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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.
年長者并非唯一努力讓自己看起來時髦年輕的人。老牌企業也會如此。
Just look at Procter& Gamble (P&G), one of the world's largest consumer-goods firms,
寶潔公司（P&G）是世界最大日用消費品公司之一，
which this year applied to America's federal patent office to trademark LOL, NBD, WTF and FML,
今年寶潔公司為商標LOL、NBD、WTF以及FML向美國聯邦專利局申請專利，
abbreviations commonly used in text messages and social media.
這些縮寫在短信和社交媒體中經常用到。
If it succeeds, the 181-year-old firm plans to use the phrases to market soap, cleaners and air fresheners to young buyers.
如果申請成功，那么這家181年之久的老牌公司將用這些縮寫為名向年輕消費者推銷其香皂、洗衣液以及空氣清新劑。
Its move is the intellectual property equivalent of Dad dancing. But it is a sign of large firms' eagerness to woo millennial consumers.
這一舉措和老爸舞姿相類似。但這也表明大型公司迎合千禧一代消費者的渴望。
To many firms they are a mystery. KPMG, a consultancy, reckons nearly half do not know how millennials—
對很多公司而言，千禧一代是個謎。咨詢公司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年內出生的人—和他們上一代有何區別。
That may be because such differences are overblown.
這或許是因為這些區別被夸大了。
According to Ipsos-MORI, a pollster, millennials are "the most carelessly described group we have ever looked at".
民意測驗公司 Ipsos-MORI表示，千禧一代是“描述最為草率的群體”。
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.
很多對他們的說法要么是被簡化了，要么是錯誤的。例如，人們常說他們不在乎傳統廣告，但事實上，他們受到了市場營銷的極大影響。
Given such misconceptions, it is little wonder that firms sometimes get it wrong.
鑒于這種錯誤想法，也難怪公司有時會誤解他們。
In February, Miller Coors, an American brewer, released Two Hats, a light fruit-flavoured brew
二月，美國啤酒制造商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?").
啤酒制造商稱這種果味啤酒將符合千禧一代的品味和預算（宣傳標語：“不錯，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.
消費者只是駐足等待，六個月后，這種啤酒就下架了。但一些關于千禧一代的老舊觀念已經生根現實。
Companies are finding that three broad approaches do succeed when trying to sell to them: transparency, experiences (over things) and flexibility.
公司發現在向千禧一代推銷商品時，有三種主流方法獲得了成功：透明度、經歷（對事物的經歷）以及靈活性。
On the first of these, transparency, younger brands have led the way.
首先是透明度，年輕的品牌已經一馬當先。
In clothing, one example is Everlane, an online clothing manufacturer based in San Francisco.
例如，服裝行業的Everlane，這家線上服裝制造商位于舊金山。
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".
該公司公開展示每件服裝制作工程以及其中產生的利潤，這成了他們“徹底透明化”理念的一部分。
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