A fifteen-second storyline pitch about Stig&Xi would go somewhat like this: eight years ago, two people from two different parts of the world and diverse professional backgrounds met. They imagined a new type of company, innovative, flexible, and tech-infused. In 2018, they finally came together to tackle the challenges and opportunities of the brand new marketing world opening up in front of them.
如果把Stig&Xi的故事浓缩为一部15秒长的电影，大概是这样的：八年前，两个来自世界两处不同的地方、有着不同职业背景的人相遇了。他们想要建立一种新型的公司，创新、灵活、技术含量满满。2018年，他们终于聚在一起，共同面对全新市场营销界的挑战与机遇。
Nils Andersson
Stig&Xi 创始人
Maxine Jia
Stig&Xi 创始人
It sounds like a tech startup pitch. But Stig&Xi is a Shanghai creative agency producing emotionally infused brand experiences at the intersection of marketing and technology. They’ve worked for brands like McCafé, GAP, and Alibaba. The founders are Nils Andersson and Maxine Jia. He, one of the most celebrated advertising specialists in Asia and among the most awarded in the world. She, a natural-born entrepreneur who spent the last ten years building up companies in China. Together, they run their business much more like a startup than a traditional creative ad agency.
这乍听起来有点科技初创公司的味道了。但Stig&Xi是一家位于上海的创意代理公司，专注于市场和科技两个领域，致力于为客户提供有情感的品牌体验。他们曾为McCafé、GAP和阿里巴巴等著名品牌出谋划策。这家公司的创始人是Nils Andersson和Maxine Jia。他，是亚洲最著名的广告专家之一，也是世界上获奖最多的广告专家之一。而她，是天生的企业家，在中国创建公司有着十年的经验。他们的经营方式更像是一家初创公司，而不是传统的创意广告公司。
SHP+ had a conversation with them to understand their unique model and how it reflects in their ads and branding.
SHP+有幸与他们进行了对话，并了解了他们独特的商业模式，以及这一模式是如何反映在他们广告和品牌营销的方方面面的。
Stig&Xi doesn’t define itself as a digital or social agency. “We prefer to consider the full umbrella of possibilities, do different things, and cross over with different media companies,” Maxine says. With remarkable enthusiasm, she points out that times couldn’t be more exciting for the industry. Technology has shifted the landscape like never. Nowadays, there is a range of diverse marketing channels to choose from and brand-new ways of engaging the consumer.
Nils adds that it’s best to keep things simple and stick to the core to navigate such a complex landscape. “At heart, it’s still about the ideas. No matter what the medium is, ideas are still what causes emotional connection,” he says. He likes to think of his team as brand specialists who can use technology to enhance their message.
Stig&Xi并没有将自己定义为一家数字或社交媒体机构。Maxine表示:“我们倾向于考虑各种可能性，做不同的事情，并与不同的媒体公司合作。” 她热情又激动地告诉我们，这个时代对广告行业来说是一个绝好的时代。科技从未像现在这样改变世界的格局。如今，我们有着许多不同的营销渠道可供选择，以及全新的吸引消费者的方式。Nils也补充说，最好保持简单的做事方式，并坚守核心业务，以便在如此复杂的领域里不偏离航线。“从本质上来说，创意还是第一位的。无论媒介是什么，创意仍然是引起情感共鸣的关键。”他喜欢把自己的团队看作是利用科技来增强信息传递的品牌专家。
And it’s into the brains of an entirely new generation of consumers that they want to seep in. As Gen Z takes center stage, hungry for uniqueness, Stig&Xi is urged to develop highly innovative campaigns for them.
Stig&Xi的目标是新一代的消费者。如今网络世代占据了舞台的中心，他们渴望与众不同，想要占据这些消费者的脑与心，Stig&Xi需要为他们定制高度创新的新型宣传活动。
“The new generations have a unique set of pursuits and dreams,” Maxine says, and she’s not talking only about her audience but also about her team, composed mainly of young talent. “It’s not enough to give them a salary and ask them to come up with some beautiful words. They, too, have the desire to create something new.”
Maxine说:“新一代的人有着独特的追求和梦想。”她指的不仅仅是目标群体，还有公司主要由年轻人才组成的团队。“只给一份薪水，让他们想一些漂亮的辞藻，是不够的。他们也有创新的欲望。”
Having an entrepreneurial mindset plays a significant role in their hiring process. Stig&Xi always invites new entrants to bring business ideas into the company. If the idea passes a feasibility check, they provide support to make it real.
在招聘过程中，Stig&Xi十分看重应试者是否有企业家的心态。他们总是偏爱能为公司带来商业创意的新人。如果他们的想法是可行的，公司就会提供支持，让它变为现实。
Their team has already reached nearly 50 people, a high-speed growth for only three years of operation. Nils is the creative director, while Maxine is the business arm. “She’s super fast; I like to take it step by step,” he says. “We learn from each other. Even if I have to understand why he’s working so slow sometimes,” she laughs.
目前Stig&Xi的团队已经达到了近50人，这是运营仅三年就取得的高速增长。Nils是创意总监，Maxine则负责商务。“她做事风风火火，而我喜欢一步步来，” Nils说。“我们能从对方身上学到很多。即使我得努力去理解他为什么有时工作这么慢节奏，” Maxine笑着说。
Experimentation is quintessential to their model. For instance, it may surprise most people that a marketing agency would want to create a new perfume of their own. But that’s just what Stig&Xi did. “We’re already creating branding for everyone else. Why not do it for ourselves?” Maxine says.
