Byeon Woo-seok Tops Korea’s 2025 Advertising Model Rankings

Actor Byeon Woo-seok has claimed the top spot in Korea’s 2025 advertising model brand reputation rankings, according to a comprehensive analysis by the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute.

The rankings, which were compiled from April 2 to May 2, 2025, analyzed 27,165,322 pieces of big data related to consumer behavior, including engagement, media presence, communication, and community interest. Compared to the previous month’s dataset of 29,777,146 data points, this marked an 8.77% decrease in volume.

Byeon Woo-seok stood out with strong linkage terms such as “reveal,” “manifestation,” and “breakthrough.” Top keywords associated with the actor’s commercial work included his campaigns with Nonghyup Bank, Paldo Bibimmyeon, JobKorea, and the unique concept of being an “Adult” influencer. Notably, his sentiment ratio was an impressive 91.42% positive.

Baseball star Lee Jung-hoo captured the second position in the rankings, while singer Lim Young-woong secured third place thanks to his continued popularity and consistent performance in the branding field.

According to Koo Chang-hwan, director of the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute, the report showed that brand consumption in the advertising model category rose by 26.02%, brand issues increased by 10.11%, while brand communication and dissemination decreased by 21.07% and 17.99%, respectively.

The Top 10 advertising models for May 2025 also included Son Heung-min, Cha Eun-woo, Blackpink, Kim Do-young, BTS, PSY, and Park Bo-gum. Rounding out the Top 20 were Park Eun-bin, Lee Byung-hun, IVE, Jeon Hyun-moo, Gong Yoo, SEVENTEEN, Lee Chan-won, Lee Jung-jae, Youngtak, and Yoo Jae-suk.

The rankings reflect modern consumer online behaviors and how they influence brand value through advertising. This month’s report analyzed a total of 50 celebrities to determine the impact of their endorsements on brand reputation.