing the single-digit growth of the United States and Europe. China is now Steinway’s largest market for pianos outside the United States, representing about one-third of global sales. In a sign of China’s importance, the company next year will unveil a 60,000-square-foot headquarters for Asia in Shanghai, complete with a recital hall.
對於施坦威來說，中國可謂是一劑強心針。過去10年間，它在中國的銷量每年增長15%，遠遠超過在歐美國家個位的增長幅度。中國如今已是施坦威在美國之外的最大市場，佔全球銷量的三分之一。公司明年將在上海開設佔地6萬平方英尺的亞洲總部，其中包括一座表演廳，顯示了中國市場的重要性。
The youth piano competition in Ningbo from Dec. 10 to 13, the seventh of its kind on the mainland, was the marquee event of the year, a chance to imprint the Steinway lore into the minds of thousands of students, parents and teachers. Students ages 6 to 16 came from across China to Ningbo, a Silk Road trading port three hours south of Shanghai, to compete for an opportunity to perform overseas in Hamburg, the birthplace of Brahms and one of Steinway’s main hubs.
12月10日至13日在寧波舉辦的青少年鋼琴大賽是在中國大陸舉辦的第七屆比賽，是這一年最盛大的活動，也是將施坦威的傳說植入成千上萬學生、家長和老師內心的良機。參賽選手的年齡從6歲到16歲，他們從中國各地來到寧波。這裏曾是海上絲綢之路的貿易港，在上海以南三小時車程。大賽的獎勵是去漢堡演奏的機會，那裏是勃拉姆斯的故鄉，也是施坦威的一座重鎮。
Over lunch at a downtown hotel, Steinway executives celebrated the success of the competition, which attracted more than 15,000 applicants, a record. Steinway executives said they dreamed of a day when the company’s pianos filled living rooms across China and the company name was as well known in the country as Gucci. But they acknowledged that if Steinway were to thrive in China, it would need a cultural shift in a country where low-end pianos have dominated the market for decades.
在市中心的酒店吃午飯時，施坦威的高管慶祝這次比賽的成功。它吸引了1.5萬名報名者，創下了記錄。高管們說，他們夢想有一天公司的鋼琴能走進中國各地家庭的起居室，施坦威的名字在中國像古馳一樣知名。但是他們也承認，幾十年來，中國的鋼琴市場一直是低端鋼琴的天下，施坦威要在這裏繁榮發展，需要出現一場文化上的轉變。
As the competition kicked off in Ningbo and children took to the stage to perform Mozart, Brahms and Gershwin, the president of Steinway’s Asia division, Werner Husmann, said the piano maker would need to establish a new audience in China to survive.
競賽在寧波開始了，孩子們紛紛上臺，演奏莫扎特、勃拉姆斯和格什溫。施坦威亞洲總裁沃納·哈斯曼恩(Werner Husmann)說，公司要生存，需要在中國培育一批新的聽衆。
“These people are our customers of the future,” he said. “We need to keep piano playing popular.”
“這些人是我們未來的客戶，”他說。“我們需要讓鋼琴演奏持續流行。”
Piano-Shaped Objects
鋼琴形狀的物體
Wherever Mr. Husmann went during a trip to China for Steinway in the late 1990s, he saw what he began referring to as P.S.O.s, or piano-shaped objects — instruments that had long ago lost their music-making abilities. Some had uneven legs and drifted toward the audience during performances. Others sat on street corners, rain or shine.
20世紀90年代末期，哈斯曼恩爲公司業務來到中國。不管他走到哪裏，總能看到被他稱作“鋼琴形狀的物體”的琴，它們早已經失去了演奏音樂的功能。有些琴四腿不平，在演奏時向觀衆滑去。有些被放在街角，受着日曬雨淋。
Even so, Mr. Husmann came away with a sense that there was a love of Western music in Chinese society, and there would soon be a market for high-quality instruments. When he returned to Hamburg to sell his colleagues on the idea, they laughed.
即便如此，哈斯曼恩還是感到中國人喜愛西方音樂，高端樂器很快就會有市場。回到漢堡，他向同事們推銷自己的想法，只換來他們的大笑。
“The first reaction was more or less that I should see a doctor to do a mental check,” he said. “It was like, ‘What the hell can you do in China?’”
“他們最初多少都覺得我該找個精神病醫生看看了，”他說。“他們覺得，‘在中國那種地方到底能幹什麼？’”
Steinway had been selling its artisanal pianos, each consisting of more than 12,000 parts, to China since 1880. But many employees were wary of establishing a permanent outpost in a place where cheap manufactured goods were king.
施坦威自1880年起便向中國出口手工製造的鋼琴，每臺鋼琴的零部件超過1.2萬個。但是中國畢竟是個便宜製品爲王的地方，許多僱員都對在那裏建立永久性據點持審慎態度。
Fans liked to say Steinway invented the modern grand piano. The company has 127 patents. Unlike its competitors, Steinway refused to churn out hundreds of pianos each day by machine. And it kept factories in its two main bases in Long Island City, Queens, and Hamburg, even as other instrument makers like Yamaha moved manufacturing operations from the United States to low-cost Asian countries.
