预备，瞄准，发射！

Ready, Set, Launch! 预备，瞄准，发射！

Air Cannons, Inc. has been whipping crowds into a frenzy for the past 12 years with their innovative T-shirt launchers. Find out how they stay ahead of the game.
在过去的12年里，空气炮（Air Cannons）公司用他们的创新T恤发射器让人们激动不已。看看他们在这场竞争中是如何保持领先的。

By Kristin Edelhauser Chessman | February 05, 2008
作者：克里斯汀·埃德豪塞尔·切丝曼| 2008年2月5日

It's halftime at a Dallas Mavericks basketball game. Champ, one of the team's mascots, races onto the basketball court with his customized air cannon. He teases the rowdy fans with the launcher, waiting to hear which set of fans deserves to take home a prize. Champ launches a T-shirt to a man in the last row of the arena. The man, waving his arms excitedly, high-fives friends as he proudly displays his prize.
这是达拉斯小牛队篮球赛的下半时。该队的吉祥物之一“冠军”，手持空气炮冲上了篮球场。他用发射器不断挑逗吵闹的球迷，等待宣布哪些球迷将会得奖。“冠军”朝赛场最后一排的一名男子发射了一件T恤。该男子激动地挥舞着双臂，举高双手向朋友们炫耀他的奖品。

For Air Cannons Inc. president Jake Wilson, that's what it's all about. "You've got this guy up in the nose-bleed section, but he gets this T-shirt and he's a ll excited," says Wilson. That's why [Air Cannons] are successful and make an excellent marketing tool."
对于空气炮公司总裁杰克·威尔逊来说，这就是一切。"你让这个家伙激动得要流鼻血了，但是他得到了这件T恤，并且他非常高兴， "威尔逊说。这也就是[空气炮]成功的原因，并且制造了一个很好的营销工具" 。

Air Cannons, based in Aurora, Colorado, has been hyping up crowds at sporting events, concerts and other public places since 1996. The idea came from Terry David, Wilson's brother-in-law. David initially tested T-shirt launchers with a partner from the Colorado Rockies. When that partnership fizzled, David founded Air Cannons.
总部设在科罗拉多州Aurora的空气炮公司，自1996年以来一直在体坛盛事、音乐会和其它公共场所中让人们激动不已。创意来自威尔逊的妹夫特里·大卫。大卫最初和一个来自科罗拉多洛矶山的伙伴尝试过T恤发射器。合伙失败后，大卫成立了空气炮公司。

Wilson's full-time attention and business acumen have boosted the company's sales and made them a force to be reckoned with. "Before I came aboard, the company did as much sales in the entire year as we now do in a month," he says. "The big jump came in 2004, when we increased our sales by more than 180 percent and our profits by more than 200 percent."
威尔逊的高度专注和商业嗅觉推动了公司的销售，并让他们成为一股不可忽视的力量。 "我刚加入公司的时候，该公司一整年的销售额只有现在一个月的销售额那么多，"他说。 "到2004年有了突飞猛进，当时我们的销售增长超过了180 ％ ，我们的利润增长超过了200 ％ 。 "

Although Wilson won't divulge sales figures, he says the company grows and exceeds their expectations each year. Comprised of about four employees, the company owes some of its recent success to adding ammunition on their product list. "Companies would buy an Air Cannon from us every five years or so, but they'll continually buy T-shirts, stress balls, baseball caps, rally towels and whatever else we can launch out of the Air Cannon," Wilson says.
虽然威尔逊不会透露销售数字，他说公司在不断发展壮大，并且每年都超出他们的期望。公司员工约有4个，该公司最近的成功部分归功于在产品清单中增加了“炮弹”。 "公司们每隔五年左右从我们这里购买一架空气炮，但他们会继续购买T恤，发泡球，棒球帽，球迷毛巾以及任何我们的空气炮能够发射的东西， "威尔逊说。

Air Cannon's diverse clientele includes professional and amateur sporting and racing teams, radio stations from across the globe, professional musicians and entertainers, high schools and colleges and marketing and promotions companies. Popular sports teams that purchased Air Cannons include the Dallas Cowboys, the San Diego Padres, the Colorado Avalanche and the Phoenix Suns.

