Jennifer Lopez Launches VIVAmovil to Target Latino Shoppers

In an effort to benefit from the country’s growing Latino population, Superstar Jennifer Lopez is expanding her enterprise to include mobile device and services marketing via a new online and bricks-and-mortar retail brand called VIVAmovil. The effort, in which Lopez is the key shareholder and for which Verizon Wireless is the exclusive service provider, was announced today at CTIA in Las Vegas.

The goal is to cater to the growing Latino population in the U.S. with wireless products and services – and eventually customized content as well.

Other partners and stakeholders in VIVAmovil include Brightstar, the largest Latino-owned business in the U.S., and Moorehead Communications, one of Verizon Wireless’ largest premium retailers and a long-time partner. Verizon Wireless is not a stakeholder in the business.

Lopez, chief creative officer for VIVAmovil, this morning at CTIA told a group of reporters that she worked closely with Moorehead to design the stores and address store employee training. All customer-facing store employees will be bilingual, and the stores will feature dedicated play areas to appeal to families, she added.

The first VIVAmovil store will open June 15 at an undisclosed location at a busy intersection in New York City. Additional VIVAmovil stores are planned for Los Angeles and Miami. Verizon Wireless Executive Vice President and COO Marni Walden indicated that plans for future sites would depend upon the success of the stores in these Latino hotspots. She added that customers throughout the U.S. will have access to VIVAmovil products via a branded website and a Facebook page, through which they will be able to select and purchase products and services.

That’s important, Lopez said, because “Latinos love social media.” She added that Latinos spend 1.5 hours more time per day online than non-Latinos.

While Lopez is introducing a line of branded VIVAmovil smartphone accessories (cases were shown at the press conference), the service plans offered via the new brand will be the same as Verizon Wireless’ existing service plans.

The Latino market is the fastest growing market in the U.S., Lopez and Walden pointed out during this morning’s presentation. Lopez added that Latinos make up 16 percent of the U.S. population and account for 67 percent of the country’s population growth. Latino purchasing power is growing as well, noted Lopez, who said the group’s purchasing power was $1.2 trillion last year and is expected to exceed $1.5 trillion by 2015.

 “I see VIVAmovil as part of a cultural revolution,” she said.