I didn’t know much about fine jewelry or the high-end market. This was because Spark had never worked in this area before. And it was not like I was the type who wore rings or necklaces.

So, when Lee Cheonghyeon’s pictorial was first released, I just had a vague impression of “it came out great,” but I couldn’t be sure if it would go successfully viral. In the end, an advertisement had to appeal to its target audience. Whether the pictorial came out great and whether Lee Cheonghyeon fulfilled his role as a commercial model were two different issues.

At first, I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to check the reactions. I started by piecing together short mentions on influencer blogs and online cafes, checked if the change in promotional model was mentioned in the fashion newsletters I had subscribed to, and also checked if Lee Cheonghyeon’s photo was included in the new collection announcement emails that the brand sent out to those who had consented to receive promotional emails. As a result, I was able to see reviews with a slightly different pattern from what I had seen while monitoring so far.

≫ L’aînesse’s new collection is being promoted by a male model~

I was at the department store and was surprised, thinking, is that a boyish-looking female model?

It was fascinating because I don’t think I’ve seen that many times before.

A male model also looks good with jewelry~

I was originally planning to buy something else,

but since it’s a new collection, I was tempted~ and the product is so pretty

and the seller kept complimenting me, saying it was a perfect match for me

so in the end, I brought this little one home~

≫ L’aînesse, New Model for the first time in 3 Years

L’aînesse has chosen a new muse for the first time in 3 years. This is the official first step of the “3-Hwa” project mentioned at the Q1 conference.

The company explains that the contract with the new muse, Cheonghyeon, is also part of the “3-Hwa” project, which aims for “Change,” “High-end,” and “Prosperity.”

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Attention is being paid to whether the introduction of a new muse will lead to L’aînesse getting one step closer to the “borderless beauty” it pursues.

≫ L’aînesse Korea’s new face is ○○○!

Remember the “My Favorite Brand” survey we conducted with our subscribers in April?

L’aînesse, which ranked 3rd with an enormous preference of 29%, has chosen a male idol as its new model.

Isn’t it amazing that a jewelry brand, not a watch brand, has hired a male model for women’s fine jewelry?

Surprisingly, this happens from time to time in the jewelry industry. Shall we find out why?

The nature of each article was a little different, but to put it in a nutshell, the main reaction was “The new model isn’t bad.” Lee Cheonghyeon had cleanly broken through ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the barrier of being too young to promote a luxury brand.

“I doubt there are any advertisers or customers who wouldn’t be convinced after seeing this.”

I pulled up the image that would go up on the outdoor billboard.

His straight black hair, neatly arranged without a single stray strand; his thin, dark eyebrows that gave a sharp and clean impression; and his slightly parted, slender lips were like an orchid drawn in a single stroke with finely ground ink.

On his pale, long neck were a finely crafted chain necklace and a thick, gold-colored necklace, layered together. On the wrist of the hand that was slightly lifting his chin, a bracelet that was part of a set with the necklace shone. A gold bracelet shone over the sleeve of his black shirt, and a necklace with a small pendant sparkled on his white collarbone.

A simple outfit that didn’t distract from the jewelry. A captivating face that kept drawing your eyes back to the photo. In the pictorial, Lee Cheonghyeon was the best showcase that could make the accessories stand out the most.

But it would be absurd to say that Lee Cheonghyeon succeeded just because of his face. There were many handsome people in the world—though of course, Lee Cheonghyeon was the most handsome of them all—and there were many more people in a more advantageous position than him. Factors like experience or recognition among the 30-40s customer base, for example.

Overcoming all these demerits, Lee Cheonghyeon confidently accepted the offer. The interview between Lee Cheonghyeon and L’aînesse also played a part in this.

When the interview was scheduled for the advertising proposal and coordination, I had made a reference book for Lee Cheonghyeon to listen to. With the thought that if I told him to memorize it on the way, he would do so without fail.

So I was organizing everything from the L’aînesse designer’s tastes, the commonalities and differences of the collections released in the last 3 years, to the expected questions and effects...

“Hyung, are you busy?”

“Not really. Why?”

“I organized something for the L’aînesse interview, can you read it over for me?”

...Lee Cheonghyeon had done the exact same thing. On his own, without being told.

What was most surprising was that the materials Lee Cheonghyeon had organized were almost identical to what I was making.

There were areas he improved upon and parts I had missed. Things like which accessories would have good synergy with him as a model and which ones wouldn’t, or how the main customer base might perceive him.

“So you’re saying you don’t think you’d suit a logo play product?”

“It would probably suit me. There’s never been anything that didn’t suit me. I just think that doing a logo play while picking a new face for the sake of going high-end is tacky.”

“But you can’t say that on site. You don’t know what you’ll end up advertising.”

I wanted to say that even he couldn’t pull off the rusty cyber warrior from the old Spark days, but I held back, admiring Lee Cheonghyeon’s efforts.

