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OLDER people are not the only ones to try too hard to be hip and youthful. Long-established firms can, too.
年长者并非唯一努力让自己看起来时髦年轻的人。老牌企业也会如此。
Just look at Procter& Gamble (P&G), one of the world's largest consumer-goods firms,
宝洁公司（P&G）是世界最大日用消费品公司之一，
which this year applied to America's federal patent office to trademark LOL, NBD, WTF and FML,
今年宝洁公司为商标LOL、NBD、WTF以及FML向美国联邦专利局申请专利，
abbreviations commonly used in text messages and social media.
这些缩写在短信和社交媒体中经常用到。
If it succeeds, the 181-year-old firm plans to use the phrases to market soap, cleaners and air fresheners to young buyers.
如果申请成功，那么这家181年之久的老牌公司将用这些缩写为名向年轻消费者推销其香皂、洗衣液以及空气清新剂。
Its move is the intellectual property equivalent of Dad dancing. But it is a sign of large firms' eagerness to woo millennial consumers.
这一举措和老爸舞姿相类似。但这也表明大型公司迎合千禧一代消费者的渴望。
To many firms they are a mystery. KPMG, a consultancy, reckons nearly half do not know how millennials—
对很多公司而言，千禧一代是个谜。咨询公司KPMG估算近一半的公司不知道千禧一代—
typically defined as those born between 1980 and 2000—differ from their older counterparts.
一般指的是那些在1980年到2000年内出生的人—和他们上一代有何区别。
That may be because such differences are overblown.
这或许是因为这些区别被夸大了。
According to Ipsos-MORI, a pollster, millennials are "the most carelessly described group we have ever looked at".
民意测验公司 Ipsos-MORI表示，千禧一代是“描述最为草率的群体”。
Many claims about them are simplified or wrong. It is often said, for example, that they ignore conventional ads; in fact they are heavily influenced by marketing.
很多对他们的说法要么是被简化了，要么是错误的。例如，人们常说他们不在乎传统广告，但事实上，他们受到了市场营销的极大影响。
Given such misconceptions, it is little wonder that firms sometimes get it wrong.
鉴于这种错误想法，也难怪公司有时会误解他们。
In February, Miller Coors, an American brewer, released Two Hats, a light fruit-flavoured brew
二月，美国啤酒制造商Miller Coors推出水果味啤酒Two Hats，
the beer-maker said would suit millennials' tastes and budgets (tagline: "Good, cheap beer. Wait, what?").
啤酒制造商称这种果味啤酒将符合千禧一代的品味和预算（宣传标语：“不错，便宜的啤酒。等等，什么？”）。
Consumers just waited; the beer was pulled from shelves after six months. But some stereotypes about millennials have roots in reality.
消费者只是驻足等待，六个月后，这种啤酒就下架了。但一些关于千禧一代的老旧观念已经生根现实。
Companies are finding that three broad approaches do succeed when trying to sell to them: transparency, experiences (over things) and flexibility.
公司发现在向千禧一代推销商品时，有三种主流方法获得了成功：透明度、经历（对事物的经历）以及灵活性。
On the first of these, transparency, younger brands have led the way.
首先是透明度，年轻的品牌已经一马当先。
In clothing, one example is Everlane, an online clothing manufacturer based in San Francisco.
例如，服装行业的Everlane，这家线上服装制造商位于旧金山。
It discloses the conditions under which each and every garment is made and how much profit it generates as part of its philosophy of "radical transparency".
该公司公开展示每件服装制作工程以及其中产生的利润，这成了他们“彻底透明化”理念的一部分。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
