Jang Wonyoung wins Brand of the Year's Advertising Model award for a second year

Jang Wonyoung has won the Female Advertising Model award at the 2026 Brand of the Year Awards. Munhwa Ilbo and Ilgan Sports reported on 1 September 2026 that it is her second consecutive win, following the 2025 Brand of the Year Awards. This year’s consumer vote ran for two weeks, from 29 June to 12 July, and about 770,000 people cast some 7.95 million votes.

An award chosen by 770,000 consumers

The Brand of the Year Awards are hosted by the Korea Consumer Brand Committee and organised by the Korea Consumer Forum among others, and this year was the 24th edition. Munhwa Ilbo called it the largest brand awards in Korea, and Ilgan Sports explained that a nationwide consumer vote picks the year’s brands and people each year. This year’s vote ran from 29 June to 12 July, two weeks. According to the same outlet, about 770,000 consumers in Korea took part and a total of some 7.95 million votes were recorded, and that vote gave Jang Wonyoung the Female Advertising Model award. Cheonji Ilbo noted that it follows her win in the female advertising model category at the 2025 Brand of the Year Awards, making it two years running. The Male Advertising Model award went to the singer Lim Young-woong for a third consecutive year, Sports Kyunghyang’s English edition reported. The same article said the Korea Consumer Forum announced the winners on 1 September through its official social media.

Four new brands this year

Before the award, Jang Wonyoung had taken on four new brands in 2026. The Korea Economic Daily reported on 3 March 2026 that The Pure Lab had signed her as the global model for its skincare brand Dr.Althea, announcing it with a teaser film on 28 February. The Pure Lab said it chose “K-icon Jang Wonyoung, who has influence in markets around the world, to carry Dr.Althea’s clean-beauty philosophy to the global MZ generation effectively”. On 6 April she announced on her own social media that she had become an ambassador for Miu Miu’s fragrance, Star News reported. “I’m glad to be working with Miu Miu,” she said, adding that “special projects will follow”. The brand said it chose her because she “expresses modern femininity and individuality at once, and is deeply in tune with the brand’s free, convention-breaking spirit”. Two days later, on 8 April, Dyson Korea announced her as its Asia-Pacific (APAC) ambassador for hair devices. According to MyDaily she had first been named Dyson Korea’s official domestic ambassador in April of the previous year, and the new role widens that to the whole region. “I’m glad to be able to share more styling inspiration with Dyson across the Asia-Pacific region, beyond Korea,” she said. Kathleen Pierce, Dyson’s head of beauty, said the company was “very pleased to be working with Jang Wonyoung, an artist with influence across the whole Asia-Pacific region”.

The latest appointment: Eider’s Chinese market

On 31 August, the day before the award was reported, eToday reported that the outdoor brand Eider had appointed Jang Wonyoung as its brand ambassador for the Chinese market, following her domestic role. Eider opened its first store in China in Shanghai in September of the previous year, runs stores in Shanghai and Jilin today, and plans to add Changchun and Yanji later this year. Eider’s marketing team leader said the appointment was “a strategic move to expand in the Chinese market and, alongside it, to convey Eider’s own identity and its trendy, modern brand image more clearly to local consumers”. The stage schedule continues in parallel. Munhwa Ilbo and Cheonji Ilbo wrote that IVE is on its second world tour, SHOW WHAT I AM, and Cheonji Ilbo reported that Jang Wonyoung will keep up both her music and her advertising work.

Key takeaways

• Jang Wonyoung won the Female Advertising Model award at the 2026 Brand of the Year Awards, her second consecutive win after 2025.
• The vote ran for two weeks from 29 June to 12 July; about 770,000 people took part and some 7.95 million votes were cast.
• Her new brands of 2026: global model for Dr.Althea (28 February), Miu Miu fragrance ambassador (6 April), Dyson APAC ambassador (8 April) and Eider’s ambassador for China (31 August).
• IVE is on its second world tour, SHOW WHAT I AM.