Plunging further into the growing Hispanic market, Kohl's Corp. will be the exclusive retail sponsor for a Spanish-language television series in the vein of "American Idol."
The new series, "ĦQ'Viva! The Chosen," will debut Saturday on Univision. It features actress Jennifer Lopez and salsa king Marc Anthony traveling Latin America and the United States in search of talented singers, musicians, dancers and other entertainers.
And as they journey through 21 countries, the famously estranged couple will wear clothes from their signature collections at Kohl's.
Kohl's rollout of the respective lines in September was its biggest product launch to date, and further evidence of the increasing importance of exclusive and private-label brands to the Menomonee Falls-based retailer.
Beyond the featuring of its fashions on "ĦQ'Viva!," Kohl's sponsorship includes paid media, publicity, promotions and events.
The series will include 12 shows of one hour each, plus a grand finale. There have been reports that Fox TV will carry the series, too, but a spokesman for show producer XIX Entertainment said he couldn't confirm that.
In a statement, Julie Gardner, Kohl's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said the show gives the company an opportunity "to leverage and maximize our investment in the Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony lifestyle collections, which launched in fall 2011."
Kohl's has a growing presence in heavily Hispanic states. Over the last five years, the chain has added 110 stores in three states -- California, Texas and Florida -- that not only have the country's largest numbers of Hispanic residents, but where Hispanic residents represent at least 22% of the population. Those three states received more than a third of the new Kohl's stores that opened since February 2007.
Numbering more than 50 million, people of Hispanic origin make up the country's largest and fastest-growing ethnic or racial minority, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For more information about Kohl's, which has more than 1,000 stores in 49 states, visit Kohls.com