空气炮公司的客户多种多样，包括职业和业余运动比赛队、来自世界各地的广播站、专业音乐家和演艺人员、高中、大学以及营销和促销公司。购买空气炮的热门运动队包括达拉斯小牛队，圣地牙哥教士队，科罗拉多雪崩队和菲尼克斯太阳队。

Surprisingly, Wilson says sports teams aren't his largest group of clients. In fact, marketing, promotions and advertising companies comprise about 95 percent of the company's business. One of Air Cannon's most unique clients was a funeral home, which used the Air Cannon at a high school football game. "Businesses realize it's a good way to market themselves," he says.
令人惊讶的是，威尔森说运动队不是他的最大的客户群。事实上，市场营销、促销及广告公司等带来了约95 ％的业务。空气炮公司最独特的一个客户是一家殡仪馆，该客户在一所高中的足球比赛中使用空气炮。 "公司们发现这是一种营销自己的好办法， "他说。

Air Cannons produces five models of launchers, ranging in size. The Twister 325, which is the company's most popular model, can be rented, or sells for $2,195. Launching a distance of 10 to 325 feet, the Twister 325 can reach a crowd of 5,000 to 12,000. In addition, Air Cannons offers customized cannons. "If somebody has an idea, we'll build it," he says. His favorite launchers include the black panther and the tank, which a mascot can actually climb inside to stir up excitement. 

空气炮公司生产五种型号的发射器，按大小排列。Twister325是该公司最受欢迎的产品，可以出租，或者花2195美元购买。Twister325的射程在10至325英尺之间，可以覆盖5000至12000人。此外，空气炮公司还提供定制的大炮。 "如果有人能想到一个主意，我们就要做到它， "他说。他最喜爱的发射器包括“黑色豹和坦克”，事实上吉祥物可以爬到该发射器里面去调动人们的情绪。

Wilson says his T-shirt launchers aren't the only ones on the market. Websites like tshirtgun.com are competitors, but Wilson makes the distinction. "We do not use nor will we ever use a PVC or any type of barrel that has plastic in it. All of our models are made out of aircraft aluminum," he says.
威尔逊说他的T恤发射器在市场上不是唯一的。类似tshirtgun.com一样的网站就是竞争对手，但Wilson与众不同。 "我们现在不会使用聚氯乙烯或任何里面含有塑料的炮筒，并且永远也不会。我们所有的产品都是用航空铝材制作的" ，他说。

As Wilson faces pressure from competitors, he makes sure the company stays a step ahead, especially in the realm of technology. In the late '90s, the Air Cannon was accompanied with a backpack to hold the CO2 tank, and was connected to the launcher with a hose. Today, the company is developing double and triple-barreled launchers. "We're working on the evolution of a semi-automatic, and we've already done a few prototypes where you can pre-load six shirts and launch them at the same time," he says.
因为威尔逊面临着来自竞争对手的压力，他要确保公司保持先行一步，尤其是在技术领域。在90年代后期，空气炮上有一个装二氧化碳罐的背包，并通过软管连接到发射器。如今，该公司正在研制双管和三管发射器。 "我们正在朝半自动方向努力，我们已经做了一些模型，你可以在里面预装六件T恤，并且可以同时发射， "他说。

For the time being, Wilson is having fun while still thinking about the future. "If we were to evolve, we could take some of the things we've learned from the shooting of these Air Cannons and apply it to something entirely different and that would provide another opportunity for us." The rest of us will have to keep grabbing for T-shirts and wait and see. 

就目前而言，威尔逊正在享受乐趣，同时也在思考未来。 "如果我们不断改进，我们可以吸取一些从空气炮发射中学到的知识，并把它用于完全不同的地方，同时这将给我们提供另外一个机会" 。我们其余人将不得不继续争夺T恤，并且拭目以待。