Western nightclubs eye Asia, and clever technology

　　西方國家的夜店在盯上亞洲的同時，也在完善相關技術。

　　FEW businesses are as local as nightclubs. Or so you might think. But a few hardyentrepreneurs are trying change that. In 2010 Matt Hermer, the owner of Boujis, a trendyLondon nightspot, opened a pop-up club for three days in Hong Kong.Something clicked. Fun-seekers thronged through his doors. Mr Hermer will open apermanent venue in Hong Kong in September.

　　少有企業會像夜店一樣具有地方特色。或許你也可能會這么想。不過一小撮堅韌的企業家正試圖改變這一局面。 2010年，Matt Hermer，倫敦時髦夜店波吉斯的老板，在香港開了一家臨時性夜店。雖然該店的營業僅維期三天，但它引起了極大反響，尋求快樂的人們蜂擁而至。這便使得 Hermer計劃9月在香港開一家永久性的夜店。

　　No big Western club has cracked Asia, but Pangaea and Avalon, two American brands,recently launched spin-offs in Singapore. Marquee, another American chain, just opened inSydney. There are only so many opportunities to grow, says Marquee s co-founder, NoahTepperberg.

　　盡管西方國家的大型夜店尚未成功打入亞洲市場，但來自美國的夜店潘吉亞和阿法倫最近就在新加坡開了分店。另一家美國連鎖夜店馬奎也剛好在悉尼開了分店。 這里的市場就只有這么些發展機會了， 馬奎的合伙創辦人Noah Tepperberg說。

　　Global data on the nightclub industry are patchy. Clubs tend to be privately owned and deal alot in cash. Many last little longer than a pint of lager at a stag party. IBISWorld, a researchgroup, estimates that bars and nightclubs make profits of $800m on takings of $20 billion-25billion a year in America, where data are most reliable.

　　全球范圍內關于夜店的資料零星不齊。夜店常為私人所有，大多以現鈔交易。不少人在夜店的單身派對上喝完一品脫淡啤酒后，呆不了多久就離開了。研究機構 IBISWorld估計，美國的酒吧和夜店一年200億~250億美元的營業額中，利潤有8億美元，而且美國酒吧和夜店提供的資料其可信度相當高。

　　Asia could offer equally rich pickings. Pangaea s Singapore venue, for instance, is alreadyclaiming receipts of $160,000 a night. Michael Ault, Pangaea s owner, says that the key inAsia is to have the most expensive of everything .

　　在亞洲市場也能輕輕松松地賺那么多錢。舉例來說，位于新加坡的潘吉亞分店表示，其一晚的營業額已達16萬美元。潘吉亞的老板Michael Ault說，在亞洲開夜店的秘訣在于提供的 一切東西都要是最貴的 。

　　Otherwise, the operating model is much the same as in the West. Raise money, find adramatic space, befriend celebrities, promote, promote and promote. First you go forthe A crowd, says Mr Ault. You spend all your money on DJs and celebrities to build thebrand. Then the A crowd moves on. So you go from the A crowd to the B crowd. Then youhave to ask yourself: do you want the C crowd?

　　除此以外，亞洲夜店的經營模式與西方的大同小異。募集資金，裝修豪華，與名流交朋友，然后推廣，推廣，再推廣。 首先你要爭取到A類人， Ault說， 你得在DJ和名流身上下重金，從而打造夜店的品牌。那么這些A類人便會成為常客。之后你的目標會從A類人轉向B類人，接著你得問問自己：你還想要C類人成為你的消費群嗎?

　　Nightclubs are a risky business. Spreading your bets across regions ought to mitigate thatrisk. But venturing into unfamiliar cities can mean dealing with unfamiliar undesirables.As one nightclub owner puts it: Anyone can walk in and say: Get out, or your head is in thetrunk of a car .

　　開夜店存在著風險。不過在各個地區全面撒網應該能夠降低這種風險，但冒險在不熟悉的城市開夜店便意味著需和不速之客打交道。正如一位夜店老板所說： 任何人都能進來說：滾出去，否則讓你腦袋搬家。

　　Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School predicts that more clubs will do deals with hotels topenetrate emerging markets. A rooftop club can make more money for a hotel than itsrooms. Morgans Hotel Group, a luxury chain, last year bought the Light Group, a bigAmerican nightclub operator, for this reason. Andy Masi, the Light Group s boss, says thatworking with a hotel helps him meet the right people as he expands abroad.

