Mike Brown, the Director of Internet Marketing for VEGAS.com, talks about the value of his site's partnership with AOL Latino.
Las Vegas is the top travel destination for Spanish-speaking people in the United States, but the market has been under-served with Spanish-language information and travel tools. Seeing a huge partnership opportunity, AOL Latino and VEGAS.com recently announced the launch of a new travel hub to provide Spanish-speaking consumers with the latest information and booking tools for those wishing to visit Las Vegas.
Today, Mike Brown, Director of Internet Marketing for VEGAS.com, chats with iMediaConnection about how both VEGAS.com and AOL Latino are providing real value to their members.
iMediaConnection: How did the AOL Latino and VEGAS.com partnership develop?
Mike Brown: We have been working with AOL for a number of years. VEGAS.com has the most complete Vegas offering -- both in content and in travel products -- of any Web site, so it was natural that we would work together for this hub. We launched our Espanol site just a few months before AOL Latino's launch, so given the fact that we were already sponsoring their English language Vegas hub, it was a natural extension to do something even more integrated with AOL Latino when it became available.
iMediaConnection: What was the thought process behind AOL Latino and VEGAS.com’s decision to create this site catering to the Hispanic market?
Brown: Vegas is the top travel destination for Spanish-speaking people in the United States, and the market has been under-served with Spanish-language information and travel tools. We both wanted to offer a fully Spanish experience (not just a booking page or two) so that Hispanic visitors could plan and book their trips in Spanish.
iMediaConnection: What were some challenges in building the hub (usability issues, translations, etc.?
Brown: Creating the hub was straightforward, since it contains content and tools that VEGAS.com had already developed. VEGAS.com already has a staff of Spanish-speaking editors producing content, so it was just a matter of repurposing our existing original Spanish-language content as well as working with AOL to produce special AOL member promotions.
The biggest ongoing issue is maintenance -- Vegas is constantly changing, with new hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, shows and more. VEGAS.com is located in Vegas and keeps up-to-date on all of these changes, but it's still a non-trivial task to keep the site fresh and current.
We've also found that providing prominent toll-free phone numbers that take users to our Spanish-speaking contact center has proven to be a successful way of overcoming new user concerns about placing transactions over the Net.
iMediaConnection: What does the online advertising landscape look like for the newly launched travel hub?
Brown: Besides AOL Latino and VEGAS.com, there are no other companies integrated into the co-branded Vegas micro site. VEGAS.com is the only "advertiser." We've found it more effective than traditional banner advertising: Most users will ignore banners, but by having our commerce opportunities integrated into helpful and timely Vegas travel and entertainment content (also provided by VEGAS.com), we've seen much stronger response/interaction levels, and that naturally leads to higher conversion rates.
iMediaConnection: What are some of the marketing trends and challenges with regard to U.S. Hispanics and travel?
Brown: The Hispanic community has taken a little extra time to move to ecommerce, so we're a little bit ahead of the curve, but this site -- which is entirely in Spanish -- shows the dedication of AOL, the leading online service for Hispanics, and VEGAS.com, the No. 1 city site in the world.
iMediaConnection: Aside from the hub, what else can Hispanics expect from AOL Latino and VEGAS.com?
Brown: I can't speak to AOL Latino's larger plans for their online service, but VEGAS.com will continue to roll out new products simultaneously in English and in Spanish, including expanded nightclub offerings, spas, restaurants and packages. There will also be new AOL member promotions.
Elizabeth M. Lloyd is the Director of Corporate Marketing for Netblue, Inc., an online direct marketing company based in Silicon Valley. Previously, Lloyd was the Director of Marketing for opt-in email provider, NetCreations, in New York City. Prior to NetCreations, Lloyd was responsible for the PR department of ValueClick, Inc.