Our Story - Binjin

Chapter 119: The Run Up to Baeksang (Part 3)

Anthor's Notes:

Hello! I hope everyone is having a good week. 😊 I know I mentioned Baeksang would be the next chapter but a reader pointed out about Hyun Bin's metrostyle and smart ads (which I didn't realize happened before Baeksang so thank you for that!) I had planned to come back to it after Baeksang but hahaha, I'm a stickler for chronological order and I kept thinking about it (lol, this is my personality type😋) So anyway... one more chapter on Baeksang run up. Baeksang comes next.

Also, since we're on awards, i remember a reader talking about Pifan Awards as well... I've done a short one here on that (since we're all on awards!)

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Thanks again for reading, all your votes, comments and suggestions. Its just Friday where I am, so happy Fri in advanced!

One fun fact - In this chapter, I mentioned a long list of countries of where their fans came from. I didn't randomly pick the countries. Wattpad has this little world map that shows where the readers for this story are from - I picked it off that list. (And I couldn't list all because there's so many) Given all the readers are binjin fans, I'm sure it also represents the people who voted during Baeksang. 🥰

Hyun Bin & the Philippines

The Philippines was in love with Crash Landing on You and particularly, with Hyun Bin and Son Ye-Jin. They were trending on search engines, social media platforms, forums, everything one could think of. Local celebrities and the man-in-the-street alike were gushing over the drama and its leads.

Hyun Bin was so popular that several local brands had approached VAST to discuss endorsements. After numerous rounds of negotiations, in the first week of May, Hyun Bin became the newest spokesperson for the telco giant SMART. He was contracted for three campaigns over a one year period.

SMART wanted to cash in on the popularity wave and requested for Hyun Bin to film the first commercial as soon as possible. The CF's storyboard was completed and SMART had already engaged a local Korean director and filming crew. All they needed was a slot in Hyun Bin's schedule.

Hyun Bin had initially been concerned that it was too rushed. He expected the CF to be in English and wanted sufficient time to prepare. It may be just a thirty second CF, but he wanted to make sure he did his best.

SMART applauded his work ethics but they really wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Also, VAST had highlighted Hyun Bin's potential Jordan filming schedule as a risk and SMART didn't want to take the chance on scheduling. They suggested to have a narrator verbalize the product details in the commercial. Hyun Bin would only need to say some of the key words, which won't be a problem for him.

Hyun Bin would have loved to do the entire commercial on his own but he recognized the time constraints and also scheduling risk. The proposal was a good compromise and he agreed. With that, the team scheduled for filming to take place in the second week of May.

On 13th May, the CF director posted a photo of himself and Hyun Bin, standing next to a BMW. Nobody expected that they were filming for a foreign brand and there were speculations that Hyun Bin was advertising for a car company. SMART was thrilled. The more speculations and interest on the project, the more explosive the effect when they finally released the advertisement.

The Metrostyle Interview

As part of the overall advertising campaign, SMART had partnered with Metrostyle, a lifestyle content provider in the Philippines, to interview Hyun Bin. Dong Wan had just finished discussing the interview questions with the VAST media team. Hyun Bin was filming today and Dong Wan was planning to run them by him during lunch.