Hidden Connections That Transcend Borders and Defy Stereotypes | Aparna Bharadwaj | TED

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

I've lived and worked in some very diverse countries around the world.

我曾在世界各地一些非常 多樣化的國家中生活、工作過。

I was born in India, but I grew up in Iran.

我在印度出生，但在伊朗長大。

I remember I was about eight years old, as a child in Iran,

記得我九歲時，

我這個在伊朗的孩子和家人一起

with my family watching the beautiful festival of Nowruz.

觀賞美麗的諾魯茲節（波斯新年）。

Nowruz is celebrated usually at night with families gathered around a bonfire.

諾魯茲節通常是在晚上慶祝，

家人圍著營火相聚。

They share food. They sing songs.

大家分享食物，唱歌。

Sometimes they even jump over the fire for good luck.

有時甚至會跳過營火，尋求好運。

And I remember how deeply that reminded me of another festival called Lohri,

我記得它強烈地 讓我想到另一個節慶，

豐收節，

celebrated all the way over in India,

印度各地都會慶祝這個節慶，

also with families gathered around a bonfire, sharing food,

同樣也是家人聚在營火旁，

分享食物，

singing songs together.

一起唱歌。

Even an eight-year-old child can tell

就連八歲孩子也能看得出來

how profoundly similar those two events look

這兩項盛事有多麼相似，

in two sets of countries that are culturally so different.

即使它們分別在兩個 文化差異非常大的國家。

就好像有種隱藏的連結存在。

Like a kind of hidden connection.

As an adult, I’ve spent 20 years of my life

長大之後，

我有二十年的時間

studying consumers all over the world.

研究世界各地的消費者。

What they feel, what they believe in

他們有什麼感覺、他們相信什麼，

and how they act upon those beliefs when they buy things.

以及他們在買東西時會如何 根據那些信念來採取行動。

And of course, a big part of my job is to truly understand

當然，我的工作有很大一部分

是要真正去了解 存在於世界上的多樣性。

the diversity that exists in the world.

But maybe because of my upbringing,

但，也許是因為我的教養，

what truly fascinates me is when we find these hidden connections,

真正讓我著迷的，

是找到這些隱藏連結的時刻，

these secret similarities between people where you least expect them.

在最超乎預期的地方，找到 人與人之間的隱密相似性。

Today I want to share some of that magic with you,

今天我想和大家分享這魔力， 帶大家進入我的世界。

bring you into my world.

我們等下會要做一些偵查工作，

And we are going to go do some detective work

on the world's consumers together.

一起探究世界上的消費者。

Stay with me, because I think

所以，別神遊，因為我認為這 能帶給大家一個希望的訊息。

there's a message of hope in here for all of us.

Before we start, let's have a think

開始之前，我們先來想想看

about how companies, businesses are organized today,

現今的公司及企業是 如何組織、如何運作的。

how they operate today.

Most commonly, companies are organized by regions, subregions.

根據地區、分區 來組織的公司最常見。

That's how supply chains, organizations are set up.

供應鏈、組織，是這樣建立的。

And if it's not geographies, then it's some other thumb rule.

若不是地理，則會是其他經驗法則。

It could be linked to some common historic period.

有可能會連結到 某段共同的歷史時期。

So, for example, the Commonwealth countries.

比如，英聯邦。

It could be linked to common religious roots.

有可能連結到共同的宗教根源。

For example, I've been a part of a lot of discussions

比如，我參與過很多 關於清真經濟的討論。

on the halal economy.

It could be something, anything

可以是任何事物，

that allows us to put the world into neat little boxes,

只要能讓我們把世界放到小框框裡、

neat little clusters, that explain why people are similar or different.

小群組裡，

來解釋人們為何相似或不同。

But I realized that when you study the consumers

但我發現，當你研究消費者，

and when you go deep,

當你更深入，

it's interesting how none of that applies.

有趣的是，上述分類通通都不適用。

How wrong some of that thinking can be.

那些想法錯到不能再錯。

Let me show you.

讓我來說明。

About a year ago, a team of us set out to understand

大約一年前，我們組成團隊，

打算要去了解世界各地的 消費者如何做選擇。

how consumers exercise choice around the world.

