Can the star power of Jay Chou and Shu Qi help Chinese brands escape price war trap?

BEIJING - Mandopop superstar Jay Chou started appearing everywhere in China in December 2025 – at bus stops, residential lifts and shopping districts.

He was part of tech company Meituan’s advertising campaign to promote its “express delivery” service, which deploys a rider to deliver one order exclusively for a small additional fee of up to five yuan (90 Singapore cents).

Meituan’s closest competitor in food delivery, Taobao Instant Commerce, hit back with its own advertising blitz earlier in March. Although the campaign did not feature a superstar, Taobao leveraged the star power of the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix to promote its own delivery services, with a rider’s uniform styled like an F1 driver’s race suit.

Elsewhere, actresses, actors, singers and even track-and-field stars are promoting electric cars and apps.

Advertising wars based on star power have been around for a long time. But as Chinese firms battle for slim margins in a saturated domestic market, they are pouring more resources into brand-building in attempts to cultivate customer loyalty.

In September 2025, Li Auto’s decision to hire actor Jackson Yee to be the face of its new mid-tier i6 family sport utility vehicle was particularly notable – it marked a U-turn for founder Li Xiang, who once vowed that his firm would not feature such endorsements because his cars would speak for themselves.

“Everyone has to move from ‘price wars’ to ‘value (creation) wars’,” said Mr Cui Hongbo, founder and chief executive of Vantbrand, a Shanghai-based branding consultancy. He told The Straits Times that the trend of these platform companies – including Meituan and Taobao – hiring brand ambassadors reflects their greater emphasis on brand-building.

In the food delivery sector, market leader Meituan has been embroiled in price wars since early 2025 against challengers Taobao and JD, with the platform companies dangling deals such as zero-yuan bubble tea and three-yuan coffee to attract users.

The Chinese government has taken companies to task over such behaviour as it effectively sacrifices profits for market share without improving the quality of the services or products offered.

Besides, “everyone knows that customers acquired through subsidies lack loyalty. So retaining high-value customers becomes a key competitive factor”, said Mr Cui, who has more than 20 years of industry experience.

According to Chinese reports, none of the Meituan, Taobao and JD food delivery businesses were profitable in 2025, with the three companies investing some 80 billion yuan in total in subsidies to consumers throughout the year.

In the electric vehicle (EV) sector, where competition is especially intense given that China produces more EVs than any other country, more than 20 brands have engaged ambassadors over the past year.

Earlier in March, Xiaomi, a leading tech company known for its mobile phones, recruited actress Shu Qi and sprinter Su Bingtian to promote its SU7 EV. This was the first time it has used celebrity endorsements to market the popular model, first announced in 2023.

Asked why the company hired a brand spokesman, its chief executive, Mr Lei Jun, said: “The first generation of SU7 was very successful. The new generation is even better. We hope to ‘break the circle’ and let more people know about it.”

“Breaking the circle” is a phrase used in China to describe how something moves out of niche communities to achieve widespread popularity.

Other carmakers arguably kick-started the trend in 2025. Huawei engaged actress Liu Yifei for its Luxeed brand of EVs, and Nio hired Hong Kong star Karen Mok as chief experience officer.

Even apps typically less associated with brand ambassadorships are getting in on the act.

Xianyu, a platform for selling used goods akin to Singapore’s Carousell, engaged actress Zhao Lusi in March to encourage users to use the platform’s artificial intelligence features. The same month, Gaode Maps, used for navigation, announced singer Zhang Xincheng as its ambassador.

Both apps are market leaders in their respective sectors but face competition from rival offerings.

For Chinese firms going global, sponsoring major sporting events is an important component of their brand-building toolkit. Lenovo and Haier are two brands for which Olympic marketing has become standard practice.

BYD’s title sponsorship of the Singapore International Marathon, announced on March 17, shows the top EV maker’s ambitions to woo consumers in Singapore, where it is already the best-selling car brand. For the past 22 years, the event had been sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.

The deal shows how BYD has taken a proactive approach to the Singapore market, with Mr Cui saying that it is likely aiming to rapidly increase its brand influence and awareness in Singapore.

But back in China, even as brand-building efforts intensify, the war to subsidise consumers may still need to be fought.

Many Chinese consumers still focus on price and reliability and remain largely platform-agnostic, including Beijing resident and travel agency director Chen Jing.

“I am completely unswayed by Jay Chou’s endorsement,” she told ST. The 47-year-old orders food delivery about three times a week, mostly on Meituan, as her default option.

“For the same product or service, I will simply choose whichever platform is offering it at a lower price.”