East meets West in a brand celebrity swap.
Lenovo has hired TV sitcom star Ashton Kutcher to develop tablets to compte with Apple, while Huawei has become the official sponsor of AC Milan.
Ashton's new Jobs Image: Lenovo |
In his new role as product engineer, the American film and TV star will help the Beijing-based manufacturer develop a new "AK" branded tablet to take on the Apple iPad's dominance of the tablet market.
The "AK" will be an adaptation of the company's existing Yoga line of tablets, which are aimed at the upper-end of the tablet market.
Having the Hollywood glitterati as a brand ambassador, Lenovo hopes, will help it take market share from Apple in already developed markets.
Ironically, Kutcher has already agreed to play Steve Jobs, Apple's late founder, in Hollywood's first movie about the eccentric inventor's life.
Meanwhile, Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is also capitalising on foreign brands to help it gain traction in overseas markets. The company has entered into a three year agreement with AC Milan to be the team's premium sponsor for an undisclosed amount.
Daniele de Grandis, executive director of Huawei Device Italy, said in a press release "we are proud to link our brand to AC Milan, a team with an outstanding performance record that represents our high-tech and high-performance products, such as our latest smartphone the HUAWEI Ascend P6."
Gaining trust and credibility overseas is an important task for the Chinese company, which was barred from bidding for US government communications contracts earlier on in the year due to suspicions from DC policymakers.