Japanese jeans brand Evisu enlists enfant-terrible Edison Chen as first APAC ambassador

Chen will serve as ambassador starting with the brand's autumn-winter 2012 ad campaign, which uses ‘Make the rules’ as its theme. The strapline is intended to reflect the brand’s passion and steadfast commitment to top quality in its denim products, as well as the fun-loving, iconoclastic spirit of its founder Yamane Hidehiko (山根英彦). Evisu, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, even has a mischeivous logo reminiscent of a penis, a spokesman admitted.

The campaign debuts this month in multiple media including print, OOH, and social media, targeting key markets like China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore. The brand has 40 stores in China alone.

David Pun, Evisu’s global CEO, said, “Edison has devoted a lot of time and passion into his fashion and music, and the insistence in not following in anyone’s footsteps. At Evisu, we respect and share the same passion and commitment, as we believe every person is unique, having their own ways to seeing things and showing thing. Standing up for what you believe in.”

Chen said, “The concept of this season’s campaign, 'Make the rules' fits very well to how I feel at the moment and also coincides with my upcoming music projects, so that’s why I jumped at the opportunity to work with them.”

The brand's spokesperson disclosed that Evisu and Chen will produce some crossover products later this year.

From his musical debut in 1999, Chen has received numerous awards around Southeast Asia, such as Channel V’s Most Popular New Artist of the Year Award and the best Hip-Hop artist at the Chinese Music Awards. He has starred in many Chinese movies, notably Initial D and Infernal Affairs, and made his Hollywood debut in Batman: The Dark Knight. His love for street fashion has led to him to opening his own fashion brand, collaborating with different designers and artists, and selling the brands he hand picks from around the world in select stores around Asia. 

Chen is Evisu's first-ever brand ambassador, but the brand's spokerperson said that its denim clothes are popular among international hip hop superstars and celebrities including Jay Z, P. Diddy, Kanye West, Pharrel Williams, Chris Brown, 50 Cent. Alicia Keys, Tom Cruise, David Beckham, and Kate Moss.

Chen's role in a sex scandal involving a series of Hong Kong celebrities caused such a stir among local and international Chinese media in 2008 that the star returned to his home country of Canada for a few years. He still remains a popular target for paparazzi.

The incident seemingly did not hurt his endorsement potential, however. In July, Dell China signed Chen as brand ambassador for its ultrabook XPS14 (perhaps a cheeky move given that a notebook PC played a key role in the scandal). A TVC has been launched featuring the tagline “In life, the most important thing is not to have lots of friends, but to standby for an extremely long time”.

As reported in June 2011, BBH China launched Unilever's Lynx brand in the China market, featuring Chen in a campaign that promised to 'awaken men's charms and unlock women's desires'.