Ben Chan backstage with Ji Chang Wook after the fan meet last August
Ben Chan is Bench. That is how people know him—a fact that is already part and parcel of the history of Philippine retail.
However, for the past decade or so, thanks to the dominance of social media, Ben Chan, the steadfast global brand builder, is also oppa! (Loose translation: Korean for older brother or kin, or a term of endearment one uses for a guy)
Ben Chan is now a name with a huge following in social media mainly because he, for Bench, for the past decade or so, has been flying in one after another a top Korean star or K-pop band—as endorser of Bench, the Filipino brand that has gone global, both in market awareness and retail sales here and abroad. Ben is being followed by the fan bases of the Korean stars, and has gained a following of his own, especially among those who are eager to know who among their favorite Korean stars would be the next #globalbenchsetter.
With Stray Kids
When we asked him how he felt every time the K-star/K-pop fans ask him for selfies, the painfully shy retail visionary could only mutter a few words: “I am still not used to it! Hallyu fans are very loving and they embrace anyone that connects them to their idols as family. They know the managers, the dancers, the bodyguards, and luckily, including me. We belong to the same universe.”
That Ben Chan, the founder of Bench (circa 1987) and head of Suyen Corporation, would count himself as among the behind-the-scene staff of a Hallyu star should come as no surprise to people who have known this self-effacing businessman all these years. Not only is he an introvert and laconic, he is also very humble, a retail tycoon who never threw his weight around. No Master-of-the-Universe complex, he, in fact, puts himself in the universe of the hardworking staff behind the K-star or K-idol.
What puts Ben Chan in a league all his own in Philippine retail business has been and still is his marketing genius—he was doing branding for ready-to-wear even long before it became a buzz word. (Remember the iconic ad featuring Richard Gomez.) And more important, he never let up—not even and especially not when local retail was at the point of inundation by foreign brands; it still is, actually. Instead of caving in, Bench went full blast with #lovelocal and rolled out designs by the country’s top and emerging designers. In fact, this was no accidental marketing master stroke—Bench, Ben Chan and Suyen Corp. indeed have steadfast and sincere faith in Filipino ingenuity and design—a belief they backed with time and resources for sustained campaigns. In recent years Bench has been at the forefront of the revival of the terno through Ternocon, but that’s another story.
With Kim Seon Ho
Onstage during Kim Seon Ho fan meet
What’s hardly told is how Ben was arguably the first retailer in the country to tap the Korean actors as endorsers. Early on, at the turn of the millennium, he apparently already felt which way the wind was blowing—it was blowing away from Hollywood and into the Asian shores.
He told TheDiarist.ph: “At a time when all eyes were still on Hollywood, we were already anticipating a wave of Asian invasion. You could sense it when traveling, listening to the pulse of the people, and from my own experience being curious about J-pop, Chinese cinema, Korean dramas, and the shifting of influence in fashion from Western trends to Asian styles.”
Ben Chan with Park Hyun Sik, said to be among the friendliest Korean ‘oppas’ to visit Manila
He recalled the move Bench made even before the millennium: “In 1995, we took a leap of faith and signed up MTV Asia and Channel V’s VJ Nonie Tao. In 2003, we signed up Jerry Yan, who was a superstar of the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden. Both proved to be groundbreaking in highlighting Asian talents in the Philippine market.”
Our first Korean endorsers were Super Junior’s Choi Siwon and Donghae. Fans stood in queue as early as 7 am for their fan meet
Then he zeroed in on the Korean wave that was evidently building up. “It was finally in 2012 when we signed up our first Korean endorsers. It was during those years when we watched our first K-pop concerts and witnessed their talents, stunning live production, and amazing fandoms. Our first Korean endorsers were Super Junior’s Choi Siwon and Donghae. Fans stood in queue as early as 7 am for their fan meet. They were greeted with deafening cheers from their fans way before the start of the show. It was phenomenal to witness Hallyu in person especially during those early years.”
With Lee Min Ho early on in 2016
Then Bench chose Lee Min Ho even before the Korean star could be a global star. There was no turning back for Bench and the Korean Wave. To this day, some Korean actors who endorsed or continue to endorse Bench (i.e. Park Seo Jun, Byeon Woo Seok) say that they first heard of the Philippine brand because of Lee Min Ho.
Ben recalled, “It was in the same year, 2012, that we signed up Lee Min Ho as the new #globalbenchsetter. Lee Min Ho was the popular star of Boys Over Flowers, as well as Personal Taste and City Hunter, all of which were on Philippine primetime TV. Six feet tall and handsome, he was a very unanimous choice to endorse Bench and Bench Fix. The partnership was so successful that it lasted for many renewals for many years.”
Fan meet of Chinese actor Dylan Wang in 2016: Ben Chan as early as 1995 saw the swing from Hollywood to Asian entertainment fare.
