Lotte makes JENNIE its first ad model in 10 years, then takes the campaign across Asia
Lotte Department Store makes JENNIE its first ad model in about 10 years and rolls the "As I am" campaign into Vietnam and Indonesia.
Lotte Department Store is bringing celebrity advertising back after roughly a decade, and it is using JENNIE to make the comeback international from day one.
The retailer named the BLACKPINK member as its new brand ambassador on September 29 and began the "As I am" campaign on October 1. The appointment is notable because Lotte Department Store had not used an advertising model in about 10 years.
The campaign is not staying inside Korea. Lotte says JENNIE will appear across its domestic stores, online and offline media, four overseas locations in Vietnam and Indonesia, plus high-traffic tourist touchpoints such as Incheon Airport and Seoul Station.
For marketers, the interesting part is not simply the celebrity choice. It is how Lotte is using one ambassador to connect domestic retail, tourism traffic and overseas expansion under one brand idea.
Table of contents
- Why the 10-year gap matters
- How "As I am" gives JENNIE a strategic role
- Why the campaign is designed to travel
- What marketers can learn from Lotte's reset
Why the 10-year gap matters
Lotte Department Store is not treating this as another routine ambassador appointment.
Multiple Korean outlets reported that JENNIE is the retailer's first advertising model in about a decade. That makes the decision itself part of the campaign story.
A long gap changes how the endorsement reads. Instead of adding one more celebrity to an ongoing roster, Lotte is using JENNIE to signal a reset in how the department store wants to present itself.
The business objective is also explicit. Lotte says it wants to strengthen global branding and broaden contact with customers outside Korea.
That gives the campaign a larger job than generating attention around one seasonal promotion.
How "As I am" gives JENNIE a strategic role
The campaign's core message is "As I am."
Lotte frames the idea around respecting individual taste, personality and values. JENNIE fits that positioning because her public image extends across music, fashion and culture rather than one product category.
That matters because celebrity partnerships are stronger when the person helps explain the brand idea.
Lotte is not asking JENNIE to demonstrate a functional product benefit. It is using her as shorthand for self-expression and personal style, qualities the department store wants to associate with a retail environment built around many categories and tastes.
The first campaign film is scheduled for October 21 on Lotte Department Store's official YouTube and social channels, followed by TV and digital advertising.
Why the campaign is designed to travel
The rollout gives the campaign a regional dimension from the start.
Lotte plans to use JENNIE-led advertising and projects at four overseas stores in Vietnam and Indonesia. It is also placing campaign visibility at Incheon Airport and Seoul Station, where the audience includes international visitors already moving through Korea.
That is a useful distinction.
A domestic celebrity campaign can create awareness inside one market. A cross-border campaign can also become a consistency tool, giving shoppers in different cities the same recognizable brand face and message.
JENNIE's international profile helps Lotte bridge those contexts without having to build a separate ambassador story for each market.
The campaign therefore connects three audiences at once: Korean shoppers, inbound tourists and customers at Lotte's overseas stores.
There is no public performance data yet showing what the campaign has done for footfall, sales or brand preference. The marketing value visible today is in the architecture rather than the results.
What marketers can learn from Lotte's reset
Lotte's return to celebrity advertising offers four useful lessons.
- Use the appointment itself as a signal. A first advertising model in roughly 10 years gives the partnership more meaning than a routine endorsement.
- Give the ambassador a brand role. "As I am" connects JENNIE's image to Lotte's positioning around personal taste rather than using fame as decoration.
- Plan regional distribution before launch. Vietnam, Indonesia, tourist hubs and Korean stores are part of the same campaign system from the beginning.
- Separate reach from strategic fit. JENNIE brings global recognition, but the more important question is whether her identity helps Lotte tell a coherent retail story.
The campaign shows how a celebrity partnership can work as a branding reset when the media plan, geographic rollout and brand message are built around the same person.
Lotte is not only putting JENNIE on department-store advertising. It is using her to make a 10-year return to celebrity marketing feel like part of a broader international repositioning.
