Summary Box: China brands import foreign athletes, celebrities to woo Chinese customers

Summary Box: China brands use foreign celebrities

STARRY-EYED: To reach worldly young Chinese consumers, the country’s new and ambitious brands are scouring the globe for athletes, film stars and other celebrity spokespeople to represent their products.

THE FACES: NBA star Kevin Garnett promotes Anta athletic shoes. Actor Orlando Bloom and English fashion model Agyness Deyn model in ads for fashion brand Me & City. Billboards depict NBA player Baron Davis in Li Ning sports gear.

BACKDROP: Chinese companies’ embrace of foreign spokespeople is especially striking in a country that had almost no advertising industry 20 years ago. But with its breakneck economic growth, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that China should pass Japan by 2014 as the second-biggest advertising market after the U.S.