Wilson could be a strong celebrity spokesman in helping spread awareness of Alipay in the U.S.RUSSELL WILSON
Seahawks QB Russell Wilson and his wife, Ciara, were recently spotted visiting Alibaba HQ in China, and the online retailer "touted the couple's visit" on Twitter, according to Rami Grunbaum of the SEATTLE TIMES. The company tweeted that Wilson was in "meetings with Alibaba execs, trying out @Alipay and, of course, a Hail Mary pass." Wilson tweeted: "China! It’s been real and amazing. Thanks Alibaba! Can’t wait to do some groundbreaking things." Wilson in a video "makes a point of how he’s using mobile payments on his phone to buy items at the market after scanning a QR code on the sales counter." The Alipay mobile payment system is "operated by Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial." Wilson "could be a strong celebrity spokesman in helping spread awareness and acceptance of Alipay in the U.S. -- if that is his game plan." One of his tweets on the Alibaba visit "logged more than 53,000 viewers in less than a day." Wilson’s off-the-field ventures "include a celebrity news website and app called TraceMe," whose backers in a $9M funding round last fall included both Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Alibaba Exec Vice Chair Joe Tsai (SEATTLETIMES.com, 7/6).
