Microsoft Live and Targeting the Hispanic Marketplace - or not.
This entry was posted on 2/19/2008 2:08 PM and is filed under Microsoft,Hispanic SEM,Thoughts.
I received an email last week from Joe Spector who launched the dating site QuieroLatino.com, targeted to the Hispanic market. He was put off by AdCenter's lack of targeting ability toward one of the fastest growing segments of the US population and wrote about his experience here. I would say that it was not just the lack of targeting ability, but what set Joe off was the refusal to even accept sites that are in Spanish. I understand this in the early parts of development, as the resources to match and understand any Language is daunting. But, to have come this far along and not add it to the basic service is a poor oversight.
The truth is, AdCenter, and Microsoft in general, is really bad at Search. They have made little progress in expanding market share. After targeting French Canadians and English speaking North Americans, they pretty much focused on repackaging their search service (live.com) and integrating into the MS applications. While I understand Joe taking offense at their lack of acknowledgment of the importance of the Hispanic Market, the reality is that MS has just thrown up its arms with search in general. This isn't so much a dis of a particular market as it is a symptom of general ineptitude in the technology and marketing of search. Thus, MS is trying to buy what they can't build.
Taking a step back from Search, SEW has a good perspective from Maria Lopez-Knowles, senior vice president of MRM Worldwide, about Hispanic marketing online. She even recognizes MSN's Hispanic portal as a good example of the way to communicate to a bi-lingual market... the US Hispanic market.
However, it is more than language. There is more than "one" Hispanic market. The Hispanic market is another example of people separated by a common language. Argentinian, Mexican,Puerto Rican , Honduran, etc are distinct cultures that share a common language. Mix this with the impact of Hispanic immigrants and pop-culture-influenced- 1st-generation-bi-lingual Hispanics, and the divisions become more fragmented, even within households. Mid last year, I spoke with Jon Santiago of Media 8 about communicating to the Hispanic Market (His firm specializes in marketing communications in South America and the Hispanic population in the U.S.). While he recognizes that in-language plays a role and markets his clients accordingly, he is quick to point out that in-culture is the key. This is a daunting task for any marketer. It means more than the one variable of language. It means an acknowledgment of many cultures under one label.
MSN's oversight is annoying. However, by focusing on the key cultural drivers of the various segments within the Hispanic Market, it becomes clear that there are many paths to successfully communicating and marketing to this diverse group within the U.S.. The use of an English language landing page, with links to the Spanish language content is not only an acceptable path, but one which may be in-line with the dual language mode of living pointed out by Maria Lopez-Knowles. 
