托马斯·爱迪生曾经是我的英雄 (Thomas Edison Used to Be My Hero)

In fourth grade, I read a biography of Thomas Edison, the creator of the light bulb and the man responsible for movies. When you’re 10 years old, that was a really big deal.

四年级时，我读了托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)的传记，他是灯泡的创造者和负责电影的人。 当您10岁时，这确实是一件大事。

I have to admit that it’s still a big deal 50 years later.

我不得不承认，50年后，这仍然是一件大事。

Creative souls, innovators, and visionaries turn me on, and Thomas Edison had been on my radar for decades. I’ve been to his summer home and laboratory in Florida twice. Both times, I was blown away by the brainpower, the hundreds of inventions, and the more than a thousand patents.

有创造力的灵魂，创新者和有远见的人使我兴奋，托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)几十年来一直在我的视野中。 我去过他在佛罗里达州的避暑别墅和实验室两次。 两次，我都被才智，数百项发明和一千多项专利所震撼。

Then I read Graham Moore’s “The Last Days of Night,” a novel about the battle between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to supply cities with electricity. “The Current Wars” was an ugly period in the history of marketing. In a brutal, bitter fight, Thomas Edison employed downright dirty publicity techniques. I was crushed upon learning what he did, and my opinion of the famed inventor plummeted, a hero falling in full-flame from the sky.

然后， 我读了格雷厄姆·摩尔(Graham Moore)的“夜晚的最后一天”，这本小说讲述了托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)和乔治·威斯汀豪斯(George Westinghouse)为城市供电的斗争。 “当前战争”是营销历史上的一个丑陋时期。 在一场残酷，痛苦的战斗中，托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)采用了彻头彻尾的肮脏宣传技术。 当我得知他的所作所为时，我被迷住了，对这位著名发明家的见解直线下降，一个英雄从天而降。

当前的战争 (The Current Wars)

In recent years, much has been written about the fight between titans of industry to bring electricity to our cities. The titans of industry were fighting to control the greatest need of our nation: electrical power. The problem was this: Thomas Edison, a phenomenal marketer and brander of his products, had invented and patented the lightbulb. But he’d developed it based on the principles of Direct Current (DC).

近年来，关于工业巨头之间的斗争，以将电力带入我们的城市，已有很多著作。 工业巨头正在努力控制我们国家的最大需求： 电力。 问题是这样的：托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)，他的产品的非凡营销人员和品牌商，已经发明了灯泡并申请了专利。 但是他是根据直流(DC)原理开发的。

Nikola Tesla was a creative genius who was convinced that Alternating Current (AC) was the way of the future because it could be transported long distances and go through a transformer to change the voltage. George Westinghouse also believed in Alternating Current and teamed up with Nikola Tesla to buy his existing patents on AC machinery. They desperately wanted to defeat Thomas Edison and his quest to make DC the standard for America.

尼古拉·特斯拉(Nikola Tesla)是一位富有创造力的天才，他深信交流电(AC)是未来的发展方向，因为它可以长距离传输并通过变压器来改变电压。 乔治·威斯汀豪斯(George Westinghouse)也相信交流电，并与尼古拉·特斯拉(Nikola Tesla)合作，购买了他现有的交流机械专利。 他们拼命想击败托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)，并寻求使华盛顿成为美国的标准。

But Thomas Edison was not to be deterred. He used every technique he could think of to cast Alternating Current in a bad light. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist the pun.)

但是，托马斯·爱迪生并不被吓倒。 他使用了他能想到的所有技术来投射交流电。 (对不起。我无法抗拒双关语。)

托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)的失败与肮脏营销 (Thomas Edison’s Down and Dirty Marketing)

It’s shocking.

令人震惊。

Thomas Edison was so motivated to win the current wars that he resorted to dirty marketing.

托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)如此勇于赢得当前的战争，以至于诉诸于肮脏的营销。

If you have lost your moral code and want to crush your competitor, what do you do?