“Their opinion will probably be similar. It’s not for nothing that logo-less brands are on the rise these days. You know that the F/W trend until recently was “old money,” right, hyung?”

“You really know your stuff.”

“Half my clothes are luxury brands anyway. I bet no one but you knows, though.”

Lee Cheonghyeon shrugged. As he said, his personal wardrobe was a mix of ordinary clothes and incredible luxury items. I could tell because there was a time when I used to look up every product he wore, but most of Spark had put him through all kinds of indignities—like throwing his clothes into the washing machine—simply because they had no visible logos.

“You did your research well, even though this is your first time as a fashion model. Weren’t you not particularly interested in fashion trends?”

“If you follow your mom to Gangnam District 8 parent-teacher meetings for 10 years, you learn a lot even if you’re not interested.”

Lee Cheonghyeon let out a wry laugh. He also added, “I never thought there’d be a day I’d be grateful to my mom.”

As such, Lee Cheonghyeon was a prepared and capable talent. Through endless filming practice, he had even acquired a sense of naturalness. And on top of that, he had the inner glow effect and the camera massage function, which were essential for a jewelry pictorial that only showed his upper body, so what was there to be afraid of?

I could say with confidence that it would be hard to find a model like him. You wouldn’t find a face like Lee Cheonghyeon’s anywhere, and industry people would only value him more as they realized that.

“It’s always more painful when you know something’s great but can’t have it.”

If the new model got a good response and Lee Cheonghyeon’s value continued to rise with his continued activities, L’aînesse Korea would want to feature him as their flagship model, as he was frequently active in Korea and constantly exposed to the public.

Whether he could move on to an even higher-end brand from here would depend on how Lee Cheonghyeon was marketed... but well.

With someone like Lee Cheonghyeon, I’d say there was a 90% or higher chance that love calls would come from anywhere once he was on track. The advertising industry favored stable models, and just a few celebrities took up a massive portion of the market.

“I should take him to see his outdoor ad and take some pictures for him soon.”

There was no better model than someone who genuinely cherished the brand they represented.

I contacted Manager Chanyoung and shared the location and time of the department store we would visit with Lee Cheonghyeon.

After their pictorials, Choi Jeho and Lee Cheonghyeon had to continue working steadily.

In Lee Cheonghyeon’s case, the number of events he had to attend increased tremendously. He was busy handling schedules organized by L’aînesse, such as the brand’s pop-up events and collection red carpets.

His routine consisted of going to school in the morning just to get attendance, then heading to Apgujeong and Cheongdam-dong to stand on the red carpet, and then coming to the practice room to practice. In the midst of all this, the kid even carried his tablet around, saying he was going to write songs.

Choi Jeho became so busy with print interviews, video interviews, additional shoots, and magazine shoots that we barely had time to see his face. According to him, the shoots were fine, but his energy was drained every time he did an interview. He said each interview made him feel like he’d used up a whole year’s worth of talking.

The content was quite funny. You could see that just by watching the most recent “Digging into NIDAS’s New Muse, Jeho” video uploaded on MeTube.

“Mr. Jeho, you became a hot topic after revealing a wardrobe full of NIDAS clothes on your social media. Was that, uh... kind of for show?!”

“The clothes are comfortable and look great. So I thought they were good, but after seeing my pictorial, my members told me to take this opportunity to throw away all my old clothes. And by the time I came to my senses...”

“Ah, so it was the Spark members’ idea! Did you receive the in-house model discount?”

“Yes. My members just told me to hand over my card, so I did.”

“The track jacket pictorial was especially popular. Do you like this pictorial, Jeho?”

“Our fans... they seem to like it when I expose the front of my body.”

“Your expression is very direct! Do you hear often that your first impression is different from your actual self?”

“I hear it a lot.”

“In what situations do people usually say that?”

“I went to a deserted island for a variety show filming, and at that time...”

The marketing team staff in charge of the interview couldn’t hold back their laughter. But the deserted island incident was his fault. I still couldn’t forget how Jeyoung noona called and said that the banana had brought shame to the family.

Still, thanks to this interview, we were able to imprint the formula “Spark’s Jeho = Deserted Island Banana Leaf Man = NIDAS Model” onto the public. His imperial aura was shaking, but that was just how star power work.

Things were progressing well. In the sense that they were growing faster than the Spark of the past yet moving in a better direction, and even more so in the sense that the results were coming out exactly as I had expected.

“Now that it’s come to this, it’s probably, soon...”

I tapped the end of my pen against my planner. Almost as if it had been waiting for that moment, a message notification popped up in the lower right corner of my laptop.

Manager Chanyoung

[Iwol]

[A solo schedule has come in, so when you come to the company tomorrow, should we go up to the office together first?]

Hmm, I had a feeling this would happen.