敢于尝试是他们商业模式的精髓。例如，如果说哪个市场代理机构想要创造一款他们自己的新品香水，大多数人可能都会感到不可思议。但这正是Stig&Xi尝试过的。“我们擅长为其他任何人打造品牌，那为什么不为我们自己做点什么呢?” Maxine说。
The idea was part of a branding campaign for a client that involved creating a new product, but Maxine and Nils liked it so much that they jumped in and partnered with their client in the venture. HONI, as the perfume is called, will enter the Chinese market soon.
香水项目的创意是某个客户品牌推广活动的一部分，该活动涉及推出一款新的产品，但Maxine和Nils非常喜欢这个创意，于是他们一头扎进这个项目，与客户展开了合作。而这款名为 “HONI”的香水不日将进入国内市场流通。
It all makes sense. The spinoff brings a lot of value as an experiment to understand brands from within. It provides insight into every step of a market entry process and an in-depth understanding of how everything works—something that’s not common in other agencies.
其实这一切都说得通。作为一次从内部了解品牌的尝试，此次“冒险”带来了很大的价值。它让Stig&Xi对产品进入市场过程中的每一步都积累了经验，并深入了解了一切是如何运作的，这在其他机构是很少见的。
Another case for experimentation is a project they’re working on for Alibaba Cloud. It’s a series of videos exploring how cloud technology can help people during these times of social distancing and isolation. The campaign also highlighted how the technology enables a more digitized experience for the Tokyo 2020 Games. Stig&Xi was involved in everything from planning and directing the videos to the creation of the visual effects.
另一个大胆尝试的案例是他们正在为阿里巴巴云做的一个项目。这是一系列探索云技术如何在社交隔离和容易感到孤独的时期帮助人们生活的视频。该活动还强调了该技术如何为2020年东京奥运会带来了更多数字化的体验。从策划和指导视频到视觉效果的创作，Stig&Xi全程都有参与。
Alibaba Cloud
Their latest project for Toshiba was also experimental. The Japanese brand had been quiet for a long time, at least when it comes to films, and they wanted this one to be the start of a new global campaign. The creative team had to trace back to the very beginnings of Toshiba to understand its DNA. Because of travel restrictions, the film was all shot in Shanghai. Still, the result is a homage to Japanese technology, craftsmanship, and attention to detail—all hallmarks of Toshiba.
他们为东芝设计的最新项目也是开创性的。该日本品牌，至少在广告片方面，已经沉寂了很长一段时间，他们希望这部影片成为东芝全新全球宣传活动的开始。因此，Stig&Xi的创意团队不得不追溯东芝公司的早期的历史，以了解它的DNA。由于旅行限制，该影片全部在上海拍摄。尽管如此，最终结果还是致敬了日本的技术、工艺和对细节关注的匠人精神——这些东芝的品牌亮点。
Toshiba
Nils and Maxine were so pleased with the results of these two projects that they wanted to produce more of the sort. They were inspired to create an internal platform dedicated only to boosting the creation of high-quality content. Anyone can contribute with ideas and suggestions, no matter from which department they are. The goal of this internal resource is to spruce up their strategy on new media like Tik Tok and Bilibili. Again, experimenting is key.
Nils和Maxine对这两个项目的成果非常满意，他们想要制作更多类似的作品。在受到启发后，他们创建了一个内部平台，专门用于促进高质量内容的创造。任何人都可以提出想法和建议，不管他们是来自与哪个部门。该平台的目标是改进他们在新媒体平台比如Tik Tok和Bilibili方面的策略。当然，这次内部改革，也是一次大胆的尝试。
Despite its startup allure, Stig&Xi has proved itself a strong company. They’ve survived several-month-long business halt because of the global pandemic, and they did so without letting go of a single employee or implementing salary cuts.
尽管Stig&Xi充满着初创公司的魅力，但他们证明了自己也是一家强大的公司。他们不仅挺过了因全球疫情而停产的几个月，同时在这期间没有任何员工离职或被减薪。
Now, they’re busier than ever, working for major Chinese and foreign brands alike. They are also sought after by a new segment: Chinese companies who have grown so big within the country and are looking into launching their products in international markets such as the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Nils believes that the diversity of his team is a significant differential that attracts such companies.
现在，他们比过去任何时候都更忙，忙着为国内外的各大品牌服务。同时，在新兴的细分市场中他们也颇为吃香，而这一新市场的产生是因为在国内发展壮大的中国企业，正考虑在美国、欧洲和东南亚等国际市场推出自己的产品。Nils认为，他的团队的多样性，正是吸引这类公司的一个重要因素。
As the industry changes, everyone’s looking for new ways of doing things. You have the “supertankers,” as Nils calls the big agencies, who try to innovate from within but are stuck to old processes and hierarchical structures. “And you have the startup world, which is us,” he says. “But remember: we can be whatever we want to be from the start.”
随着行业的变化，每个人都在寻找新的做事方式。行业中的大机构，Nils称他们为“超级油轮”，这些大企业正试图从内部创新，但仍固守旧的流程和等级结构。“除此之外，还有初创型的公司，也就是我们。” Nils说：“但我们船小好调头，可以从一开始就按自己的想法去发展。”
As the big players move slowly and fail to deliver truly original campaigns capable of reaching new audiences, we see real trailblazing and forward-thinking work coming from small or midsize firms like Stig&Xi. They are the ones propelling the industry forward and filling the innovation gap with their passion and risk-taking attitude. That’s the genuine spirit of creativity.
由于大公司行动迟缓，无法提供真正具有独创性、能够接触到新用户的活动方案，我们意识到真正具有开拓性和前瞻性的创意，往往来自像Stig&Xi这样的中小型公司。他们是推动行业前进的人，用满腔的热情和敢于尝新的态度填补了创新的空白。这才是真正的创新精神。
BAM Music Library Brings Edgy, Indie Sounds to Chinese Creatives