如果您失去了道德准则并想打败竞争对手，该怎么办？

You market their product as dangerous and deadly.

您将他们的产品推销为危险和致命的产品。

That’s exactly what Edison did.

这正是爱迪生所做的。

现实生活中的营销戏剧人物 (Characters of a Real-Life Marketing Drama)

Thomas Edison personally opposed capital punishment, one of the thousands of people in the population who objected to the barbarity of public hangings. The debate was so intense that as early as 1834, New York lawmakers were discussing the elimination of hanging because of so many botched attempts. The convicted didn’t always die quickly, swinging and kicking, choking for long minutes. In some cases, the criminal was decapitated.

托马斯·爱迪生个人反对死刑，在谁反对的野蛮人口数千人的一个公开绞刑 。 辩论如此激烈，以至于早在1834年，纽约立法者就在讨论如何取消绞刑，原因是尝试次数众多。 被定罪的人并非总是很快死去，不停地挥舞，踢腿，cho了很长时间。 在某些情况下，罪犯被斩首。

Enter Alfred P. Southwick. Southwick, a dentist and engineer who had experimented with using electrical current as a numbing agent during oral surgery, was serving on an official committee investigating means of execution other than the controversial hangings. Southwick had been influenced by the death of George Smith, a dockworker from Buffalo, New York.

输入Alfred P. Southwick 。 索思威克(Southwick)是一名牙医和工程师，曾在口腔外科手术期间尝试使用电流作为麻木剂，他正在一个官方委员会中研究除有争议的绞刑外的执行手段。 绍斯威克受到了纽约布法罗市一位码头工人乔治·史密斯(George Smith)的去世的影响。

To teach people about the newly harnessed force of electricity, the new power plant in Buffalo had invited the public to come into the plant. They wanted to eliminate superstitions and misunderstandings about electricity. As the public came into the plant to see the equipment, many visitors found that they got a pleasant sensation from the vibrations of the railings around generators. Getting that tingling sensation became a cool thing to do, an unofficial perk to touring the power plant.

为了向人们介绍新利用的电力，布法罗的新电厂邀请公众进入该电厂。 他们想消除对电力的迷信和误解。 当公众进入工厂观看设备时，许多游客发现发电机周围的栏杆振动给他们以愉悦的感觉。 获得那种刺痛的感觉成为一件很酷的事情，这是参观电厂的非官方特权。

After a night of heavy drinking, George Smith must have wanted to find out what all the buzz was about. He broke into the power plant. Instead of standing by the generator and putting his hands on the surrounding railings, he put both bare arms directly on the generator and was electrocuted. The staff found him the next morning, both arms still attached to the machine, with no outward signs of injury.

经过一整夜的大量饮酒，乔治·史密斯一定想知道所有嗡嗡声是什么。 他闯入发电厂。 他没有站在发电机旁边并把手放在周围的栏杆上，而是将两个裸露的手臂直接放在发电机上并被电死。 第二天早上，工作人员找到了他，双臂仍然附着在机器上，没有外伤迹象。

Southwick assumed that George Smith had died quickly and painlessly, and since he was searching for a new method of capital punishment, he thought of electricity and contacted Thomas Edison for ideas.

绍斯威克(George Smith)认为乔治·史密斯(George Smith)死得很快且无痛，并且由于他正在寻找一种新的死刑方法，他想到了用电并联系托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)寻求想法。

And you know what Edison says?

你知道爱迪生怎么说吗？

Even though he detested capital punishment, Edison suggested an “electric chair” that would kill people using Westinghouse’s Alternating Current.

即使他讨厌死刑，爱迪生还是建议使用一把“电动椅子”，这将杀死使用西屋电气公司的交流电的人。

Not such a nice guy after all.

毕竟不是一个好人。

平均营销策略 (Mean Marketing Tactics)

Edison had no shame in his fight against Westinghouse.

