有一天，當我走進一位商學院教授的辦公室時，我吃驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)他對我非常了解。“我Google了你，”教授回答了我的疑問。

Walking into the office of a business school professor the other day, I was startled to discover quite how much he knew about me. "I Googled you," he replied.

他確實用Google搜索了我：如今許多人在得到線索后就是用這種方式找到信息的。Google，這個6年前在斯坦福大學一間密室里創(chuàng)建的網(wǎng)絡搜索引擎，現(xiàn)已迅速發(fā)展為全球一大奇跡，在Interbrand進行的一項調(diào)查中被評為最受歡迎的品牌。它屬于那類可用品牌名作為產(chǎn)品代稱的優(yōu)等品牌之列，Hoover、施樂(Xerox)和Portakabin均屬這類品牌。

Of course he did: that is how a lot of clued-in people find their information these days. Google, the internet search engine that started six years ago in a back room of Stanford University, has ballooned into a global phenomenon, voted best-loved brand in an Interbrand survey. It is in that select list of brands that enter the language as a synonym for their product, such as Hoover, Xerox and Portakabin.

Google每天處理兩億多個搜索要求。根據(jù)StatMarket的數(shù)據(jù)，它是全球頂尖搜索引擎，截至2003年12月，它占全球網(wǎng)絡搜索結(jié)果50%的份額(其中包括美國在線AOL等使用Google進行的搜索，以及Google在自己站點上的搜索)。如果傳聞中的Google上市將在今年進行，那么預計該公司的估價將高達150億美元，這不禁讓人回想起網(wǎng)絡公司熱潮高峰時期的情形。

Google handles more than 200m queries a day. It is the world's top search engine, boasting an estimated 50 per cent share in December 2003 of internet search referrals worldwide, according to StatMarket. (This includes searches via the likes of AOL, which uses Google, as well as Google's own-branded websites.) If a rumoured flotation goes ahead this year, it may value the company as high as $15bn (?.3bn), recalling the heady days of the dotcom boom.

Google不同于初創(chuàng)的網(wǎng)絡公司或真正的傳統(tǒng)企業(yè)，它沒有依靠任何營銷預算，就建立了一個全球客戶群。它唯一的一次廣告只出現(xiàn)在行業(yè)出版物中，并直接面對企業(yè)營銷部門。

Unlike the dotcom start-up or indeed conventional businesses, Google has built a worldwide customer base without a marketing budget of any size. Its only advertising has run in trade publications and direct to corporate marketing departments.

辛蒂•麥卡弗里(Cindy McCaffrey)在名義上是負責市場營銷的副總裁，但她的工作與多數(shù)營銷類職務鮮有類似之處。作為一家私人擁有的公司，Google審慎地保管全部財務數(shù)據(jù)，不對外公開。因此很難知道公司收入有多少，但分析師的預測值基本上都在每年10億美元左右。(不過按照美國證交會的規(guī)定，由于Google已達到一定的規(guī)模，因此它必須在今年春季晚些時候把一些公司信息提交給證交會備案，但在此之前，它也有可能先上市。)

Cindy McCaffrey is nominally vice-president for marketing, but her job bears little resemblance to most marketing posts. As a privately-owned company, Google jealously guards all its financial data. So it is difficult to know what the company's revenues are, though analysts' estimates converge on about $1bn a year. (SEC rules, however, mean that because it has reached a certain size, it will have to make some filings later this spring, though it could float on the stock market first.)

麥卡弗里指出，營銷預算在收入中只占極小一部分。她只愿意承認該比例“不到5%”，但她從容不迫的態(tài)度表明，實際比例或許更小。

The marketing budget, McCaffrey indicates, is a tiny fraction of revenues. She will agree only that it is "less than 5 per cent", though her readiness suggests it might be much less.

“我們不需要。”她解釋說。她表示，其它公司用于廣告宣傳的經(jīng)費，Google卻直接投入研究和技術開發(fā)。“我們完全把重點放在產(chǎn)品上，”麥卡弗里說。

"We do not need it," she explains. The money that in other companies would go on publicity in Google pours straight into research and technical development instead, she says. "Our focus is totally on the product."

但Google并非總是全然反對廣告支出。“我們(在1999年)給很多廣告公司打過電話，但沒有一家回復我們，”麥卡弗里說。當時那些公司都忙于應付一大批其它網(wǎng)絡公司，目前它們已基本上倒閉，若非如此，它們或許已依靠Google這臺驚人的生財機賺了錢。當然，Google的命運或許也會截然不同。

Google was not always so dead against advertising spend. "We rang lots of advertising agencies [in 1999], but none of them returned our calls," says McCaffrey. Had they not been too busy with a bunch of other dotcoms, now mainly folded, those agencies might have cashed in on an astonishing money-spinning machine. And the Google story might have been very different.