In this process, we interacted with over 40,000 consumers

在這個過程中，我們 和超過四萬名消費者互動，

in 18 countries around the world.

他們來自全世界十八個國家。

我們問他們很多很多問題，關於

We asked them many, many questions about their mindsets to start with.

比如他們的心態。

So, for example, your worldview, your personal philosophy.

例如，你的世界觀、你的個人哲學。

Do you feel optimistic? Do you have a love for technology?

你感到樂觀嗎？

你喜歡科技嗎？

Do you care about peer approval? Things like that.

你在乎同儕認同嗎？

諸如此類。

But we also tried to study some very specific consumer behavior.

但我們也試圖研究一些 非常明確的消費者行為。

So, for example, what do you look for when you buy a snack

比如，你買點心的時候 考量的是什麼？

or you buy a beverage or luxury products?

或者，買飲料或奢侈品的時候呢？

What needs are you trying to fulfill?

你想滿足的需求是什麼？

As you can imagine, there was a ton of data

各位可以想像，資料多到 能讓圈內阿宅欣喜若狂。

for the geek insiders to go crazy with, right?

I love that type of data.

我愛那種資料。

總之，我們開始從那些資料 當中找出關聯性。

So anyway, we take all that data, and we start to draw correlations.

We start running all these analyses.

我們開始進行各種分析。

And we come up with this kind of a proximity analysis.

我們得到像這樣的近似度分析結果。

Quite simply, every green dot represents people of a particular country.

相當簡單，每一個綠點 代表一個特定國家的人。

The closer the green dot is to the map in the middle,

綠點越接近中央的地圖，

the more similar the mindsets are for those two sets of countries.

表示這兩個國家的心態就越接近。

And the further the dot from the map,

綠點離地圖越遠，表示 這兩個國家的心態就越不同。

the more diverse the mindsets for those countries.

It's as simple as that.

就這麼簡單。

So of course, when you do this for the US,

當然，當你針對美國做分析，

you can see that the Canadians, the people of the UK and the Australians

各位可以看到，加拿大人、

英國人以及澳洲人

are very similar in mindsets to the Americans.

在心態上和美國人非常相似。

Now we had been studying consumers for a long time

我們研究消費者非常久了，

and the whole team fully expected

整個團隊全都預期

that we were going to see a lot of clusters come through,

我們將會看到很多分群出現，

based on some of those thumb rules that I talked about earlier.

依我剛才談到的經驗法則 分出來的群組。

So imagine our surprise.

想像一下我們有多驚訝。

We run this data and we find very little clustering

我們分析了這些資料， 結果幾乎找不到

based on any of those thumb rules.

根據那些經驗法則的分群現象。

We didn't, for example, find an Asian culture cluster.

比如，我們沒有找到亞洲文化群組。

We didn't find a European cluster.

也沒有找到一個歐洲群組。

Nothing like it.

都沒有這種的。

In fact, we found 90-percent correlation between the Americans and the Australians.

事實上，我們發現美國人 和澳洲人之間有 90% 的相關。

Two sets of people on the literal opposite ends of the world.

這兩組人真的是位在地球的兩端。

Can you imagine that? How amazing is that?

各位可以想像嗎？那有多不可思議？

And this is a big deal, by the way,

順道一提，這很了得。

because businesses, companies operate, govern themselves,

因為企業、公司

完全根據這些群組來做 自身的營運和管理，

entirely on the basis of these clusters that we found didn't even exist.

我們卻發現這些群組不存在。

And believe me, we tested a bunch of thumb rules.

相信我，我們測試了很多經驗法則。

And the interesting part was

有趣的是，並不是說 能找到新經驗法則來取代

that it was not as if you can find new thumb rules

行不通的舊法則。

to replace the old ones that don't work.

答案其實蠻技術的。

The answer was kind of technical, actually.

那就是：就別做了！

It was: just don't do it.

Resist the urge to find any kind of thumb rules to explain the world.

抗拒衝動，別想去找出任何 解釋世界的經驗法則。

These are only propagating stereotypes.

