East West Bancorp in San Marino, Calif., has landed a celebrity endorser — the Olympic figure skating champion Michelle Kwan.
The $6 billion-asset company said Ms. Kwan, 24, will represent East West Bank in media campaigns.
She and her family are longtime customers; her parents emigrated from China in 1971, and she was born in California.
“My parents arrived here with nothing, and through hard work and determination they made a life for themselves,” she said in a prepared statement Monday announcing her agreement with East West.
Dominic Ng, East West’s president and chief executive, said Tuesday that Ms. Kwan has a strong following among Chinese-Americans. “They are extremely proud of her, because many of them have also come from another country and are trying to achieve something,” he said.
But Ms. Kwan’s appearance in East West’s future ads should have a much wider appeal, he added. “There’s no question; anytime we have her in a print ad or on the radio or television we are going to get people paying attention.”
Ms. Kwan said in her statement that she hopes the bank will attract more mainstream customers.
Ms. Kwan is among the most accomplished figure skaters in history, with two Olympic medals, nine U.S. National Championships, and five world championships to her credit. She is now competing in Moscow for her sixth world championship; only the late Sonja Henie, a Norwegian, won more: 10.
Mr. Ng said Ms. Kwan will attend charity events on the bank’s behalf. She will never be asked to pitch particular products, “like our latest CD rates,” he said, but will help to create an image.
“Michelle is consistent — she’s not a flash in the pan who gets a medal and then disappears,” Mr. Ng said. “We too have always strived to be consistent in our performance, and we try get better every year.”
He said that he has been reluctant to use celebrity endorsers for fear that they would get into trouble and give East West a black eye.
“It’s very hard to clearly predict their behavior,” Mr. Ng. said. “But Michelle’s such a great role model that we’re very comfortable having her on board.”
