SMART has included Korean actor Park Seo-Joon to its growing slate of Korean endorsers following Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin as the telecommunications company continues to ride the wave of popularity of Korean dramas and pop culture.

Park Seo-Joon, who rose to fame with dramas such as Itaewon Class (2020), What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018), and Fight for My Way (2017), is the newest face of Smart’s Giga K-Video pack which allows subscribers to have weeklong access to streaming service Viu as well as 1 GB data for the platform and 2 GB open access data for P99.

“Like the two other international endorsers, Park Seo-Joon is popular and well loved by the Filipino audience. He has become a household name in the Philippines,” Alfredo S. Panlilio, Smart President and CEO, PLDT Chief Revenue Officer, said during the media launch on Oct. 28 via Facebook.

Mr. Panlilio added that he has watched What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim and “enjoyed it very much.”

Aside from getting Park Seo-Joon as its newest endorser, Smart has also partnered with Viu, a Korean and Asian content-focused streaming service to give Filipinos access to some of the “latest Korean dramas and shows,” Helen Sou, chief business officer for Asia at Viu, said in the same conference.

The talks about the partnership started in June when Smart asked Viu if it could help bring Park Seo-Joon into the Smart fold. The contracts were signed in August and the TVC (one of three campaigns which will feature the actor) was filmed in September.

And because the previous two endorsers — Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin — were “phenomenal successes” for the company, according to Mr. Panlilio, Smart is keen on continuing its Korean pop culture thrust, with Jane J. Basas, SVP and head of consumer wireless business at Smart, saying “Smart K-Life is here to stay.” K-Life is the overarching program where Smart introduces Korean pop culture content including the online run of the Korean Film Festival and several K-Pop concerts.

Unlike the two previous TVCs with Mr. Hyun and Ms. Son which were described as “very corporate” in the treatment, Ms. Basas said they tried a different tack with Mr. Park’s commercial where they “played up with his fun side and to play up his romantic persona.”

Mr. Hyun was the face of the Simple, Smart ako campaign highlighting the company’s efforts to make access to technology simple, while Ms. Son became the face of Smart Signature, the company’s postpaid line.

The first TVC shows a girl heartbroken after her boyfriend broke up with her on their anniversary when Mr. Park shows up and tells her, “K lang ‘yan,” (it’s okay), and helps the girl recover from heartbreak by watching Korean dramas.

Ms. Basas added that Mr. Park’s two other TVCs may be released in a few weeks. — Z.B. Chua

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