這些都只是流傳的刻板印象。

So then we said, OK, if all these thumb rules don't work,

所以，我們說，好，如果 所有經驗法則都行不通，

how do you make sense of all the diversity that we see around us?

我們要如何合理化我們周遭 所見的各種多樣性？

How do we put some patterns? How do we understand it?

我們要如何放入模式？ 我們要如何了解它？

So then we started to study the specific consumer behavior I talked about.

接著我們開始研究我剛才 提到的特定消費者行為。

What do you look for when you buy insurance?

當你買保險時，考量的是什麼？

What do you need when you buy beverages?

你買飲料時需要滿足 什麼條件？買衣服時呢？

When you buy apparel, cars, things like that?

買車子或其他東西時呢？

And here we found something that was even more profound, I think.

我們在這裡有了 我認為更深奧的發現。

Let me show you.

容我說明。

So this time I'm using China as the base market.

這次，我用中國當作基礎市場。

Again, as before, green dots, overall mindsets.

和先前一樣，綠點，整體的心態。

Now you can see immediately when you see this chart

看這張圖時，馬上就能發現，

中國人是相當獨一無二的消費族群。

that the Chinese are such a unique group of consumers.

The inner circle is empty.

內圈是空的。

The second circle is also empty.

第二圈也是空的。

Then you start to see India, Mexico, a couple of other markets.

接著你開始看到印度、 墨西哥，和幾個其他市場。

But the correlation shows not a lot of similarity

但相關性結果顯示

中國人和其他客戶群之間 沒有太高的相似性。

between the Chinese and those group of customers.

So clearly, China stands apart.

很顯然，中國獨樹一格， 非常獨一無二的客戶群。

Very unique group of consumers.

But we notice Japan on the top left here.

但，我們注意到左上方的日本。

The Japanese are so diverse from the Chinese.

日本人和中國人相當不同。

And yet I know so many businesses that put Japan and China

但我知道有好多企業

把日本和中國視為是 北亞洲群組中的鄰近國家。

as neighboring countries in the North Asia cluster.

That's so common.

那很常見，但錯得離譜。

It's so wrong.

總之，我離題了， 這議題會讓我太興奮。

Anyway, I digress. I get very excited with this stuff.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

So then, coming back to the point,

回到主題來，

on top of it, we overlaid these black dots.

我們在上頭疊加上了這些黑點。

The black dots are now the needs when you snack.

黑點代表的是當你吃點心時的需求。

So what motivates you when you reach out for a snack?

當你伸手拿點心時， 背後的動機是什麼？

That's the black dots.

那就是黑點。

And when we did that and we studied it, we found a hidden connection.

我們這麼做之後再去研究， 發現了一個隱藏的連結。

I don't know if you can already see it, but I'm going to circle it for you.

不知道各位是否看得出來， 讓我把它圈出來。

We found that the Indonesians,

我們發現印尼人、

the Saudi Arabians and consumers of the UAE

沙烏地阿拉伯人 與阿拉伯聯合大公國的消費者

snack in very similar ways to the Chinese.

吃點心的行為方式 和中國人非常相似。

Let's think about it for a second.

咱們來思考一下。

These are Muslim countries.

這些都是穆斯林國家。

Very different culture, very different background to the Chinese.

和中國人有非常不同的文化及背景。

And yet they snack is similar ways.

但吃點心的行為方式卻相似。

How cool is that? Right?

那有多酷啊？

And similar how?

是怎樣的相似？

Well, for first, in all of these countries,

首先，

在所有這些國家，吃點心 是社交放縱的時刻。

snacking is a moment of social indulgence.

It's something you do as a group.

是一群人一起做的事。

So people snack in groups, they share the snacks.

大家結伴吃點心，

共享點心。

They often buy a hot snack that they purchase from a hawker or a food court.

他們通常會在攤販 或美食街買熱食點心。

Somebody prepares it fresh for them.

是新鮮現做的點心。

The quality is not guaranteed. It's very important.

品質沒有保障，這點非常重要。

They snack in similar ways.

他們吃點心的行為方式很相似。

In contrast, the Americans, over on the top left,

相對的，美國人在左上方，

snack very differently.

吃點心就很不同。

Americans snack alone.

