WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging application, started a series of advertising operations towards Western markets. It used the world's biggest personalities in the sports industry to promote itself.
Tencent, the internet giant that created WeChat, produced an ad that featured Lionel Messi, Argentine and FC Barcelona football superstar. It targeted 15 different markets and was advertised both online and offline.
Today, WeChat announced to its users the arrival of Lebron James, NBA's most popular player. The platform-craze was anticipated to grow exponentially since Tencent also signed a contract with European football teams like Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.
WeChat already have 300 million users. 70 million from the total number of users were overseas. Tencent said that it was in a serious expansion mission that it needed the help of the celebrated stars.
In the first quarter of 2013, Tencent announced that it earned US$645 million, up 16.8% from the last quarter. Its earnings from value added services were around US$1.70 billion which increased 13.6% quarter-by-quarter and 28.6% year-on-year.
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