事實上，Google依靠了自己的資源。公司通過人們的口頭傳播就發(fā)展起來了：它的名聲從學術界傳到懂技術的用戶，再到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)記者的口中，直至更廣闊的世界各地。當麥卡弗里1999年加入Google時，公司交給她厚厚一疊媒體報道剪報。雖然公司沒有公關預算，但記者們已開始使用Google進行調(diào)查研究，然后寫文章夸贊這一技術，于是為該網(wǎng)站積聚了更多用戶。

As it was, Google fell back on its own resources. The company grew by word of mouth, spreading from academic circles to techie users to internet journalists to the wider world. When McCaffrey joined in 1999, she was handed a thick file of press clippings. Though the company had no PR budget, journalists had begun to use the engine for their researches, and then wrote articles praising the technology, thus garnering more users for the site.

Google的創(chuàng)始人謝爾蓋•布林(Sergey Brin)和拉里•佩奇(Larry Page)很快為他們的搜索引擎確定了三大要求：它必須對搜索到的站點進行排列，最貼近用戶要求的站點越靠前；它必須很快；它必須易于使用。

Google's founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, quickly identified three requirements for their search engine. It had to rank sites to be of most relevance to the user; it had to be fast; it had to be easy to use.

“這與純度有關，”麥卡弗里說。意向純度：避免其它搜索引擎的模式，即企業(yè)向那些引擎付費，以便列入其搜索結(jié)果。設計純度：這意味著Google站點沒有廣告，只有一個供用戶輸入搜索條件的方框和一個大大的Google標識；第三點，目的純度：一心一意專注于發(fā)展技術和為用戶提供服務，除此之外別無其他。Google抵制了沖動，沒有成為像雅虎(Yahoo)，MSN，美國在線這樣的多用途門戶網(wǎng)站。

"It's about purity," says McCaffrey. Purity of intent, in eschewing the model of other search engines where companies pay to be listed in the results thrown up by the search engine. Purity of design, which means there is no advertising on the Google site, just a box for users to type in their search terms and a large Google logo. And purity of purpose, in a single-minded focus on technology and the service to the user to the exclusion of all else. Google resisted the urge to become an all-purpose portal in the manner of Yahoo, MSN and AOL.

接連數(shù)年，Google的主要業(yè)務模式都是將其技術授權給其它公司，隨后，公司開始嘗試不同的做法。Google未來收入中的大部分將來自其付費排列服務。該服務的內(nèi)容是，如果用戶輸入廣告客戶從Google買來的詞或短語，這些企業(yè)的網(wǎng)站就能顯示在屏幕頂端一個界限分明的方框中。雖然Google向廣告客戶出售關鍵詞，但它把它們的站點集中放在屏幕的一角，讓其它未付費的站點居于屏幕中心。

After a few years when Google's main business model was licensing its technology to other companies, the company tried a different tack. The bulk of its revenues in future will come from its paid listings service. These services allow advertisers to have their sites displayed in a clearly demarcated box at the top of the screen if a word or phrase they have bought from Google is typed in by the user. Though Google sells keywords to advertisers, it corrals their sites into a corner of the screen, allowing the rest of the sites which have not paid to take centre stage.

廣告客戶對這種模式趨之若騖，既因為這使得它們即刻獲得了搜索提示，也因為現(xiàn)在大多數(shù)人在網(wǎng)上探路都用搜索引擎，而不是依靠門戶網(wǎng)站。Overture和Espotting之類的公司曾是搜索引擎市場的領軍企業(yè)，但Google已快速趕了上來。US Bancorp Piper Jaffray預測，到2007年該市場的規(guī)模將達70億美元。這種市場增長預測導致雅虎去年收購了Overture，還收購了搜索科技專業(yè)公司Inktomi。

Advertisers have flocked to the model because it gives them instant leads, and because most people now use search engines to find their way round the internet, rather than relying on portals. Companies such as Overture and Espotting led this market, but Google has caught up fast. US Bancorp Piper Jaffray estimates the market will be worth $7bn by 2007. Such growth forecasts led Yahoo to buy Overture last year and Inktomi, a search technology specialist.

雅虎已開始大舉推出自己的搜索技術，來與Google的技術爭鋒。這筆潛在的財富也吸引了微軟(Microsoft)的目光，該公司計劃推出其第一款互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索引擎，但拒絕透露將于何時推出。

Yahoo has begun rolling out its own search technology to rival Google's. The potential riches also caught Microsoft's eye; the company plans to launch its first internet search engine, though it declines to say when.

Google將如何應付這場新的競爭呢？麥卡弗里說：“我們無法預言會發(fā)生什么，但我們將繼續(xù)在自己的技術上投資，并保持業(yè)務重點。我們在搜索技術上領先五年半。我們從未止步不前。”

How will Google cope with this new competition? McCaffrey says: "We can't predict what will happen, but we will continue to invest in our technology and maintain focus. We have five-and-a-half-years' lead in search technology. We haven't been standing still."