美國人獨自吃點心。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

They don't share their snacks.

他們不分享自己的點心。

It's often at their desk in a package,

點心通常在他們的桌上， 是有包裝起來的，

very different from the rest of the countries.

和其他國家非常不同。

Now I wonder, do the Chinese and the Indonesians know

我很好奇中國人和印尼人知道 他們吃點心的方式很相似嗎？

that they snack similarly?

I seriously doubt that.

我不太相信他們知道。

But what a beautifully human thing to know, right?

但能知道人有這種 美麗的事，很棒吧？

And valuable, too.

也很有價值。

Imagine what a Chinese snacking company can do with this insight.

想想看若中國的點心公司 能運用這洞見做些什麼。

A lot, right?

能做很多吧？

Let's take you to another one.

讓我再給各位看一個例子。

I'll show you another one.

Still staying with China.

仍然是與中國比較。

The green dots are still the mindsets,

綠點仍然是心態，

but this time the black dots are how you buy cars,

但這次黑點是購買汽車的方式，

what you look for when you buy an automotive product.

當你購買汽車產品時會考量什麼。

Now again, I guess you guys are getting better with this now.

同樣的，

我猜各位越來越上手了，但，

But here's the hidden connections.

隱藏的連結在這些地方。

We found -- and I'll name a few countries,

我們發現——我會提出幾個國家，

there's quite a few similar to China, but two that I'll call out.

和中國相似的國家不少， 但有兩個我想提出來。

South Africans and Nigerians buy cars with similar motivations as the Chinese.

南非人和奈及利亞人購買汽車時，

動機和中國人很相似。

In all these countries, your car, your ride, is a status symbol.

在這些國家中，

汽車，交通工具，是地位的象徵。

It tells your peer group who you are.

它能告訴你的同儕團體你是誰。

So your car needs to show you’ve arrived in life,

所以你的車必須要能 展現你在人生的成就，

and it's a very external point of influence.

這是非常外部的影響點。

What will others think if I drive this particular vehicle?

如果我開這一台車， 其他人會怎麼想？

In contrast, look at the Germans at the bottom.

相對的，看看底部的德國，

Very different, very internal, very personal.

非常不同、非常內在、非常個人化。

Your car has to be fun to drive.

你的車必須要開起來很有樂趣。

That's very, very important.

那非常重要。

And who blames them, right? With those beautiful autobahns.

但誰能怪他們呢？ 德國有那麼美的高速公路、

Lovely roads, no speed limits.

美好的道路，沒有速限，當然 你會希望開車是種樂趣對吧？

Of course you want your car to be a fun ride, right?

But wait, look at the French now.

但，等等，現在看看法國人。

The French are very different from the Germans.

法國人和德國人非常不同。

They want their cars to be reliable to navigate narrow roads.

他們希望他們的車在窄路上 行駛時也要很可靠。

So there you have it.

就是這樣。

Two countries, France and Germany, neighboring countries, European countries,

兩個國家，法國和德國， 相鄰的國家，歐洲國家，

very different motivations.

非常不同的動機。

And then a couple of African countries

接著，有幾個非洲國家

在購買汽車方面和中國人很相似。

similar to the Chinese in the way they buy cars.

No clustering, no business group will ever put these countries together.

沒有任何分群方式或商業分組

會把這些國家歸在同一類。

But maybe a road trip from Beijing to Lagos is just going to do the trick.

但也許從北京開車到拉哥斯 就能達到這個效果。

Who knows?

天知道？

Anyway, one more, last one.

總之，再一個，最後一個。

Indulge me, just to rub it in.

遷就我，再忍受我一下。

So here's another one. We're coming back to the US this time.

這是另一個例子。 這次我們再回到美國。

Again, green is the mindset,

同樣的，綠點是心態，

but the black this time is how you buy clothing, apparel.

但這次黑點代表你如何 決定購買衣服、服飾。

Now remember we talked about how the Americans and the Canadians

記得我們先前談過美國人 和加拿大人在心態上很相似？

are very similar in mindsets earlier?

And we also talked about, you know -- of course,

我們也有談到，當然， 它們是有密切連結的鄰國。

they are closely connected neighbors as well.