　　哈佛商學院的Anita Elberse預計，會有更多的夜店與酒店聯手打入新興市場。酒店內的頂層夜店為其帶來的利潤遠超其客房利潤。正因如此，奢華連鎖酒店摩根酒店集團去年買下了美國大型夜店萊特集團，該集團董事Andy Masi說，在他尋求海外擴張之際，與酒店聯手能幫助他認識需要認識的人。

　　Some bars and clubs are using a novel technology to help partygoers decide where to party.SceneTap, an American start-up, uses cameras to scan the faces of those who enter andleave participating establishments. Its software then guesses each person s age and sex.Aggregated data are streamed to a website and mobile app. This allows punters to see whichbars are busy, the average age of revellers and the all-important male-to-female ratio.

　　一些酒吧和夜店正運用新技術來幫助派對參加者決定去哪兒參加派對。美國軟件新貴 SceneTap使用攝像頭掃描進出派對者的面部表情。隨后，該軟件便會分析猜測每個被掃描者的年齡及性別。數據匯總后會傳輸到網站和手機應用軟件上。這便能使顧客了解哪家酒吧熱鬧，去酒吧的人的平均年齡以及最重要的男女比例。

　　Bar owners gain publicity and intelligence about their customers. Did a promotion aimedat women attract many? Since drinks are often paid for in cash and by men, it used to behard to tell.

　　酒吧老板在為酒吧宣傳的同時也獲得了顧客的信息。針對女性做的宣傳會吸引來更多的人嗎?這很難說，因為飲品由男性以現金支付。

　　SceneTap s cameras are watching more than 100 American watering holes. But they arecontroversial. The app could make life irksome for large groups of women, by summoninghordes of predatory males. So SceneTap has fixed its software to mask extreme seximbalances. That will please bar owners, who would prefer not to admit when they arepacked with men. But it will disappoint precisely the people most likely to use the app.

　　美國有超過100家酒吧都安裝了SceneTap的攝像頭。但這些攝像頭也引起了一些爭議。因為該款軟件會引來大批尋求伴侶的男性，這會令不少女性感到厭煩。因此SceneTap已對其軟件作了改動，從而掩蓋極端的性別失衡。這會受到酒吧老板的歡迎，因為酒吧老板們往往不會承認自己的店里都是男人。但是改動后的軟件也會讓最有可能使用該軟件的人失望。

　　Western nightclubs eye Asia, and clever technology

　　西方國家的夜店在盯上亞洲的同時，也在完善相關技術。

　　FEW businesses are as local as nightclubs. Or so you might think. But a few hardyentrepreneurs are trying change that. In 2010 Matt Hermer, the owner of Boujis, a trendyLondon nightspot, opened a pop-up club for three days in Hong Kong.Something clicked. Fun-seekers thronged through his doors. Mr Hermer will open apermanent venue in Hong Kong in September.

　　少有企業會像夜店一樣具有地方特色。或許你也可能會這么想。不過一小撮堅韌的企業家正試圖改變這一局面。 2010年，Matt Hermer，倫敦時髦夜店波吉斯的老板，在香港開了一家臨時性夜店。雖然該店的營業僅維期三天，但它引起了極大反響，尋求快樂的人們蜂擁而至。這便使得 Hermer計劃9月在香港開一家永久性的夜店。

　　No big Western club has cracked Asia, but Pangaea and Avalon, two American brands,recently launched spin-offs in Singapore. Marquee, another American chain, just opened inSydney. There are only so many opportunities to grow, says Marquee s co-founder, NoahTepperberg.

　　盡管西方國家的大型夜店尚未成功打入亞洲市場，但來自美國的夜店潘吉亞和阿法倫最近就在新加坡開了分店。另一家美國連鎖夜店馬奎也剛好在悉尼開了分店。 這里的市場就只有這么些發展機會了， 馬奎的合伙創辦人Noah Tepperberg說。

　　Global data on the nightclub industry are patchy. Clubs tend to be privately owned and deal alot in cash. Many last little longer than a pint of lager at a stag party. IBISWorld, a researchgroup, estimates that bars and nightclubs make profits of $800m on takings of $20 billion-25billion a year in America, where data are most reliable.

　　全球范圍內關于夜店的資料零星不齊。夜店常為私人所有，大多以現鈔交易。不少人在夜店的單身派對上喝完一品脫淡啤酒后，呆不了多久就離開了。研究機構 IBISWorld估計，美國的酒吧和夜店一年200億~250億美元的營業額中，利潤有8億美元，而且美國酒吧和夜店提供的資料其可信度相當高。

　　Asia could offer equally rich pickings. Pangaea s Singapore venue, for instance, is alreadyclaiming receipts of $160,000 a night. Michael Ault, Pangaea s owner, says that the key inAsia is to have the most expensive of everything .

