奧斯卡典禮上出紕漏，普華永道遭遇品牌危機

As the Oscar for best picture was being presented at the 89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, Tim Ryan, the U.S. chairman of PwC, was sitting in a plush seat in the Dolby Theater, watching with satisfaction.

周六晚，當?shù)?9屆奧斯卡獎頒獎典禮正在宣布最佳影片獎得主時，普華永道(PwC)的美國董事長蒂姆·瑞安(Tim Ryan)正坐在杜比劇院(Dolby Theater)的一個豪華座位上，滿意地觀看著。

PwC, a London-based accounting firm, has tabulated the votes for the Academy Awards for 83 years. And the Oscars, while not its most lucrative client, is perhaps its most important. The firm leans on its long history as Hollywood’s chief vote-counter to enhance its appeal in efforts like business development and recruiting.

普華永道是一家總部設在倫敦的會計師事務所，它為奧斯卡金像獎計票已有83年的歷史了。雖然為奧斯卡獎做的這點事并不是普華永道最賺錢的工作，但這也許是最重要的。這家事務所依賴于其作為好萊塢首席計票員的悠久歷史，來增強其在商業(yè)發(fā)展和人才招聘方面的吸引力。

So when “La La Land” was named the best-picture winner and the producers began delivering their acceptances speeches, it appeared Ryan’s work for the night was done.

所以當《愛樂之城》(La La Land)被宣布獲得了最佳影片獎、其制片人開始發(fā)表他們的獲獎感言時，瑞安當晚的工作似乎就要結束了。

Then chaos erupted on the stage. A PwC partner had handed Warren Beatty, a presenter of the award, the wrong envelope. Faye Dunaway, presenting the award with Beatty, erroneously announced that “La La Land” had won. Moments later, after the two PwC partners who oversee the voting came onstage, the “La La Land” producers announced that “Moonlight” was in fact the winner.

但隨后，舞臺上爆發(fā)了混亂。普華永道的一名合伙人交給了頒獎者沃倫·比蒂(Warren Beatty)一個錯誤的信封。與比蒂一起頒獎的費·唐娜薇(Faye Dunaway)錯誤地宣布了得獎的是《愛樂之城》。片刻之后，監(jiān)督投票的兩名普華永道合伙人走到臺上，《愛樂之城》的制片人轉(zhuǎn)而宣布，《月光男孩》(Moonlight)其實才是獲獎影片。

Ryan watched in horror as the bizarre scene played out before Hollywood’s biggest stars and tens of millions of people watching around the globe. In a dizzying turn of events, his firm, which normally occupies a back seat at the glamorous event, was suddenly at the center of one of the most sensational stories in Oscars history.

瑞安驚愕地看著這個奇怪的場面在好萊塢最大的明星和全球數(shù)千萬觀眾面前上演。這個令人眼花繚亂的事態(tài)發(fā)展，讓他的公司從通常待在這個華麗場合的背后，突然成為了奧斯卡歷史上最轟動故事之一的主角。

“I knew something was up,” he said in an interview Monday, zeroing in on the discordant moment when he noticed two of his employees interrupting the best picture acceptance speeches. “It’s not their job to come out on stage.”

“我當時就知道出了問題，”在周一的一次采訪中，他對那個不和諧的時刻直言不諱，當時他注意到公司的兩名雇員打斷了最佳影片制片人的獲獎感言。“在舞臺上出現(xiàn)不是他們的工作。”

As the magnitude of the gaffe set in, Ryan went into crisis-management mode. 隨著這個失誤的規(guī)模變得愈發(fā)明顯，瑞安進入了危機管理狀態(tài)。

“What was going though my head at the time was, ‘We have to get to the bottom of this, and if we made a mistake, we’ll own up to it,'” Ryan said. “My philosophy in life is, bad news doesn’t age well.”

“當時我的腦海里出現(xiàn)的是，‘我們必須一查到底，如果我們犯了錯誤，我們就要承擔責任，’”瑞安說。“我的生活哲學是，壞消息不能拖延。”

Reaction to the mistake has been swift and harsh.

對這一錯誤的反應迅速且刻薄。

“You had one job!” several people remarked on Twitter, tagging the company’s username and the two partners who oversaw the ballots, who were the public faces of PwC’s efforts before and during the show. Some criticized PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, on an unofficial Facebook page for the business, with one person remarking its acronym could stand for “probably wrong card.”

“你的工作只有一個!”幾個人在Twitter上寫道，還在標簽里帶上了普華永道的用戶名和監(jiān)督選票的兩個合伙人，他們兩人是頒獎典禮前和典禮期間普華永道的招牌。一些人在普華永道會計師事務所的一個非正式的Facebook頁面上批評公司，其中一個人寫道，公司名PwC可以是“probably wrong card(可能是錯誤的卡片)”的縮寫。

Just as quickly as the fortunes of “La La Land” and “Moonlight” changed, PwC, one of the so-called Big Four accounting firms, had a major brand crisis on its hands.

就像《愛樂之城》和《月光男孩》的命運改變的速度那樣快，被稱為四大會計師事務所之一的普華永道發(fā)現(xiàn)自己面臨一場重大的品牌危機。

“Not since Janet Jackson and her wardrobe malfunction on the Super Bowl have we seen something quite as glaring as this snafu,” said Andrew D. Gilman, the chief executive of the crisis communications firm CommCore Consulting Group, referring to the 2004 episode. Although most of PwC’s clients are aware that mistakes can happen, “the name of the firm has unfortunately been a little sullied,” he added.