Even in those years, the fandom’s obsession with the Korean stars was already palpable in the country. Ben can’t forget the hectice pace: “It was a whirlwind numbers of years. There were days that Lee Min Ho would do four mall tours in two days, from Manila to Cebu, such as in April 2016. It was tiring and exciting and fulfilling all at the same time. We always found a way to bring him back to the delight of all. After Bench and Bench Fix, he returned for his My Everything Tour in 2013. In 2015, he came back to the Philippines again to promote the Bench fragrance line So In Love and Sure Blue Eau de Toilette. Lee Min Ho and Bench together were phenomenal times.”
How was Lee Min Ho like?
Ben said, “There is always this larger-than-life Lee Min Ho persona that you see on television dramas, in huge billboards, and onstage, with the deafening adoration of fans, but in private, in small dinners, backstage, and behind the scenes in shoots, he is as normal as the next humble guy. He is polite and charming. He is always with a smile especially when talking to me and others at the table.
“I could say he felt at home and at ease in the Philippines. In one of the shoots in Manila, his requested music was Anak by Freddie Aguilar, which was a favorite of his even back in Korea.”
Not known to many, Freddie Aguilar’s Anak was the OST of Lee Min Ho’s acclaimed 2015 movie, Gangnam Blues.
Any memories that come to mind about your moments with these Korean celebrities, we asked Ben.
With Kim Soo Hyun in fan meet in Manila, Ben Chan’s first face-to-face meeting with foreign endorsers after the three-year pandemic
“Kim Soo Hyun. It was great to have met KSH in person, my first face-to-face meeting with our foreign endorsers after more than three years (pandemic)! So it was a big delight to have finally been able to mount one of our biggest events during that period.
Ben Chan with Park So Jun who, during his downtime in his Manila visit, did a vlog on Manila
“Park Seo Jun. PSJ did a vlog during his Manila trip and went to the mall without our security, and seemed to have enjoyed it! During dinner, he was very relaxed and all smiles bantering with people, making everyone feel at ease.
“Hyun Bin. Because it was at the height of the pandemic, I met him online twice, but only through Zoom. Nonetheless, he was much like his character Captain Ri: proper, considerate, respectable, and a demeanor that you would feel safe being with.”
How about the negotiations, we asked Ben— you and your staff must be patient and thorough.
“We had it much easier in those early years. First of all, it was just us at Bench who were bringing in Korean endorsers to our shore. The more difficult part was convincing them that the Philippines was a huge market for them. I think that after just the first Siwon and Donghae and Lee Min Ho fan meets, the Korean talent managements already saw the potential of our market and loving dedication of the Filipino fans.”
Ben noted the phenomenal rise in demand for Korean star or idol endorsers. “Today, the landscape has changed, with many industries, from telecommunications to beauty products to donuts, joining the Korean Wave bandwagon. Thus the demand has skyrocketed, and the competition to sign up oppas and idols has also been more difficult. Yes, the whole process requires patience and thorough diligence between the agents and our staff.”
Ben Chan onstage with Wi Ha Jun (‘Squid Game,’ ‘The Worst of Evil’), who showed his dance prowess during his fan meet
How much do the endorsements help in the sales? Was it Bench who started linking fan meet tickets to merchandise purchase?
“We do have a lot of merchandise that gets sold out the week after we launch. The K-drama and K-pop fans are different than Hollywood fans, for example, as they are very active in showing their support by actually making sure that our partnerships with their idols turn out to be huge successes. It is not uncommon for fans to band together and shop, and for fans abroad to find Filipinos who can shop for them in bulk, here, just to show their support. However, we monitor the success of our endorsements not just through sales, but also through the brand love we get from the fans.”
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When one speaks of “brand love” of K-drama fans, Korean actor Ji Chang Wook is easily top of mind—for both Ben Chan and the Philippine fan base. Ji Chang Wook—who became known for the widely popular Healer, Empress Ki, and recently, Welcome to Samdal-ri—is easily one of the most loved oppas in the Philippines. This affable star has one of the most devoted and proactive fan bases in the country. Known for his willingness to reach out always to fans—whether in fan meets or even just during his cursory airport arrivals and departures—Ji Chang Wook is known for what is termed as “fan service,” to refer to a star’s accessibility.
Ji Chang Wook has been to Manila twice for highly successful fan meets—one in 2022, the first fan meet of Ji Chang Wook outside of Seoul after the pandemic. He has apparently forged strong ties to Bench and Ben Chan who would host dinners for him here, and Ji Chang Wook, in turn, would invite Ben and his friends to dinners when they visit Seoul.
Ben Chan in Seoul with Ahn Hyo Seop (‘Business Proposal’) whose fan meet in Manila showed how well the ‘oppa’ could sing
With Itzy
Next to the Korean Wave, where will Ben Chan, the retail risk-taker, innovator and visionary, hop on next? C-drama? Hold your breath.