爱迪生在与西屋的斗争中毫不羞耻。

• He secretly connected with a guy named Harold Brown to design an electrical chair using Westinghouse’s Alternating Current.他秘密地与一个名叫Harold Brown的人联系在一起，用西屋公司的交流电设计电椅。
• He empowered Harold Brown to actively smear Westinghouse’s push for Alternating Current.他授权哈罗德·布朗(Harold Brown)积极涂抹西屋公司推动交流的动力。
• He knowingly encouraged Harold Brown to purchase Westinghouse AC “dynamos” from companies that already owned them because George Westinghouse had refused to sell any equipment for purposes of execution.他故意鼓励哈罗德·布朗从已经拥有西屋公司的公司那里购买西屋公司的“发电机”，因为乔治·西屋公司拒绝出售任何设备以执行死刑。
• He coined the phrase “Westinghoused” to describe what happened to convicted criminals killed by the electric chair.他创造了“西屋”一词，以描述被电椅杀死的罪犯所发生的事情。
• He knew about and condoned the use of animal killing to defame AC, hiring Harold Brown to travel to Eastern cities demonstrating the danger of AC by electrocuting dogs with Alternating Current day after day. (The strays had been purchased from neighborhood boys for a quarter each.)他了解并宽容使用动物杀戮来诽谤AC，并雇用Harold Brown前往东部城市，以日复一日用交流电对狗进行电死来证明AC的危险。 (这些流浪狗是从附近的男孩那里买来的，每一个就占四分之一。)
• He made these public statements:他发表了以下公开声明：

“Just as certain as death, Westinghouse will kill a customer within 6 months after he puts in a system of any size.”

“只要确定死亡，西屋公司将在安装任何规模的系统后的6个月内杀死客户。”

“Direct current is like a river flowing peacefully to the sea, while alternating current is like a torrent rushing violently over a precipice.”

“直流电就像一条河流和平地流入大海，而交流电就像一股洪流猛烈地冲向悬崖。”

• He utilized this marketing line:

  他利用了以下营销渠道：

“Do you want the electrocutioner’s current in your children’s bedroom wall?”

“您想在孩子的卧室墙上使用电死刑者的电流吗？”

西屋公司打了好仗 (Westinghouse Put Up a Good Fight)

No one wants to have his product labeled as the deliverer of death, and Westinghouse did what he could to overcome Edison’s attacks:

没有人愿意将他的产品标记为死亡的传递者，西屋公司竭尽所能克服爱迪生的袭击：

• He refused to authorize any sales of his equipment for purposes of execution.他拒绝为执行目的而授权其设备的任何销售。
• He spent thousands and thousands of dollars to stop the execution of William Kemmler by electric chair. He was unsuccessful. Kemmler was executed on August 6, 1890, in a gruesome debut of the electric chair, which didn’t deliver enough voltage to kill him on the first round. The event took eight minutes and ended after two administrations of current which induced violent muscle spasms, burst blood vessels, and burning flesh.他花了成千上万美元来阻止威廉·凯姆勒用电椅执行死刑。 他没有成功。 凯姆勒于1890年8月6日被执行死刑，这是电动椅子的首次令人毛骨悚然的首次亮相，当时电动椅子无法提供足够的电压杀死他。 该事件耗时八分钟，在两次施加电流后结束，该电流引起剧烈的肌肉痉挛，血管破裂和灼热的肉。
• Westinghouse nearly went bankrupt buying out Nikola Tesla’s patents and offering him a royalty on AC equipment so they could beat Edison.西屋公司几乎破产，买断了尼古拉·特斯拉的专利，并向他提供了交流设备的专利使用费，这样他们就可以击败爱迪生。

西屋交流电的胜利 (The Triumph of Westinghouse’s Alternating Current)

At the end of the battle and despite Edison’s dirty marketing, Westinghouse won. The Alternating Current delivery systems created by Tesla and manufactured by Westinghouse made AC accessible and safe. Edison’s claims turned out to be false.

