Kobe Bryant's latest commercial "is unexpected," according to Angela Doland of ADVERTISING AGE. He is "playing ping pong, badly, in a spot for a Chinese food delivery startup." The ad from McCann Worldgroup Shanghai "shows the retired Lakers star fighting hunger pangs as he botches a table tennis tournament." He is revived "after a quick delivery of takeout from Ele.me, which is backed by internet giant Alibaba Group." Bryant "is huge in China -- even in retirement, he's the country's most famous athlete, according to ESPN's World Fame 100." The hiring of such a big star "is one sign of the investments being made by Chinese food delivery services to compete for new users." China's Internet companies "are battling each other for domination of people's mobile phones in a country with 688 million internet users," and food ordering is central to their strategy on "O2O." McCann Worldgroup China Chair Tomaz Mok, who said that he did not know the pricetag of the deal, said, "Kobe's worth the money spent, no matter how much." Bryant "appears in the ad with a Hong Kong actor named Wong Cho-lam." The campaign "appears on TV and online." A second video "will air in August." To build suspense for the Ele.me campaign, the Bryant ad was teased with a short unbranded video of him wearing a suit, with the tagline "Kobe Is Back." The agency "came up with the idea to hire him in the days before his retirement" (ADVERTISING AGE, 7/14).