粉絲們常說，施坦威發明了現代三角鋼琴。公司擁有127項專利。與競爭對手們不同，施坦威拒絕用機器每天生產數百架鋼琴。其他樂器製造商，比如雅馬哈(Yamaha)，把製造業務從美國搬到了成本低廉的亞洲國家，可是它依然只在皇后區長島市和漢堡這兩個主要基地設立工廠。
When Steinway opened an office in Shanghai in 2004, most of its sales in China were to music conservatories. It was not until the global financial crisis struck four years later that the importance of the Chinese market became clear.
2004年施坦威在上海設立辦公室時，它在中國的銷售主要是面向音樂學院。直到四年後全球金融危機爆發，中國市場的重要性才顯現出來。
As the world economy weakened, piano sales in the United States and Europe, already in decline, fell sharply. In 1909, 364,000 pianos were sold annually in the United States; by 2009, that number had slumped to 30,000, according to the National Association of Music Merchants. Doomsday scenarios predicted the extinction of pianos.
隨着全球經濟疲軟，美國和歐洲本已下滑的鋼琴銷量開始猛跌。據美國全國音樂商人協會(National Association of Music Merchants)的數據，1909年，美國每年銷售36.4萬架鋼琴；到2009年，這個數字跌至3萬架。人們甚至悲觀地預測鋼琴會絕跡。
Despite Steinway’s devout following — the company says it is the instrument of choice for 98 percent of the world’s performing pianists, including Billy Joel and the Argentine musician Martha Argerich — it was not immune to the slowdown. Shipments of Steinway pianos dropped substantially in 2009, and the company was forced to lay off workers at its factory in Queens.
儘管施坦威有很多忠誠的追隨者——公司稱全世界98%的鋼琴演奏家都選擇施坦威鋼琴，包括比利·喬爾(Billy Joel)和阿根廷音樂家瑪爾塔·阿赫裏奇(Martha Argerich)——但它對經濟放緩也沒有免疫力。2009年，施坦威鋼琴的發貨量大幅下降。公司被迫對皇后區的工廠進行裁員。
While sales revived somewhat, the downturn exposed the limits of Steinway’s traditional markets. As they looked to the future, Steinway’s leaders decided to take the company private, away from the short-term glare of public shareholders focused on quarterly earnings.
雖然後來銷量略有回升，但銷量下降暴露出施坦威傳統市場的侷限性。施坦威的領導人在展望未來時，決定讓公司私有化，遠離只關注季度收入的、目光短淺的公共股東的審視。
In 2013, Steinway was sold for $512 million to Mr. Paulson, and musicians worried he would interfere with Steinway’s painstaking production process to increase revenue. Steinway was making only about 2,000 pianos a year in New York and Hamburg.
2013年，施坦威以5.12億美元出售給保爾森。音樂人們擔心他爲了提高收益，會干預施坦威不辭辛苦的精工細作流程。當時，施坦威每年僅在紐約和漢堡製造約2000架鋼琴。
But Mr. Paulson, an amateur pianist with four Steinway pianos, did not change the company’s methods, which he believed were crucial to dominating the high-end market. He urged the company to move more aggressively in emerging countries, where a growing middle class was spending heavily on education. Steinway drew up plans for a hybrid acoustic-digital instrument and broadly ramped up production of traditional pianos to meet demand.
不過，作爲業餘鋼琴家、有四架施坦威鋼琴的保爾森沒有改變公司的生產方式。他認爲那種方式對於施坦威主導高端鋼琴市場非常關鍵。他敦促該公司更積極地在新興國家進行推廣，那裏不斷增長的中產階級正在教育上投入巨資。施坦威制定了計劃，生產原聲與數字模擬混合的樂器，並全面擴大傳統鋼琴的產量，以滿足需求。
Steinway’s ambitions in China coincided with the government’s efforts to develop the country’s musical talent. China’s leaders welcomed European classical music, investing heavily in education programs and concert halls, like the $200 million Guangzhou opera house designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid. Top Communist leaders espoused their love of classical music. Several of China’s most prestigious state-run music schools agreed to stock their classrooms only with Steinway pianos, a big win for the company.
施坦威在中國定下遠大目標的同時，正趕上中國政府努力培養本國音樂人才。中國領導人歡迎歐洲古典音樂，在教育項目和音樂廳建設上投資巨大，比如耗資約2億美元的廣州歌劇院，它是由前不久去世的著名建築師扎哈·哈迪德(Zaha Hadid)設計的。中國共產黨的高層領導人支持他們對古典音樂的熱愛。中國最著名的幾所官辦音樂學院同意只購置施坦威鋼琴，這是該公司的一項巨大成功。
When officials from Chongqing, a metropolis in southwest China, held a concert in 2011 to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, they invited Steinway to take part. Li Yundi, a prominent pianist and endorser of Steinway, played a program of traditional Chinese songs. Onstage sat a nine-foot concert grand painted solid red, China’s national color. A Steinway & Sons logo was displayed prominently on its side. Thousands gathered in the sweltering heat to watch the performance, and many lined up afterward to snap pictures with the piano.
2011年，中國西南部大都市重慶的官員舉辦音樂會慶祝中國共產黨成立90週年時，邀請施坦威加入。著名鋼琴家、施坦威的品牌代言人李雲迪彈奏了一組中國傳統樂曲。舞臺上放着一架9英尺音樂會三角鋼琴，漆成大紅色——紅色是中國的國色。施坦威的商標醒目地呈現在鋼琴側面。成千上萬人頂着酷熱聚集在這裏觀看錶演，演出結束後很多人排隊與鋼琴合影。