Google也將充分倚賴其品牌。英國Interbrand公司首席執(zhí)行官耶斯•弗蘭普頓(Jez Frampton)說，這或許是它最好的策略，“Google已具備了成為一個偉大品牌的首要條件：提供人們真正想要的產(chǎn)品，并堅守對人們所作的承諾。他們保持著一貫的形象，而且從未偏離其重點。可能有其它搜索引擎比Google更快或更準確，但Google受人信賴。”

The company will also rely heavily on its brand. This might be its best strategy, according to Jez Frampton, chief executive of Interbrand in the UK: "Google has fulfilled the first requisite of a great brand: providing products that people really want and keeping the promises made to people. They have maintained a consistent identity and been unswerving in their focus. There may be other search engines that are faster or more accurate, but Google has the trust."

通過這種方式，Google已與消費者建立了牢固的關系。雖然它的吸引力似乎主要還是功能上的，但用戶也能與它培養(yǎng)感情上的聯(lián)系。麥卡弗里引述了一個男子的故事，他定期發(fā)來他的狗本(Ben)的照片。有一次本生病了，獸醫(yī)不知所措。狗的主人把癥狀一股腦打進了Google，帶出一個有關萊姆病(Lyme’s disease)的網(wǎng)頁。結(jié)果表明這就是狗患的病，于是獲得了治療。自那以后，主人不斷發(fā)來有關本健康狀況的最新消息。在Google的辦公室里有塊告示牌，上面全是與此類似的故事。

In this way, the company has built up a strong relationship with consumers. Although its appeal would seem to be mainly functional, users can develop emotional ties. McCaffrey cites the story of a man who regularly sends in pictures of his dog, Ben. When Ben fell sick, the vet was flummoxed. Its owner fed the symptoms into Google, bringing up a page on Lyme's disease. This turned out to be the dog's ailment, and it was treated. The owner has been sending updates on Ben's health ever since. In Google's offices sits a noticeboard overflowing with similar stories.

弗蘭普頓說，Google還利用了一樣更平常的東西：惰性。“除非有人拿出另一個異常強大的搜索引擎，否則大家使用競爭產(chǎn)品得到的好處微乎其微。如果Google的競爭對手只比Google快0.001秒，誰會在意？大家已經(jīng)用慣了Google。”

Frampton says Google also taps something more commonplace: laziness. "Unless someone comes up with another search engine of interstellar proportions, people get only marginal benefits from going to the competition. Who cares if the competitor is .001 seconds faster? People are used to Google."

然而，盡管有品牌資本，但Google還是很容易被傷害。微軟擁有操作系統(tǒng)以及人們訪問互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的瀏覽器，因而把持著巨大的優(yōu)勢。如果微軟把搜索引擎嵌入其現(xiàn)有產(chǎn)品，比如通過在Windows系統(tǒng)中放個桌面圖標，或在其瀏覽器上設個按鈕，這可能足以使偷懶的用戶從Google轉(zhuǎn)向微軟的搜索引擎。微軟還擁有強大的營銷力量，能支持任何捆綁策略。

Yet for all its brand equity, Google remains vulnerable. Microsoft retains a huge advantage in that it owns the operating system and the browser through which people access the internet. If it were to build its search engine into its existing products, for instance through a desktop icon on Windows or a button on its browser, that might be enough to make lazy users switch. The company also has huge marketing might to back up any bundling strategy.

對于微軟是否會把搜索功能與現(xiàn)有產(chǎn)品捆綁起來，該公司英國搜索部經(jīng)理羅賓•凱利特(Robin Kellett)拒而不答。鑒于歐盟最近對這家軟件集團處以4.97億歐元(合3.34億英鎊)的罰款，捆綁是個熱點話題。微軟已經(jīng)擊潰了足夠多的昔日競爭對手，從Word Perfect和Novell到網(wǎng)景(Netscape)。或許不需要提醒，你便知道Google的高管的情況：他們中好幾個是網(wǎng)景的舊臣。

Robin Kellett, UK search manager at Microsoft, refuses to answer whether the company would bundle search with its existing products. Bundling is a hot issue, given the European Commission's recent E497m (?34m) fine of the software group. Microsoft has smashed enough past competitors, from Word Perfect and Novell to Netscape. Google chiefs probably do not need reminding: several are ex-Netscapers.

即使微軟的捆綁不會發(fā)生，對Google來說，最大的風險可能是一個技術上的超級對手的推出。還記得AltaVista嗎？它一度也是市場領頭羊。正如弗里斯特研究公司(Forrester Research)首席執(zhí)行官喬治•科羅尼(George Colony)所說：“Google的地位沒有城墻保護。你在Google之前用的是什么搜索引擎？你轉(zhuǎn)用Google花了多久？幾秒鐘。你拋棄Google另投他處要花多久？也只要幾秒鐘。”

Even if bundling does not happen, the biggest risk is probably the launch of a technically superior rival. Remember AltaVista? It was once market leader, too. As George Colony, chief of Forrester Research, observes: "There are no walls protecting Google's position. What was the search engine you used before Google? How long did it take you to switch to Google? Seconds. How long will it take to switch out of Google? Seconds."

作者郵箱：fiona.harvey@ft.com。

fiona.harvey@ft.com

譯者/李功文