Lee Kwang Soo, Korean actor and TV personality, has been chosen to be the new face of world-renowned carmaker Toyota. He was featured on the company's latest TV commercial that promotes the 2016 RAV 4 Hybrid sports utility vehicle.
The commercial which was titled "Rise Up" was released on Toyota's official You Tube channel. The ads are intended to be shown in American broadcasts.
Moreover, Lee's agency King Kong Entertainment stated that their talent was chosen to appear on the promo ads because the automaker wants to grow the sales among the Asians in America, Korea Joongang Daily reported.
"Toyota casted Lee Kwang Soo in order to target the Asian market inside the States," the company's representative said in a statement.
The actor's massive popularity in Asia played a big part in the car-maker's decision to hire him as one of their image models. In fact, this is not his first TV commercial outside of South Korea. The "It's Ok, It's Love" star already appeared in several ad campaigns in Asian countries like China and Hong Kong.
Lee is the second Hallyu Wave celebrity to become Toyota's brand ambassador for the U.S. Market. In 2011 and 2013, the company had worked with another Hallyu star Lee Min Ho. The promotion was very successful that the motor company even held a fan meeting for the actor as a way to say thanks, Kpopstarz reported.
At any rate, Lee Kwang Soo is currently enjoying tremendous popularity that he is even called the "Asia's Prince." People abroad came to know him not through the drama series which he appeared in but through the high-rating variety show "Running Man."
The actor also recently received the Most Popular Asian Artist at the 2015 Weibo Night. The annual awards ceremony was held in Dec. 7, 2015 in Beijing. The event was organized by the Chinese media company Sina.
Meanwhile, Toyota America is set to release a series of Kwang Soo's TV commercials in the coming days. The ads have been subtitled in four languages like Chinese, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Korean because they will be released in Asia as well.
Check out Lee's newest Toyota commercial below!
