Global luxury conglomerate Kering has recently been on a major China PR blitz, and a new video underscores its efforts to develop a strong base of employees with China know-how.
In a new Chinese-language video on its posted on its corporate Sina Weibo page, Kering invited a Shanghai reporter to travel to its brands’ workshops and corporate headquarters in Europe. This may be part of efforts to recruit Chinese employees: last week, it announced a new executive education program at Tsinghua University to increase its pool of China talent.
The video features lengthy descriptions of the craftsmanship of its luxury brands such as Balenciaga and Gucci, as well as an interview with Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault, who states that excellent “craftsmanship and “creativity” are “not French or Italian, but ”simply universal values that are interpreted in objects.”
Also featured in the video is the Pinault’s donation of a pair of politically significant Qing dynasty bronze zodiac heads to China last year. The Pinault family, which owns both Kering and Christie’s, handed over the sculptures after Christie’s had angered the Chinese government with its attempt to auction them in Paris in 2009.