“自從珍妮特·杰克遜(Janet Jackson)和她在美國橄欖球超級杯大賽上發(fā)生服裝故障以來，我們還沒有看到過如此令人眼花繚亂的事件發(fā)生，”危機溝通公司CommCore Consulting Group的首席執(zhí)行官安德魯·D·吉爾曼(Andrew D. Gilman)說，他提到的是2004年發(fā)生的事情。雖然普華永道的大多數(shù)客戶都知道出錯是難免的，但“公司的名聲不幸受到了一點兒沾污，”他補充說。

PwC was quick to accept responsibility for the mistake.

普華永道很快就承擔起了這起錯誤的責任。

According to Ryan and others briefed on the process, a PwC partner, Brian Cullinan, handed Beatty the wrong envelope.

瑞安和其他知情人士說，把錯誤的信封遞給比蒂的是普華永道的合伙人布萊恩·卡利南(Brian Cullinan)。

Instead of the envelope containing the winner for best picture, Cullinan accidentally handed Beatty a duplicate of the envelope for best actress — an award Emma Stone had accepted for her role in “La La Land” just moments before.

卡利南本該把最佳影片的信封交給比蒂，卻不小心把最佳女主角的備用信封交給了他——就在片刻之前，艾瑪·斯通憑借《愛樂之城》中的表演獲獲得了這個獎項。

For the Oscars, PwC uses two complete sets of the envelopes, with one placed on each side of the stage. Cullinan was handling one side, and the other partner overseeing the voting process, Martha L. Ruiz, was handling the other. It isn’t clear what led Cullinan to hand Beatty the wrong envelope.

普華永道為奧斯卡頒獎禮準備了兩套完整的信封，舞臺兩邊各放一套?？ɡ县撠熞贿叺男欧?，另一個負責監(jiān)督投票過程的合伙人瑪莎·L·魯伊斯(Martha L. Ruiz)負責另一邊。究竟是什么原因?qū)е驴ɡ习彦e誤信封交給了比蒂，現(xiàn)在還不清楚。

Cullinan posted on Twitter a photograph of Stone backstage shortly after she won the award for best actress, and minutes before the mix-up, according to The Wall Street Journal. The post, which has been deleted, said “Best Actress Emma Stone backstage! #PWC.”

《華爾街日報》稱，就在出岔子的數(shù)分鐘之前，卡利南在Twitter上發(fā)布了一張斯通在后臺的照片，她剛剛獲得了最佳女主角的獎項。帖子上寫著“最佳女主角艾瑪·斯通在后臺!PWC”。這個帖子現(xiàn)在已被刪除。

The design of the envelopes could have been a factor. The envelopes were redesigned this year to feature red paper with gold lettering that specified the award enclosed, rather than gold paper with dark lettering. That could have made the lettering harder to read. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not PwC, is responsible for the design and procurement of the envelopes.

信封的設計可能也是一個因素。裝有結果的信封在今年進行了重新設計，用紅紙金字取代了之前的金紙黑字。這可能使上面的字更難看清。負責信封設計和采購的是電影藝術與科學學院，而不是普華永道。

Whatever the reason, PwC was left searching for answers. As celebrities and guests hit the town for celebrations, Ryan spent the hours after the awards show speaking with Cullinan, Ruiz, members of the Academy and the show’s producers.

無論原因是什么，普華永道仍在尋找答案。頒獎禮之后的幾個小時，當名流與嘉賓去參加慶?；顒拥臅r候，瑞安一直在跟卡利南、魯伊斯、學院的成員和頒獎晚會的制片人談話。

“I spent the bulk of the night with Brian trying to understand what happened,” Ryan said. “There wasn’t much in terms of parties last night.”

“夜里我大部分時間和布萊恩在一起，試圖了解發(fā)生了什么事情，”瑞安說。“昨晚我沒有怎么參加晚會。”

Ryan and others at PwC were scrambling to contain the damage all night. The firm put released a statement early Monday apologizing and taking responsibility for the mistake. Later in the day, Ryan wrote an email to PwC employees.

整個晚上，瑞安和普華永道的其他人都在忙著止損。該公司周一早些時候發(fā)布道歉聲明，表示要為這個差錯負責。當天晚些時候，瑞安給普華永道員工發(fā)了一封電郵。

It is too early to tell how the error will affect the PwC brand.

現(xiàn)在為時尚早，還不好說這個錯誤將對普華永道的品牌產(chǎn)生怎樣的影響。

A privately held partnership, PwC provides accounting, tax advisory and consulting services to most of the world’s largest corporations. It reported sales of $36 billion during its last fiscal year, up 7 percent from the previous year. The entertainment and media sector accounted for just 4.2 percent of sales.

私人合伙公司普華永道為全球絕大多數(shù)的巨頭公司提供會計、稅務咨詢和咨詢服務。上一財年它的銷售額為360億美元，較之前一年增長了7%。娛樂和媒體部門僅占總銷售額4.2%。

But how clients think of PwC may change.

但客戶對普華永道的看法可能會有變化。

Gilman, the crisis communications specialist, said he was curious to see if PwC kept the Oscars contract. “They have branded themselves around this event saying, ‘We’re trusted’ — that’s the implication. Now I think that will take a hit.”

危機溝通專家吉爾曼說，他很想知道普華永道是否可以保住奧斯卡合同。“他們在這個活動上標榜自己說：‘我們是值得信賴的’——他們暗示的意思就是這樣?，F(xiàn)在，我覺得那種聲譽會遭到打擊。”