在战斗的最后，尽管爱迪生的行销不济，但西屋公司还是赢了。 由特斯拉(Tesla)创建，由西屋(Westinghouse)制造的交流电输送系统使交流电变得容易安全。 爱迪生的主张被证明是错误的。

In 1893, Westinghouse’s company was selected to electrify the Chicago World’s Fair, and two years later, it was Westinghouse who was chosen to install AC generators at Niagra Falls.

1893年，西屋公司被选中为芝加哥世博会电气化，两年后，西屋公司被选中在尼亚格拉瀑布安装交流发电机。

Edison’s electrical exploits fizzled out and he moved on to developing movie projectors, batteries, mining equipment, and experimenting with rubber. His electrical company merged with another company, Thomas-Houston, to form General Electric, GE, a company that believed in and pursued products that utilized Alternating Current.

爱迪生(Edison)的电子攻击逐渐消失，他继续开发电影放映机，电池，采矿设备，并进行橡胶试验。 他的电气公司与另一家公司Thomas-Houston合并，成立了通用电气(GE)，该公司坚信并追求利用交流电的产品。

爱迪生的卑鄙策略为现代营销者提供的经验教训 (Lessons for Modern Marketers From Edison’s Sleazy Strategy)

• No matter how much negative marketing is done, if one product is superior to the other, it will survive.不管进行了多少负面营销，如果一种产品优于另一种产品，它将生存。
• The “halo” theory of marketing, where an experience with one product will positively affect your opinion of the rest of the company’s product line, is powerful. Everyone believed in Edison-branded products.行销的“光环”理论很有用，在该理论中，一种产品的经验将对您对公司其他产品系列的看法产生积极影响。 每个人都相信爱迪生品牌的产品。
• The “horn” theory of marketing is the opposite of the “halo” effect. When you have a negative opinion of one product, you dislike the entire brand. This is what Edison tried to do to Westinghouse. It utilized fear-mongering and worked only short-term.营销的“牛角”理论与“光环”效应相反。 如果您对一种产品持否定意见，那么您就不喜欢整个品牌。 这就是爱迪生试图对西屋公司所做的。 它利用散布恐惧的手段，只是短期的。

• What’s better than “dissing” the competition? Promoting your strengths, which illustrates confidence, knowledge, poise, and maturity — all traits that engender trust.

  有什么比“分散”竞争更好的了？ 提升自己的优势 ，这可以说明您的自信，知识，风度和成熟度，这些都是可以带来信任的特质。

• In today’s time, Edison could have easily been sued for defamation because he named Westinghouse. If you are going to illustrate why your competitors aren’t worthy, don’t name them by name.在当今时代，爱迪生很容易因诽谤而被起诉，因为他叫西屋(Westinghouse)。 如果要说明为什么您的竞争对手不值得，请不要按名称命名。
• In the weird world of business, you don’t want to discredit your competition. You never know when you’ll be forced into a merger.在怪异的商业世界中，您不想抹黑您的竞争。 您永远都不知道何时会被迫合并。
• Smearing the other players in your industry only makes you seem petty, vindictive, and unprofessional. It results in the loss of reputation.抹黑行业中的其他参与者只会使您显得小气，斗气和不专业。 这会导致声誉损失。

Believe me. I know. Thomas Edison will never again be the paragon of virtue that my 10-year-old self believed him to be or the brilliant, benevolent marketer that my adult-self had supposed.

相信我。 我知道。 托马斯·爱迪生(Thomas Edison)再也不会成为我10岁的我自己认为自己是他的美德的典范，或者再也不是我的成年成人所认为的聪明，仁慈的商人。

While I respect Edison’s intellect and drive, his reputation is forever tarnished by his down and dirty marketing against Westinghouse’s Alternating Current.

尽管我尊重爱迪生的才智和动力，但他对威斯汀豪斯(Westinghouse)的《交流电》(Alternating Current)的拙劣行销将永远损害他的声誉。