Advertisement battle: Lee Min-ho vs. Kim Soo-hyun

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The two of them have recently been chosen as the new faces of each others' advertisements. This is an interesting piece of information as there seems to be an invisible battle of ego.

Kim Soo-hyun was attacked first. He was the global model for bag brand Samsonite Red but wasn't able to re-sign at the end of December last year. Samsonite wanted Lee Min-ho instead.

Samsonite chose Kim Soo-hyun over Song Joong-ki and experienced a great effect in marketing thanks to Kim's big hit with "My Love from the Star". They even created a real-size poster of the actor to use for promotions.

Samsonite claimed, "Lee Min-ho's sophistication and city-like image is what Red wants". The Lee Min-ho backpack has been selling like crazy.

However, things have changed three months later. Kim Soo-hyun is now the model for Jeju Air, which Lee Min-ho modeled for before and helped increase the value of the company. The company claims it will be one of the best LCC with Kim Soo-hyun, a verified Hallyu star.

Jeju Air hired Lee Min-ho as its model last year and laid out overseas plans. The effect was immediate. The Jeju Air Facebook followers doubled in three months and the number of passengers increased from 4.5 to 5.9 million.

An agent claims, Lee Min-ho and Kim Soo-hyun have been competing in the advertisement market since their reputations in Asia have begun to go up. It's not easy to find people like them, so this cycle will continue for a while.