????可口可樂公司（Coca-Cola）全球閃亮品牌中心（Global Sparkling Brand Center）高級副總裁溫蒂?克拉克花了很長時間研究年輕人。這位冉冉升起的新銳高管成功的秘訣就是了解年輕人的生活現(xiàn)狀和他們的期望。目前，克拉克負責(zé)可口可樂（Coke）、雪碧（Sprite）和芬達（Fanta）等品牌的品牌策略和整合營銷傳播，包括全球設(shè)計與數(shù)字及體驗營銷。上周，克拉克決定親身體驗?zāi)贻p人生活中不為她所知的一面：無家可歸的生活。

????本文由可口可樂公司全球閃亮品牌中心高級副總裁溫蒂?克拉克發(fā)布。

????我的手生來冰涼。

????大家都知道這種人。我跟別人握手的時候，會先抱歉地說“手涼心熱”這樣的話，然后用雙手握住對方溫暖的手，還要盡可能多握一會兒，以吸取一些熱量。

????我出生在（寒冷潮濕的）英格蘭，但我的少女時代都在佛羅里達度過，后來也一直居住在美國南部。正如俗話所說，我的血液都變得稀薄了。

????所以，毫不夸張的說，周四晚上，我在外面的紙板箱里所度過的一夜絕對是一次非同尋常的體驗。

????我的朋友也是可口可樂公司的同事本?道奇，是喬治亞州圣約家園（Covenant House of Georgia）理事會的成員，他邀請我參加他們一年一度的露宿募捐活動。去年，全美共有450名高管參加了這個活動，募集了超過300萬美元。今年，本和我以及來自埃森哲（Accenture）、康卡斯特（Comcast）和考克斯報業(yè)（Cox Enterprises）等公司的45名高管從周四晚餐時間開始，到周五上午7點，一直在圣約家園的收容所內(nèi)度過。雖然天空圓月高懸，但溫度卻降到了華氏35度（約為1.7°C），當(dāng)晚我們都睡在睡袋里，下面鋪著壓平的紙板箱。

????我們只是這樣過了一個晚上。而對于亞特蘭大700多名年輕人而言，每天睡在大街上是他們生活的真實狀態(tài)。

????這些年輕人各有各的故事，個中心酸令人唏噓不已。據(jù)圣約家園統(tǒng)計，其中有四分之一是人口拐賣或性交易的受害者。許多人都因為受到過欺凌而一蹶不振，他們也渴望能讓自己的生活走上正軌。我們遇到的一位圣約家園居民說：“我們只是努力想要做好的普通孩子。”

????與我們一樣，他們也需要愛。他們需要一只主動伸出的手，需要有人相信雖然他們的手是冰涼的，但他們的心依然火熱。“體制”和成年人一次次讓這些無家可歸的年輕人失望，他們對人的信任已經(jīng)降到了令人難以置信的地步。

????As SVP of the Global Sparkling Brand Center at Coca-Cola (KO), Wendy Clark spends plenty of time studying young people. Understanding how young people live and what they aspire to is key to the success of this rising-star executive who oversees brand strategy and integrated marketing communications, including global design and digital and experiential marketing, for brands like Coke, Sprite and Fanta. Last week, Clark decided to learn about an aspect of youth that she never knew: how the homeless live.

????Guest Post by Wendy Clark, SVP of the Global Sparkling Brand Center, The Coca-Cola Company

????I'm one of those people with ice-cold hands.

????You know the type. When you shake my hand, I apologize and say something like "cold hands, warm heart" and then may add my second hand to your warm hand and hold the handshake for as long as possible to steal some of your warmth.

????While I was born and raised in England (cold and wet), I spent my teenage years in Florida and have lived in the southern U.S. since. Indeed, as the saying goes, my blood has thinned.

????So it was uncharacteristic, to say the least, that I slept outside on a cardboard box last Thursday night.

????My friend and colleague at The Coca-Cola Company, Ben Deutsch, is on the board of Covenant House of Georgia, and he asked me to join their annual Sleep-Out fundraiser. Last year, across the country, 450 executives slept outside and raised more than $3 million. This year, Ben and I and some 45 executives from companies including Accenture (ACN), Comcast (CMCSA) and Cox Enterprises spent from dinnertime Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday on the campus of the Covenant House shelter. Under a full moon, in temperatures dipping to 35 degrees, we slept in sleeping bags on flattened cardboard boxes.

????This was just one night for us. For more than 700 young Atlantans, sleeping on the streets is every night.

????These youth have varied stories, with common themes that are tough to hear. One in four, according to Covenant House, are victims of human trafficking or sex trade. Many more have been beaten down by bullying, and are desperate to get their lives on track. "We're just regular kids trying to do right," said one Covenant House resident we met.

????Like all of us, they need love. They need an outreached hand and somebody's faith that there's warmth in their hearts beyond their own cold hands. These homeless youth have been let down by "the system" and by adults so many times that their trust in anyone beyond themselves is incredibly low.