Hyundai Duty Free Replaces NewJeans With QWER As Brand Ambassadors

Fresh from winning the favourite girl band award at 34th Seoul Music Awards last month, QWER is on a commercial roll, scoring an endorsement with Hyundai Duty Free. 

The new deal sees the fast emerging quartet replace NewJeans, who have been in a legal dispute with ADOR, their management company, and thus, been barred from participating in any marketing campaigns.  

Nevertheless, the change in brand ambassadors comes a surprise to many, as most major duty-free stores in South Korea have steered clear of celebrity endorsements in recent years, with Hyundai Duty Free being one of the rare exemptions.   

Meanwhile, the general sentiment among netizens has been negative as Hypbe’s NewJeans were known to symbolise classy premium branding while QWER are a new girl group from a relatively smaller company.   

According to ASN data, duty free brands have invested a mere US$1.4m in the Asian sponsorship since Q422, with China (68.1%), Taiwan (24.6%) and South Korea (7.1%) as the three top markets for such investment.