Now, however, they don’t buy apparel the same way.

然而，他們買衣服的考量不同。

The Americans buy things that are on-trend.

美國人買流行的東西。

They're looking to indulge.

他們尋求縱情。

The Canadians look for utility.

加拿大人尋求的是功效。

They are looking for apparel that can be good for adventure,

他們要找的衣服要能適合冒險，

and a love of outdoor sports is critical here.

這裡的重點是對戶外運動的熱愛。

But controversially, the Russians buy apparel

但，很有爭議的是俄羅斯人，

他們買衣服的考量和美國人很相似，

in very similar way to the Americans,

also looking for something that’s on-trend,

同樣也追求流行，

also looking to indulge.

也想要縱情。

Now to say that there've been tensions between these two countries

說這兩國間的關係很緊繃 還算是太客氣，對吧？

is a serious understatement, right?

但它們卻有這個美麗的連結。

And yet they have this one beautiful connection.

They have one thing in common.

它們有個共同點。

What a lovely idea. Right?

很美好的想法，對吧？

Now I could go on and on.

我可以一直說下去。今天 跟各位介紹的只是幾個例子。

I showed you just a few examples today.

But we found this over and over again.

但我們一再發現這樣的結果。

Category by category.

一個類別又一個類別， 一對國家又一對國家。

Country pair by country pair.

在各種產品上都有這個現象，比如：

We saw this in all kinds of things,

like luxury, beverages, insurance, you name it.

奢侈品、飲料、保險， 想得到的都是。

We found these connections everywhere.

我們在哪裡都能找到這種連結。

And I don't mean any of this to belittle the massive, beautiful diversity

我絕對沒有要貶低我們身邊所見各種

that we see in consumers around us.

美好的消費者多樣性。

That's exactly why consumers are such an important study

那正是為什麼對我這種人而言 研究消費者是如此重要。

for people like me.

But I think this work shows that mankind is connected

但，我想，這研究顯示了 人類是相連結的，

in a profound way that we never imagined.

以我們從來沒有想像過的 深奧方式相連結。

這個研究也顯示這些連結

It also shows that these connections defy any stereotypes

挑戰了你、我，或企業能想出來的

that you and I or businesses can come up with.

任何刻板印象。

These are patterns where you least expect them.

在你最沒預期到的地方 有著模式存在。

And in these connections, of course, there are commercial opportunities

當然，在這些連結中， 存在有商業機會，

for marketeers who can embrace this insight.

給能擁抱這洞見的市場商人運用。

Of course, it's commercially valuable.

當然它是很有商業價值的。

But today, I want to go a step further, if you permit me.

但，今天，如果各位容許， 我想要再進一步。

I think in these connections,

我認為在這些連結中，

there's also a message of hope for the world.

也有關於希望的訊息，能給全世界。

We live in a world that has globalized for more than four decades,

我們所處的世界， 全球化已經超過四十年，

and yet we're getting torn apart, shaped by the geopolitics of our time.

但我們卻被分裂，

被這個時代的地緣政治給塑型。

Countries are falling into blocs.

國家變成了聯盟陣營。

Fault lines are appearing everywhere.

隱憂開始在各處浮現。

I'm not a specialist in geopolitics.

我不是地緣政治專家。

I'm just a student of the consumer.

我只是在研究消費者的人。

But when I look at this data and I think about it,

但當我看著這些資料，

思索其意義，

if only people knew that we are similar in the most profound ways

真希望大家能知道

我們其實有很深刻的相似度，

in some of our most everyday activities,

在最日常的活動上很相似，

in the way we sip a cup of coffee,

我們啜食咖啡的方式很相似，

taste a snack, try on a new outfit or test drive a car,

品嚐點心、

試穿新衣服或試駕 汽車的方式都很相似，

how beautiful would that be?

那有多美麗啊？

Maybe if we knew that,

也許，如果我們知道這一點， 我們就也能學習去了解

we would also learn to understand and empathize with each other.

並同理彼此。

It's a lovely thought to reflect on maybe with your next cup of coffee.

這是值得反思的美好概念， 也許下次你喝咖啡時可以想想。

Thank you so much.

非常謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）