　　在亞洲市場也能輕輕松松地賺那么多錢。舉例來說，位于新加坡的潘吉亞分店表示，其一晚的營業額已達16萬美元。潘吉亞的老板Michael Ault說，在亞洲開夜店的秘訣在于提供的 一切東西都要是最貴的 。

　　Otherwise, the operating model is much the same as in the West. Raise money, find adramatic space, befriend celebrities, promote, promote and promote. First you go forthe A crowd, says Mr Ault. You spend all your money on DJs and celebrities to build thebrand. Then the A crowd moves on. So you go from the A crowd to the B crowd. Then youhave to ask yourself: do you want the C crowd?

　　除此以外，亞洲夜店的經營模式與西方的大同小異。募集資金，裝修豪華，與名流交朋友，然后推廣，推廣，再推廣。 首先你要爭取到A類人， Ault說， 你得在DJ和名流身上下重金，從而打造夜店的品牌。那么這些A類人便會成為常客。之后你的目標會從A類人轉向B類人，接著你得問問自己：你還想要C類人成為你的消費群嗎?

　　Nightclubs are a risky business. Spreading your bets across regions ought to mitigate thatrisk. But venturing into unfamiliar cities can mean dealing with unfamiliar undesirables.As one nightclub owner puts it: Anyone can walk in and say: Get out, or your head is in thetrunk of a car .

　　開夜店存在著風險。不過在各個地區全面撒網應該能夠降低這種風險，但冒險在不熟悉的城市開夜店便意味著需和不速之客打交道。正如一位夜店老板所說： 任何人都能進來說：滾出去，否則讓你腦袋搬家。

　　Anita Elberse of Harvard Business School predicts that more clubs will do deals with hotels topenetrate emerging markets. A rooftop club can make more money for a hotel than itsrooms. Morgans Hotel Group, a luxury chain, last year bought the Light Group, a bigAmerican nightclub operator, for this reason. Andy Masi, the Light Group s boss, says thatworking with a hotel helps him meet the right people as he expands abroad.

　　哈佛商學院的Anita Elberse預計，會有更多的夜店與酒店聯手打入新興市場。酒店內的頂層夜店為其帶來的利潤遠超其客房利潤。正因如此，奢華連鎖酒店摩根酒店集團去年買下了美國大型夜店萊特集團，該集團董事Andy Masi說，在他尋求海外擴張之際，與酒店聯手能幫助他認識需要認識的人。

　　Some bars and clubs are using a novel technology to help partygoers decide where to party.SceneTap, an American start-up, uses cameras to scan the faces of those who enter andleave participating establishments. Its software then guesses each person s age and sex.Aggregated data are streamed to a website and mobile app. This allows punters to see whichbars are busy, the average age of revellers and the all-important male-to-female ratio.

　　一些酒吧和夜店正運用新技術來幫助派對參加者決定去哪兒參加派對。美國軟件新貴 SceneTap使用攝像頭掃描進出派對者的面部表情。隨后，該軟件便會分析猜測每個被掃描者的年齡及性別。數據匯總后會傳輸到網站和手機應用軟件上。這便能使顧客了解哪家酒吧熱鬧，去酒吧的人的平均年齡以及最重要的男女比例。

　　Bar owners gain publicity and intelligence about their customers. Did a promotion aimedat women attract many? Since drinks are often paid for in cash and by men, it used to behard to tell.

　　酒吧老板在為酒吧宣傳的同時也獲得了顧客的信息。針對女性做的宣傳會吸引來更多的人嗎?這很難說，因為飲品由男性以現金支付。

　　SceneTap s cameras are watching more than 100 American watering holes. But they arecontroversial. The app could make life irksome for large groups of women, by summoninghordes of predatory males. So SceneTap has fixed its software to mask extreme seximbalances. That will please bar owners, who would prefer not to admit when they arepacked with men. But it will disappoint precisely the people most likely to use the app.

　　美國有超過100家酒吧都安裝了SceneTap的攝像頭。但這些攝像頭也引起了一些爭議。因為該款軟件會引來大批尋求伴侶的男性，這會令不少女性感到厭煩。因此SceneTap已對其軟件作了改動，從而掩蓋極端的性別失衡。這會受到酒吧老板的歡迎，因為酒吧老板們往往不會承認自己的店里都是男人。但是改動后的軟件也會讓最有可能使用該軟件的人失望。