We all know the Hallyu wave is a tsunami instead! South Korean celebrities and influencers are now seen in more brands as they realise the power (Na and Kim, 2019), they hold in the marketing industry. Recently only this year, did BTS became Louis Vuitton brand global ambassador, and all Blackpink – Lisa, Jennie, Jisoo and Rosé, global brand ambassador of Celine, Chanel, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) respectively for 2 years now. Do they really hold that much power? Well, they do! Not only BTS or Blackpink but, any trending/top celebrity or influencers do hold that power.
Personally, from time to time, I get influenced by many of these South Korean influencers and celebrities (Herjanto, Adiwijaya, Wijaya and Semuel, 2020), I mean like all the time! When they post a picture or video, and you wonder wow, they do look good, where are their clothes from, is that bag from that brand? These are the thoughts you would have when you see the item you like. Big brands – Celine, YSL, Alexander Wang have huge customer base, and bringing in celebrities and influencers will just enhance their sales (Britt, Hayes, Britt and Park, 2020). One example will be Jennie from Blackpink. Korean idols will randomly have a live video broadcasting (VLive) to communicate with their fans, Jennie was seen wearing a cardigan and sleeping pants on the live, and as soon as fans started finding out the brands, it immediately sold out!
This is no surprise coming from such a powerful celebrity, but I’m sure you have heard of the brand, Charles and Keith – Singapore’s fast fashion retailer. In recent years, the brand has garnered recognition worldwide with celebrities wearing their brand as well as influencers who are on the micro level promoting their brand.
Considering that they have never had any kind of ambassador and relying on micro influencers and consumers, it really showed how powerful that was even (Park et al., 2021). The brand has never had an ambassador since it started but in January 2022, they announce Krystal Jung – well-known actress and former Fx girl group member, to be their global ambassador.
It was only recently that Charles and Keith decided to go for a brand ambassador while before it only relied on consumers posting with hashtags while promoting it to all their social media platforms (Park and Yang, 2010). With that being done and the results from Korean celebrities and influencers, will this strategy work for Charles and Keith?
Do feel free to comment your thoughts!
Shafina Mahesh 
One response to “Is using South Korean Influencers/Celebrities the trend right now?”
Hi Shafina,
I enjoyed reading your blog post! I agree that influencer endorsements are an effective and widely adopted marketing strategy. Choosing a celebrity to become a global ambassador not only helps spread the brand’s image to customers, but also allows the brand to make a difference, increasing customer trust and support.
However, collaboration with celebrities does not always bring success to brands. Brands can be in trouble when these brand ambassadors get into scandals. So in your opinion, what should brands do when their brand ambassadors face a communication crisis?
I look forward to hearing from you! 🙂
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