Jennie × Lotte Department Store: “As I Am” #1

Just be. As I am. Four words and fifteen seconds. On 21 October Lotte Department Store released the first film of its As I Am campaign with Jennie of BLACKPINK — the store’s first brand ambassador in about a decade — on its YouTube and Instagram channels. The Korean line under it calls the series a record of “the most me” moments.

We started counting down on 8 October because of the running order: since 1 October Jennie had been in and on every store — Myeongdong, Jamsil, Seomyeon — so the city met the campaign before it met the film. The film’s answer to three weeks of posters is restraint. No counters, no shopping bags, no product. A face, a mood and a line short enough to remember on the escalator. The store is the frame; the film is a signature.

The countdown, closed

• 29.09 — Jennie announced as Lotte Department Store’s brand ambassador.
• 01.10 — As I Am goes up inside and outside every store, online and offline.
• 08.10 — We start the countdown. Thirteen days.
• 21.10 — As I Am #1 premieres on YouTube and Instagram. The “#1” promises more.
• Next — TV and digital ads; Jennie at Incheon Airport and Seoul Station, and in four Lotte stores in Vietnam and Indonesia, including Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi.

What we were watching for

Whether a department store could say As I Am without it sounding like a sale sign. Film one passes by saying almost nothing: the line is about the person, and the shop stays out of the frame. The harder test comes with #2 and beyond — whether the series can keep that discipline once it has to sell a season.