2019年翻译资格考试中级笔译练习题：耐克公司

　　耐克的共同创始人和前首席执行官菲尔·奈特喜欢让超级运动员巨星和广告为他说话。在第50届戛纳国际广告节上，他被提名为年度最佳广告客户。他是两度赢得这一奖项的第一人。

　　奈特有绝对明确和坚定的战略：用著名运动员代言产品。他将此描述为耐克公司80年代初以来显着增长背后的“三脚架”的一部分。其他两只脚分别为产品设计和广告。

　　一种运动，又一种运动，耐克公司的扩张源于运动，与大师同行。赛道上的卡尔·刘易斯、网球场上的吉米·康纳斯和约翰·麦克安柔、将耐克带入高尔夫球场的老虎伍兹、罗纳尔多和巴西国家足球队都是其经典形象，其中篮球明星迈克尔·乔丹甚致拯救了耐克公司。

　　从一开始，耐克公司就已准备对体育界里别人不会碰的坏小子下赌注：闪现在他们眼前的是安德鲁·阿加西。这个战略源于希尔·纳斯塔塞，他原来也是网球界的坏小子。但这位罗马尼亚后裔身上却拥有一种品质能代表耐克公司和它的广告：那就是态度。

　　历经快速增长后，耐克公司成为美国头号软运动鞋制造商。但奈特也承认公司在成功之后迷失了方向。公司尝试将业务扩展到非运动鞋领域，结果未能成功，并在1986年将老大的位置拱手让给了锐步。

　　奈特将公司未来的赌注押在了一个新的功能上：在软运动鞋内部加入新的气垫技术。他推出了由一个名为大卫·芬斯塔所导演的广告，其中提及披头士乐队革命，然后公司借力迈克尔·乔丹销售飞人乔丹品牌的运动鞋。销售突飞猛进，剩下的就是我们现在所熟悉的历史。

　　这就给我们带来了全球化的问题以及品牌如何走出美国的问题。耐克在全球广告形式多样，如“善VS恶”系列和著名的英国本土化海报广告。

　　在与韦尔登和肯尼迪广告公司长达21年的伙伴关系中，耐克已经创造了一些世界上最引人注目的广告：例如：耐克的“善VS恶”广告活动、为世界杯所做的广告以及去年戛纳电影节大奖获得者——广告“标记”。其他出名的广告都由明星担任主角：在曼哈顿的街头打球的皮特·桑普拉斯和安德鲁·阿加西、用高尔夫球玩颠球的老虎伍兹以及在机场候机大厅里踢足球的巴西队。

　　无论是在多样性，胆量还是在其一贯的独创性方面，这是一个工作成绩卓越的公司。耐克公司有一个精简的决策过程，它赋予市场总监以实权。他们不依赖市场研究预试，因为预试通常会降低更多的实验广告的影响。他们与世界上最好的其中一家广告公司也有长期的合作关系，并具备韦尔登所描述的“对体育的忠诚”。只有在耐克公司的广告里，男女运动员才能真正做他们想做的。

　　“我的头号广告原则——如果我有一个原则的话——就是要唤醒消费者”奈特以断然的口气如是说，这在当今首席执行官中独一无二。“我们在广告方面采用的是高风险策略。当它产生效果时，就更加有趣。我们真的是没有什么套路。”

　　参考译文

　　Phil Knight, the co-founder and former Chief Executive of Nike, prefers to let his superstar athletes and advertisements do his talking for him. Named Advertiser of the Year at the 50th Cannes International Advertising Festival, he is the first person to win the award twice.

　　Knight has an absolutely clear and committed strategy to use celebrity athlete endorsement. He describes it as one part of the 'three-legged stool' which lies behind Nike's phenomenal growth since the early 1980s, with the other two being product design and advertising.

　　He has built Nike's expansion into sport after sport from its athletics roots on the back of sporting masters; Carl Lewis on the track; tennis's Jimmy Connors and John Mdinroe; Tiger Woods, who led Nike into golf; Konaldo and the Brazilian national football team; and the basketball star, Michael Jordan, who famously rescued the company.

　　From the beginning Nike has been prepared to take a gamble on sporting bad boys others would not touch: Andre Agassi springs to mind. It was a strategy that began with Hie Nastase, the original tennis bad boy. The Romanian had the quality that has come to represent Nike and its advertising: attitude.

　　After extraordinary growth, Nike became number one trainer manufacturer in the US. But Knight admits the company then lost its way as it failed to cope with its success. It experimented unsuccessfully with expansion into non-athletic shoes, and lost its number one position to Reebok in 1986.

　　Knight bet the future of the company on a new feature; a new air technology inside the Irainer. He launched the product with a David 1'inchet-directed ad which used the Beatles track Revolution, and then marketed the Air Jordan brand on the back of Michael Jordan. Sales took off and the rest is history.

　　This brings us to the subject of globalisation and the question of how American the brand can be. Nike uses a mix of global ad campaigns such as 'good v evil' and local advertising such as its famous poster campaigns in the UK.

　　During a 21-year partnership with the agency Wieden and Kennedy, Nike has created some of the world's most attention-grabbing advertising: for example the Nike 'good v evil' campaign and two advertisements both for World Cups and the ad 'tag', last year's Cannes grand prix winner. Other famous ads star Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi playing in the streets of Manhattan; Tiger Woods playing 'keepy-uppy' with a golf ball; and Brazil's team playing soccer at the airport terminal.

　　It is a remarkable body of work, both in its variety, daring and consistent originality. At Nike there is a streamlined decision-making process that gives marketing directors real power. They do not rely on market research pre-testing which often reduces the impact of more experimental commercials. There is also the long relationship with one of the world's best ad agencies, and what Wieden describes as 'an honesty about sport'. Things only happen in Nike ads that sportsmen and women can really do.

　　'My number one advertising principle - if I have one - is to wake up the consumer,' concludes Knight, with an absolute conviction that is unique among modern-day chief executives. 'We have a high-risk strategy on advertising. When it works, it is more interesting.There really is no formula.'