Original photo by Archernar
How big is ecommerce in China? Big enough that even the king of (Mando)pop is getting in on the action.
Yes, Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou has taken a position at Chinese ecommerce site Vipshop. According to his new (and very pink) business card, he is now the company’s “CJO.”
What that means isn’t entirely clear. His Chinese title reads “chief surprise officer,” and that’s a position that exists at other Chinese internet companies too. But usually, the chief surprise officer position is abbreviated CXO, so it’s not clear what the J in CJO is meant to stand for. Chief Joy Officer? Chief Jingxi (the Chinese word for surprise) Officer? Chief Jay Officer? Your guess is as good as mine.
Whatever the title means, Chou’s role at Vipshop is likely to make him a kind of internal hype man, responsible for planning employee events and other morale-boosting surprises. That’s something Vipshop takes pretty seriously – the company gave away luxury cars, tropical vacations, and lots of other prizes to reward employees at Spring Festival this year – so while Jay Chou’s new position is certainly not a full-time gig, it’s probably not entirely a branding exercise either. If you work at Vipshop, you can probably expect to see a bit of Jay Chou’s touch in company events this year.
Jay Chou is far from the only Asian entertainment star to dip his toes into China’s fast-growing internet sector. Actor, writer, and singer Gao Xiaosong joined Alibaba as chairman of its music arm last summer, for example. Actor, singer, and TV host He Jiong also joined Alibaba late last year.
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