Twin Personas - Selling Both Sides of One Coin

This dual personality idea in Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus functions much like MK and A. Twin sides of one coin. The built in duality of the marketed object is sheer money-making brilliance, as well as a totally frustrating manipulation of tween girl fans. Basically, everything you buy...you'll can have two of...one of Hannah's as well as one of Miley's. There's just one brand...but because of its duality it can reflect nearly anything back at you.

Every time I think about this marketing strategy I can almost see this fast dancing, tricky animated character (maybe a coked out teletubbie who's gotten a job to serve his habit) bopping around a girl who's been overwhelmed by all the dazzling colors of the limitless product lines. Poking and prodding he aims to find out what she wants to buy. Who is she? Who does she want to be? What can he say that will make her BUY? He playfully works to find out how she identifies, is she the: bold girl or the shy girl? good girl or the bad gir?. creative girl or the academic girl? athlete or the cheerleader? Whatever she wants him to sell to help her be a better version of herself, or a better someone else, he's got it. Or he'll get it. Just step right up and identify with one of the two sides of the coin and he'll roll out the red carpet product line just for you. And once you're done with that and want to try something else...he can sell you the other one, the one you didn't buy before.

And at some point I feel he should say, "Just remember, the first ones free...but after that...you'll have to pay. And pay. And pay. And pay. And pay. And pay...."

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Below is an excerpt from: Cyrus/Montana -- Disney's dominating 'duo' -- thrills the tweens
By ANDY SPLETZER

The lights dim, and that's when the screaming starts. Thousands of preteen girls watch excitedly as a cage of video screens descends from the ceiling playing a silhouette of Disney star Hannah Montana.

When it lands, the blond superstar emerges in a sparkling silver dress and high boots, and the screaming gets even louder. That's when a man offers me $20 for two sets of earplugs, which I just give him for free. I'm sure it's the only thing he didn't pay for all night.

On the hit TV show that shares her character's name, 14-year-old Miley Cyrus (daughter of "Achy-Breaky" country star Billy Ray Cyrus) plays a brown-haired high school student named Miley Stewart who is secretly the blond-haired pop sensation Montana.

The premise of the show is reflected in many of the Montana songs, like the opening number "Rock Star" in which she sings about how she's a strong but shy girl who "might even be a rock star."

Cyrus plays her Montana persona perfectly. She owns the stage, and moves from one song to the next without a stutter or stumble. At 14, she has a stage presence that many performers two or three times her age don't.

When all else fails she strikes her rock-star pose by locking one knee, bending forward at the waist, looking out to the crowd and thrusting her right hand in the air, palm up, making a "gimme more applause" gesture.

To close the show, Cyrus rises up on a platform at the end of the runway wearing a leather vest over a white shirt, a wide belt and bedazzled black leggings with white boots. A fake wind blows through her hair.

As the other half of the Best of Both Worlds Tour, Cyrus feels more like a persona than Hannah Montana. The songs are more guitar-driven, the outfits more adult, and the lyrics imply a string of bad boyfriends -- but it feels like imaginary drama taken from high school poetry, as if she's pretending to be older than she is. Only her country-influenced song, "I Miss You," dedicated to her dead grandfather, has a level of sincerity missing from the rest of the set.

By the end of the concert, the kids in the audience seemed tired. It wasn't until they got outside that they got all excited again, flaunting their $30 Hannah Montana shirts, their $20 programs, their $15 laminates, and $10 wristbands.