So it looks like the trend for Hollywood celebs taking on roles at large tech companies isn’t about to slow down any time soon.
No ad to show here.
The latest A-lister to take on a corporate role is Ashton Kutcher, who is now a product engineer meets brand ambassador for Chinese tech giant Lenovo.
Yup, that would be the same Ashton Kutcher who played Steve Jobs in the most high profile biopic about the legendary Apple CEO.
“This partnership with Lenovo brings together my love of technology and design that makes your life better. I can’t wait to dig in and help Lenovo develop future mobile computing products, starting with the Yoga Tablet,” said Ashton Kutcher. “Lenovo is all about innovation and strong leadership. Entrepreneurship is part of their DNA, and I couldn’t ask for a better fit.”
To be fair, Kutcher isn’t entirely talking out of his arse here. The actor is a bit of techie and was part of the management team for Ooma, a tech start-up launched in September 2007. He’s also invested in the likes of Skype, Foursquare, Airbnb, Path and Fab.com.
That makes Kutcher’s role slightly more believable that the time BlackBerry hired Alicia Keys as its creative director.
Indeed, Lenovo seems to be selling the line that Kutcher actually played an important part in the design of its recently announced Yoga tablet.
“Ashton Kutcher’s authentic, creative appetite for technology and keen consumer insight combined with our innovation engine make this a very natural and powerful partnership,” said David Roman, chief marketing officer, Lenovo.
“This partnership goes beyond traditional bounds by deeply integrating him into our organization as a product engineer as we look at developing the next wave of products. As we continue to push into new PC Plus product areas and lead in multimode computing, Ashton will help us break new ground by challenging assumptions, bringing new perspective and contributing his technical expertise to Yoga Tablet and other devices.”
While the financial terms of the multi-year deal are not being disclosed, Bloomberg reckons it could be worth as much as US$110-million.
When the announcement was made, press were treated to a video detailing Kutcher’s “first day at work”. We’ll share that with you as soon as it’s made public.
For now though, here’s Kutcher’s first ad for the Yoga:
Image: David Shankbone
