Louis Vuitton Names BTS-like Chinese Boy Band Teens in Times as Ambassador
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SHANGHAI — Louis Vuitton has named the BTS-like Chinese boy band Teens in Times — TNT for short — its latest brand ambassador.
TNT will join the likes of Yifei Liu, Zhou Dongyu, Chuxi Zhong, Jun Gong and Dilraba Dilmurat as the latest China market-focused ambassadors for the French luxury house. Weibo fans flooded the brand’s announcement video.
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The video Louis Vuitton shared on Weibo has been reposted 1 million times and garnered more than 1.3 million likes at the time of publication.
Fans flooded the post’s comment section, thanking Louis Vuitton for picking the young band. Dedicated fans channeled the brand’s copy with poetic comments to support individual band members.
The boy band currently has over 10 million followers on Weibo.
Revealing the appointment a day before Louis Vuitton menswear runway show in Paris can help drive engagement to the brand’s online streaming session, which has become a key performance indicator for brands in China, and raise awareness and sales among the group’s legion of fans.
According to Louis Vuitton parent company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s recent first-quarter financial report, revenues in Asia rose by just 8 percent, compared with an 86 percent jump in the same period last year. Despite the COVID-19 lockdown’s impact on sales in China, LVMH restated with confidence that the Chinese luxury market would bounce back rapidly.
TNT is a product of entertainment company Time Fengjun Entertainment, which was behind the success of boy bands like TFboys and Typhoon Boys.
TNT consists of seven members between the ages of 16 and 20, including band captain Ma Jiaqi, and members Ding Chengxin, Song Yaxuan, Liu Yaowen, Zhang Zhenyuan, Yan Haoxiang and He Junli. The group made its debut in late 2019 with two singles, “Endless Adventure” and “All Over the School Bulletin.”
TNT has been the face of several consumer brands, including Olay, Sketchers, Chinese fast-fashion brand Handu and beauty brand Florasis. The Louis Vuitton partnership is the band’s first luxury endorsement.
For Louis Vuitton, landing a safe ambassador has been a bumpy road in China.
Before “Mulan” star Liu’s appointment last year, the spot of a female ambassador for China had been left vacant for years. Fan Bingbing, the Chinese actress who appeared in the “X-Men” and “Iron Man” film franchises, lost her role as Vuitton’s ambassador after being fined by the Chinese government in 2018 for tax evasion.
Last July, Louis Vuitton terminated Chinese Canadian singer-actor Kris Wu’s endorsement deal after a beauty industry influencer made allegations and accused the traffic star of targeting young and sometimes underage females for sex. Wu was arrested and formally charged in August. According to local media outlets, the fallen star will be sentenced for rape after a secret trial began in Beijing two weeks ago.
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Louis Vuitton Taps Mulan’s Liu Yifei as Brand Ambassador
Chinese Actress Fan Bingbing Fined $130 Million for Tax Evasion
Louis Vuitton Ends Kris Wu Endorsement Over Predatory Claims
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