The Italian luxury house has tapped Chinese actor Xu Kai to be its latest brand ambassador. The celebrity, who has more than 17.74 million followers on Weibo, has been collaborating with Fendi since 2018 and appears in the brand’s latest campaign for Qixi (one of China’s local iterations of Valentine’s Day), which falls in August.

Despite rising risks, official scrutiny of toxic fan culture and heightened political tensions, luxury brands focused on reaching consumers in China’s domestic market continue to invest in local celebrity ambassadors. Fendi has bet heavily on this strategy, appointing several local faces in recent years, including Jackson Wang, Zhao Wei and Tan Zhou.

The brand is also currently running a large-scale celebrity-centred campaign to promote its newly launched 2021 Fall Winter collection and Fendi First handbags. As part of the campaign, Fendi has invited more than 32 female Chinese celebrities to promote its latest designs.

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How to Avoid Brand Ambassador Controversy in China

Navigating China’s celebrity ecosystem has always been a high-risk, high-reward gamble for global luxury brands, but the stakes are even higher in this volatile, politically charged year.