His fans own copies of Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon, but now kung fu movie star Jackie Chan (
One of the world's most famous Chinese celebrities hopes to parlay movie superstardom into a merchandising and retail empire that encompasses everything from clothing to cookies.
The action star's expanding business portfolio includes a clothing label, Jackie's Kitchen restaurants, a sushi eatery chain, Jackie Chan signature club gyms and most recently, a line of chocolates and nutritional oatcakes.
Chan's ambition doesn't end there -- he aspires to be a Martha Stewart-like marketing juggernaut.
The actor's goal is "total lifestyle branding," said Bon Ng, the business executive Chan has charged with developing his brand.
"Our coverage will be wide," Ng said, noting Chan hopes to expand into furniture and kitchenware.
It's not Chan's first foray into business. Chan said he opened car repair shops, gyms, gift shops and restaurants 20 years ago, but they failed because he wasn't savvy enough in business.
"I thought since I could make movies, I tried business on my own. I didn't know how to calculate, how much things I bought cost, how much a month's rent cost ... I lost several million, then millions again," he told reporters at a celebration of the third anniversary of his clothing line. Now, Chan said he's hired professional businessmen to do the nitty-gritty work, while he makes strategic decisions.
The popularity of his products also coincides with the rise of his stardom. Chan cemented his international superstardom in the late 1990s with the Hollywood action comedy Rush Hour, costarring Chris Tucker.
He has now been on the US talk show circuit and appeared on the prestigious US comedy show Saturday Night Live. US cities have designated Jackie Chan Day. The Toronto and Los Angeles police departments have named him an honorary policeman.
Jackie Chan is such a potent symbol for Hong Kong that local tourism officials have asked him to promote the territory as a travel destination.
Now Chan is hoping his strong name recognition will translate into a successful, all-encompassing product lineup.
It's an approach known in business parlance as "brand extension." Companies venture into new areas of businesses by leveraging the credibility of their existing products.
"Many companies know the value of their brands doesn't just lie in their product categories," said University of Hong Kong business professor Bennett Yim.
But Yim said so far it's a controversial formula that hasn't been proven. He said one form of safe brand extension is to venture into complementary products, such as a shaver maker launching a shaving cream.
Chan seems to have avoided that strategy by eyeing a "lifestyle" brand -- although he has diversified his entertainment products, unveiling his own cartoon series that pits Chan against bad guys in a battle for 12 magic talismans.
But Chan is capitalizing on his wholesome, healthy image. Case in point is the "Jackie Chan signature club" gyms, a partnership with California Fitness, part of the US-based 24 Hour Fitness health club chain. The gyms will offer special Jackie Chan workout classes.
Another example is Chan's line of cookies for the health conscious. Chan says he may even open "Jackie Chan supermarkets" in the future. He claims consumers will naturally think that any food product that bears his name is healthy.
"You don't know what product to trust, but many of my audience and fans will trust me," he said.
Chan's products also highlight his Chinese heritage. Chan's Chinese stage name means "becoming a dragon." His clothing line's logo blends the Chinese character for "dragon" and "Jackie." Chinese calligraphy appears on his T-shirts and jeans.
Chan and his business executive, Ng, said they didn't know revenue figures offhand but said Chan's business ventures are growing.
Chan said "Jackie's Kitchen" has four outlets in South Korea and one in Hawaii, with an imminent launch in Australia. Talks are underway for another eatery in Las Vegas, he said.
Meanwhile, Chan's clothing label boasts 40 shops in mainland China and the label's children's line is available in US department stores, Ng said. Expansion plans will cover Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and South Korea.
Ng said Chan is targeting young professionals between 25 and 35.
But for now, Chan says he still earns more money making movies and that remains his top priority, adding he donates his business profits to charities because it's icing on the cake.
"I feel guilty about that money ... But the money I make from jumping from the second floor, this hard-earned, blood-and-sweat money ... I'll save for myself," he said.
Nvidia Corp’s demand for advanced packaging from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) remains strong though the kind of technology it needs is changing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, after he was asked whether the company was cutting orders. Nvidia’s most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chip, Blackwell, consists of multiple chips glued together using a complex chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging technology offered by TSMC, Nvidia’s main contract chipmaker. “As we move into Blackwell, we will use largely CoWoS-L. Of course, we’re still manufacturing Hopper, and Hopper will use CowoS-S. We will also transition the CoWoS-S capacity to CoWos-L,” Huang said
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) is expected to miss the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump on Monday, bucking a trend among high-profile US technology leaders. Huang is visiting East Asia this week, as he typically does around the time of the Lunar New Year, a person familiar with the situation said. He has never previously attended a US presidential inauguration, said the person, who asked not to be identified, because the plans have not been announced. That makes Nvidia an exception among the most valuable technology companies, most of which are sending cofounders or CEOs to the event. That includes
INDUSTRY LEADER: TSMC aims to continue outperforming the industry’s growth and makes 2025 another strong growth year, chairman and CEO C.C. Wei says Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday said it aims to grow revenue by about 25 percent this year, driven by robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips. That means TSMC would continue to outpace the foundry industry’s 10 percent annual growth this year based on the chipmaker’s estimate. The chipmaker expects revenue from AI-related chips to double this year, extending a three-fold increase last year. The growth would quicken over the next five years at a compound annual growth rate of 45 percent, fueled by strong demand for the high-performance computing
TARIFF TRADE-OFF: Machinery exports to China dropped after Beijing ended its tariff reductions in June, while potential new tariffs fueled ‘front-loaded’ orders to the US The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10. It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said. During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries.
RSS