戶外用品公司菲爾森的大抱負

????“如果有人要去北方，他應該來我們這兒選外套，因為我們已經從千百個北方人那里了解清楚了，去北方最適合穿什么?！薄狢.C. 菲爾森產品目錄，1914年

????每家公司的創業故事都至關重要。如果這個故事又始終和銷售宣傳水乳交融，那就更彌足珍貴了。菲爾森公司（Filson）很早以前就開始生產厚羊毛夾克、大包和其他配套戶外用品了（這些產品從來不用防水面料Gore-Tex或Velcro這種尼龍搭扣）。1897年，公司創始人克林頓?菲爾森在西雅圖開始了他的創業生涯，向前往克朗代克地區（加拿大育空河流域的黃金產地——譯注）淘金的勘探者們提供戶外用品。這段歷史是菲爾森公司及其非凡魅力的關鍵所在。一百多年來，人們——主要是男性——只要是從事打獵、釣魚、勘探、伐木和其他戶外活動，都會無一例外地信賴C.C.菲爾森的產品。這就是吸引力，這就是真正的品牌。

????要堅持使用真材實料，同時又要讓業務大幅增長，這絕非易事。而這也正是菲爾森公司新任首席執行官艾倫?柯克所面臨的難題。菲爾森是一家私人公司，從不公布自己的銷售數字，但自從2010年來，它的營收每年遞增25%；它的夾克和包在《時尚先生》（Esquire）、《GQ》和《名利場》（Vanity Fair）這些頂級雜志上高調登場。今年，這家公司將在倫敦開店，明年感恩節將在阿斯彭開店，三月再赴紐約開店?？驴说钠D巨任務是，帶領這家突然成為“城市樵夫”們首選品牌的公司保持小規模、獨特且經久不衰的感覺——同時還要實現增長和現代化?？驴艘呀浻H眼目睹了一家公司因為無法駕馭這種挑戰而敗下陣來，它就是西雅圖另一家歷史悠久的戶外用品公司，也是柯克的前東家——艾迪?鮑爾公司（Eddie Bauer）。它因為過度擴張而最終走向了崩潰。

????20世紀70年代中期被通用磨坊公司（General Mills）收購后，艾迪?鮑爾公司就開始大舉進入各大商場，把自己的品牌標志和品牌情感借給了福特公司（Ford）用于“探險者”（Explorer）這類越野車，同時還在歐洲和日本成立了合資企業，還開始進軍家居用品市場，并開發了各季便服和商務正裝。到了上世紀90年代末，這家公司的銷售一舉沖上了歷史最高點，但隨后就跌入了谷底。最終到了21世紀初，這家公司一共已經經歷了兩次破產。今天，它又重新開始賣起了戶外探險裝備，并大肆宣傳自己作為登山者裝備供應商的輝煌歷史（它曾贊助了美國首支珠峰登頂探險隊）。重新撿起老本行真是對它過去三十年業績猛增的絕大諷刺。把品牌標志及用戶情感濫用于太多產品后，這個品牌就會變得毫無意義，核心用戶也會因此疏遠品牌，它的業務也會隨之遭受重大損失。七個月前，柯克剛剛到菲爾森公司走馬上任時，他的第一要務就是要確保這家公司不會重蹈鮑爾公司那樣的多元化覆轍。

????他說：“我剛到公司的頭幾周里，主要任務就是和大家開展品牌整合工作?！彼榭戳怂麄兯玫恼掌?，回顧了菲爾森產品目錄過去這些年來所采用的不同風格，甚至修改了品牌標志?？驴苏J為這個標志看上去“太潦草了”，于是他簡化了字體，去掉了潦草的筆畫，并“通過鏡頭”使其外形更緊湊集中。他說：“關鍵就在于要保持徹頭徹尾的一致性?！??

????"If a man is going North, he should come to us for his outfit, because we have obtained our ideas of what is best to wear in that country from the experience of the man from the North -- not merely one -- but hundreds of them." --C.C. Filson catalog, 1914

????Each company's founding myth is important, but the story matters more if it is bundled up in the sales pitch. Filson makes heavy wool jackets and hearty bags and other assorted outdoor gear from a bygone era (no Gore-Tex or Velcro here). Company founder Clinton C. Filson began in 1897, in Seattle, as an outfitter to prospectors headed to the Klondike for the gold rush. The story is central to what Filson is and the company's appeal. People -- men, almost exclusively -- have trusted C.C. Filson's product for more than 100 years for hunting, fishing, prospecting, logging, and other outdoor pursuits. That's the appeal, and that's the brand.

????The trick is to grow while remaining authentic. It's a problem Filson's newest CEO, Alan Kirk, is keenly aware of. Filson is a private company so it doesn't disclose sales figures, but its revenues have increased 25% year over year since 2010; its jackets and bags appear in the pages of Esquire and GQ and Vanity Fair; it opened a store in London this year and will open one in Aspen by Thanksgiving and New York City by March of next year. Kirk's job is to take this company that is suddenly the brand of choice for hip urban woodsmen and keep Filson feeling small, unique, and timeless -- all while growing and modernizing. Kirk has already seen one company stumble over this challenge, another historic Seattle outfitter that overexpanded to the point of implosion: his previous employer, Eddie Bauer.

????After General Mills (GIS) bought Eddie Bauer in the mid-1970s, the company aggressively expanded into malls and lent its logo and sensibility to the likes of Ford, for the Explorer, as well as to joint ventures in Europe and Japan, a home collection, and seasonal lines of casual and office wear. Sales made it to an all-time high in the late 1990s before they plummeted, and the company went bankrupt, twice, in the 2000s. Today it has returned to selling expedition gear and plays up its rich history as an outfitter of mountaineers (Bauer sponsored the first American summit of Everest). The return to form is a direct rebuke to the previous 30 years of growth. Lend a logo, and a sensibility, to too many things, and the brand becomes meaningless, the core customer alienated, and the business suffers. Kirk's first moves, when he arrived at Filson seven months ago, were aimed at preventing the sort of dilution that happened at Bauer.

????"The first few weeks I was here," he says, "We worked on absolute brand alignment." He looked at the photography they used, went back through the various styles the Filson catalog had taken on over the years, and even put the logo through a revision. Kirk says it felt "too squiggly." He cleaned up the font, got rid of the squiggles, and centralized the look "through one lens ... The key, throughout, is consistency," he says.