????20世紀70年代末，香蕉共和國（Banana Republic）開創了一種市場營銷的新形式——講故事，它的商品目錄中充斥著叢林徒步旅行與游獵的故事。曾經從事過新聞工作的梅爾?齊格勒（現年67歲）與帕特里夏?齊格勒（現年63歲）可謂點石成金。他們的新書《狂野公司：香蕉共和國不為人知的故事》（Wild Company: The Untold Story of Banana Republic）詳細介紹了這家企業。Gap旗下的香蕉共和國如今已經成長為國際品牌。2012年前三個季度，它的凈銷售額高達20億美元。齊格勒夫婦的故事如下：

????梅爾?齊格勒：我出生于斯克蘭頓。父親經營著一家小批發店，主要賣煙草、香煙和糖果等。我們當時一貧如洗。多虧了母親勤儉持家，我們才得以艱難度日。

????帕特里夏?齊格勒：我父親是威爾士人，母親是意大利人，我從小在舊金山長大。雖然父親當時兼了三份工，但家里仍然很困難。我是藝術生，無拘無束地從這所學校游蕩到那所學校，從這個嬉皮士公社游蕩到那個公社，直到有一天我該找工作了。

????梅爾：對我來說，新聞這一行非常有趣，而且生機勃勃，是個不錯的謀生行當。我在哥倫比亞大學新聞學院（the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism）拿到了碩士學位后，與貝拉?阿布扎克合作撰寫了一本有關她國會一年級生活的書。1972年，我驅車前往舊金山拜訪一位朋友，然后，徹底愛上了這座城市。那個年代發生了很多事：帕蒂赫斯特綁架案，街頭飛車黨槍擊事件，以及十二宮兇殺案。

????帕特里夏：我當時是《舊金山紀事報》（San Francisco Chronicle）的插圖畫家。1974年，我在公司的圣誕晚會上認識了梅爾。

????梅爾：我們當時才二十出頭，都希望能出去見見世面。到了1977年，我們開始商量離開新聞業。有一天，帕特里夏告訴我她離職了。無獨有偶，我在那天稍早一點的時間也從公司離職。我們真是心有靈犀一點通。

????帕特里夏：我們非常興奮，但隨后發現自由職業太不穩定了。

????梅爾：于是我在澳大利亞找了份雜志的工作。有一天，我在悉尼一家二手服裝店閑逛，突然發現一件超贊的棉質卡其色外套，看著特像旅行夾克。帕特里夏去機場接我的時候，她一眼就看到了其中的商機。

????帕特里夏：我決定做一些改進。所以我在肘部用真皮打了補丁，把底袋的口袋蓋取了下來，還把銅紐扣換成了木扣。它不再像是件軍裝，而是變成了一件游獵裝。梅爾不論去哪兒都穿著它，好多人都問他：“你這件夾克在哪買的？”

????梅爾：我們發現了一大批各種各樣的滯銷貨，決定換一種方式來銷售它們，標榜它特立獨行的個性，瞄準那些對時尚不感冒的人。

????帕特里夏：我們在奧克蘭一家折扣店發現了許多老款的西班牙傘兵襯衫。經過一番討價還價，以單價1.5美元買了500件。隨后周末去了跳蚤市場，開始擺地攤銷售。不過生意慘不忍睹，一天連10件都沒賣出去。我們于是決定將售價翻倍，還給它們取了個響亮的名字——西班牙傘兵短袖襯衫。第二天我們大獲全勝，賣了1,000多美元。梅爾提議：“我們得開家店了。”

????梅爾：所以6個星期后，也就是1978年11月，我們在米爾谷租了家店鋪。我們動作神速，雖然當時幾乎身無分文。

????帕特里夏：身無分文有時是個大利好，因為這時可以依靠的只有自己的想象力。

????梅爾：那時候，我們對商品目錄、零售以及銷售一無所知。我們只有1,500美元以及一張美國運通卡。我們爭取到了協商賒購，所以公司現金流得到了保證。（財富中文網）

閱讀英文全文請點擊此處>>>

????譯者：項航

????In the late 1970S Banana Republic pioneered a new form of storytelling as marketing, filling its catalogues with tales of jungle treks and safaris. Former journalists Mel and Patricia Ziegler, now 67 and 63, respectively, spun their yarns into retail gold. The venture, detailed in their new book, Wild Company: The Untold Story of Banana Republic, became the international brand now owned by Gap, which had net sales of $2 billion in the first three quarters of 2012. Their story:

????Mel Ziegler: I grew up in Scranton, where my father had a small wholesale business selling tobacco, cigarettes, and candy. We had no money. My mother was good at making it happen on limited means.

????Patricia Ziegler: My father is from Wales, my mother is Italian, and I grew up in San Francisco. My father worked three jobs, and there was no money. I was an art major and moved through schools and communes as a free spirit until I needed a job.

????Mel: For me, journalism was an interesting and lively way to make a living. After graduating from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, I finished a book with Bella Abzug about her first year in Congress. In 1972 I drove out to visit a friend in San Francisco and ended up falling in love with the city. Those were the years of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, drive-by shootings on the streets, and the Zodiac killer.

????Patricia: I was working as an illustrator for the San Francisco Chronicle when I met Mel at the company Christmas party in 1974.

????Mel: We were in our twenties, and both of us wanted to see the world. By 1977 we were talking about leaving the paper. One day, Patricia came home and told me she'd just quit. I had quit earlier that day. We're very tuned in to each other.

????Patricia: We were excited, but discovered that freelancing wasn't steady work.

????Mel: Then I got a magazine assignment in Australia and walked into a surplus store in Sydney. I found an amazing cotton khaki jacket that looked like a safari jacket. When Patricia picked me up at the airport, she immediately saw its possibilities.

????Patricia: I decided to make some improvements. So I added leather elbow patches, took the flaps off the bottom pockets, and replaced the brass buttons with wooden buttons. It took it out of a military context and into a safari style. Mel wore it everywhere, and people asked, "Where did you get that jacket?"

????Mel: We found a huge cache of all kinds of surplus and decided to sell it in a new context, as cool clothing for people who didn't give a damn about fashion.

????Patricia: We found a pile of old Spanish paratrooper shirts in an Oakland warehouse, haggled a bit, and got 500 of them for $1.50 each. We went to a flea market that weekend but sold fewer than 10 shirts all day. So we decided to double the price and call them Short-Armed Spanish Paratrooper Shirts. We sold more than $1,000 the next day, and Mel said, "We need a store."

????Mel: So about six weeks later, in November 1978, we negotiated a lease on a store way off the track in Mill Valley. We went like lightning, even though we didn't have any money.

????Patricia: Having no money was a great asset because we had only our imagination.

????Mel: We didn't know anything about catalogues, retailing, or selling things. We had $1,500 and an American Express card. We were able to negotiate credit, so we kept ahead in the cash-flow department.