Disney goes Hispanic....

Demi Lovato

Selena Gomez

The new faces of Disney

Being an Advertising major, I have to keep up with the latest, greatest, and hippest trends, products, and in some cases people. The girls that are blowing up the blogosphere the past couple of weeks are Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.

They are quickly becoming the new faces of the Disney channel. Many dub these Texan girls as Miley Cyrus's replacement. What I find interesting about this duo is that they are both of Hispanic decent.

With the Hispanic population growing faster than the overall American population, it is very interesting to see how different brands will try to target this newly developing audience. The Hispanic population is also considerably younger than that of the general market. The purchasing power of Hispanics has surpassed many analysts expectations.

Here are some key facts from a Research and Markets report released in May.

- From 1996 to 2006, U.S. Hispanic purchasing power posted a compound annual growth rate of 6.96%.

- Forty-seven percent of the nation's purchasing power and 50% of the Hispanic population are concentrated in California and Texas.

- We expect Income-producing Hispanic households in the United States to represent 13.8% of the population by 2015.

U.S. Hispanic Purchasing Power:

U.S. Hispanic purchasing power surged to nearly $870 billion in 2008 and is projected to reach as much as $1.3 trillion by 2015. During the past decade, the rate of growth was more than two times the overall national rate. We estimate current Hispanic purchasing power to be at 9.3% of the total current U.S. purchasing power and project it to be 12% by 2015.


So lets see what Disney is doing to tap this emerging market.

Demi and Selena seem as if they are highly acculturated into the American lifestyle almost to the point of complete assimilation. (Which isn't a problem since the younger Hispanic population tends to be more assimilated.)

Demi and Selena have both played Hispanic characters in their respective TV and movie roles.

The Spanish language has been used in these shows and movies signaling a wider acceptance of bilingualism.

Disney is doing an excellent job in its attempt to target the Hispanic market. I think Disney will soon be one of the first to successfully target and court the acculturated Hispanic youth.

I leave you with a video of Selena Gomez in her latest music video.