Hot on the heels of their announcement that its combined number of stores had reached over 10,000, discounted snack chains Super Ming and Busy for You named a joint brand ambassador: the “King of Mandopop”, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Jay Chou.
This announcement was welcomed by netizens. On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Jay Chou endorses Super Ming snack” (#周杰伦代言赵一鸣零食#) amassed a whopping 170 million views within 24 hours. Chou released videos with both brands. Many Netizens point out that this was the first time Chou had become an ambassador for two brands simultaneously, also the first time two snack brands announcing a joint ambassador. Chou has been a popular choice for brands looking for an established artist that resonates with multiple generations.
Incidentally, the brand Busy for You (零食很忙) was named after Chou’s 2007 hit single “Cowboy on the Run” (牛仔很忙, lit. Cowboy is Very Busy), taken from the album On the Run (我很忙, also translated literally as I’m Very Busy). The story goes that the founders heard the song playing in the lobby when they tried to think of a name for the brand in 2017. Busy for You leveraged the connection in their Weibo Hashtag “Jay Chou’s endorsement of Busy for You was meant to be” (#周杰伦代言零食很忙是天选#) which gained an impressive 140 million views in a day.
Super Ming and Busy for You merged in late 2023 after being at each other’s throats for months, engaging in a price war of attrition in Guangdong and Guangxi. The two brands have been operating independently, but the naming of a joint ambassador seems to signal a merge in branding. As the competition in the discounted snack market deepens, how the merged “Ming is Busy” group breaks out is certainly worth watching.
