MBP -- June 2 -- Perfectmatch (3 million members) signed a season-long deal to be integrated into the storyline of Lifetime channel's new series about a dysfunctional dating service. Perfectmatch will appear as a faceless nemesis that steals clients from Lovespring. Perfectmatch (also mentioned in "Must Love Dogs" and "Failure to Launch") will be integrated into the June films "The Break-Up," with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, and "Superman Returns," starring Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey.
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74 posts categorized "PerfectMatch"
Perfectmatch.com Launches Duet(R) Analysis
PR NEWSWIRE -- Apr 24 -- Perfectmatch.com announced their new Duet(R) Analysis Profile with additional emphasis on personality and lifestyle. Perfectmatch.com appears in "Failure to Launch" with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker, and in "Superman Returns," in theatres June 30th. RELEASE @ SYS-CON
Computing the Mysteries of Attraction
NY TIMES -- Mar 29 -- Students Elizabeth and Robert were at Wesleyan in 1965 when they became a part of what might have been the first computer dating service; Operation Match. It sent questionnaires to college campuses, students rated their own looks, intelligence and interests, described their ideal date using the same measures, then returned the survey, along with a $3 fee. Responses were transferred to punch cards and fed into an enormous Avco 1790 computer. Six weeks later, it spat out lists of mates for everyone. ...During the first five years of marriage, the divorce rate for a couple of the same religion is 24%, no matter what that religion is. But it jumps to 38% for a Protestant and a Catholic, and 42% for a Jew and a Christian, according to economist Evelyn Lehrer. Divorce rates are higher for interracial couples and couples with a wife who is 4+ years older than her husband. (When the man is a lot older, on the other hand, divorce is no more likely than when spouses are about the same age.) Personality profiling atempts to "...narrow it down so you spend less time with people who are totally out of the question," said Pepper Schwartz, PerfectMatch's sociologist. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES
Perfectmatch CEO Comment on Seattle Times Article
Mar 30 -- I had a chat with Duane Dahl, CEO of personality profiling relationship service, Perfectmatch.com, about the Seattle Times article "Some Feel Wronged by Perfectmatch." He commented..."I'd encourage sites to check their listings with the Better Business Bureau. One complaint is too many - but the writer of our story failed to put the story in perspective by doing a comparisin vs. our competitor eHarmony which has 447 BBB complaints! (compared to our 30)." He added, "our growth in '06 was very exciting - we've spent the past quarter focused on reinforcing our infrastructure to be sure we are appropriately positioned to take on eHarmony." - Mark Brooks
Some Feel Wronged by Perfectmatch
SEATTLE TIMES CONSUMER AFFAIRS -- Mar 27 -- Perfectmatch.com is getting out there, thanks to product placement in three major movies and TV segments on "Dr. Phil" and "Live With Regis and Kelly." But Perfectmatch.com also is getting a bad reputation among some consumers who say the site didn't find them a perfect match at all - and didn't respond when they tried to get a refund. "The last year and a half for Perfectmatch has been a very exciting period," Chief Executive Duane Dahl said. "We've experienced a tremendous amount of growth, and certainly from that growth we've had a couple of challenges." Perfectmatch has doubled its staff in the past year and has 3 million members, Dahl said. Much of its growth can be attributed to a pre-Valentine's Day "Dr. Phil" show last year that featured the company. Perfectmatch says Galpin was one of about 207,000 people who paid $99 that day for a four-month promotional membership. Many of the Perfectmatch complaints were about the company's automatic-renewal policy. FULL ARTICLE @ SEATTLE TIMES
Mark Brooks: The down side of giving away trial memberships is the aftermath of chargebacks and complaints.
Online Dating a new Trend
BG NEWS -- Feb 17 -- PerfectMatch.com currently has three million registered members. The biggest difference between Perfect Match and eHarmony is the mainstream attitude of PerfectMatch.com, CEO Dahl said. eHarmony.com does not allow people who have been married multiple times to join. They also exclude homosexuals. FULL ARTICLE @ BG NEWS
www.findlovehere.com
NEWSWEEK -- Feb 20 issue -- According to JupiterResearch, 15% of Internet users between the ages of 45 and 54 browsed dating sites last year. The number of baby boomers visiting Lavalife has grown 39% over the last three years. At Match the 50-and-older crowd is the fastest-growing segment. SciConnect.com; 60% of its science nerds are 40-59. PerfectMatch.com; 63% 35-60. PrimeSingles.net is a 50-plus site whose membership grew 39% in 2005. FULL ARTICLE @ MSNBC.COM
Match.com Teams Up With Dr Phil
Jan 12 -- Match says, 'We'll Show You Who, He'll Show You How.' MindFindBind is Dr Phil's 'provocative' advice for finding the right person. Dr Phil paired up with Perfect Match but moved to Match.com. - Mark Brooks
Friends with Benefits. Buddies. Booty calls. Is this what dating has become?
THE SEATTLE TIMES -- Dec 11 -- Today's dating scene is about as easy to pigeonhole as the color of paint. Sure, there are plenty of traditionalists out there, but there are many others who don't date so much as hang out or hook up. Some rely on what I'll politely call "bed buddies" to get them through the lonely times. Dating has changed dramatically. Fifty years ago, a single woman would sooner hide out in a darkened apartment than let her neighbors know she didn't have a Saturday night steady. These days, she'll post her picture on AdultFriendFinder or Lavalife's "Intimate Encounters" section to find a no-strings sex partner for the night. "If somebody has no intention of looking for someone special in their life and just wants sex for fun and pleasure, isn't it better that they tell you up front?" says Pepper Schwartz, University of Washington sociology professor and author of "Finding Your Perfect Match." (and PerfectMatch.com spokesperson). "The honesty may be a little difficult to take, but it might hurt less in the long run." FULL ARTICLE @ SEATTLE TIMES
Mark Brooks: This is a groundbreaking article. I rarely see the subject of casual dating sites broached in the press. Some interesting social trends are empowering the press to start picking this subject area up. Adultfriendfinder, Sexsearch and Mate1 are the top adult dating sites.
Men's Turn to Offer Dating Complaints
SEATTLE TIMES -- Oct 30 -- If many women over 40 find the dating scene a dark continent, older single men have their own news to share: It's not all that great for them, either. 42% of single men in their 50s named bitter baggage as their #1 complaint, according to a 2003 AARP survey of 3,500 baby boomers. 35% of women had a problem with this, as well. "I'll meet a woman and the first thing she'll do is ask 'What do you do?' They'll weigh your wallet," says Scott Abraham, a 53-year-old Seattle counselor who says he's given up on dating. "I have a friend who's a doctor, but he never wants to tell women that because he'll be treated differently. We went out one time and he said, 'OK, tonight, you be the doctor.' That night, I got all the attention. I had my choice of three or four women. He said he sold cars and he got no attention." "Dating is a numbers game," he says. "The more people you meet, the better chance you have of meeting quality people and to me, dancing is a good way to meet them. It's not like you're being set up, it's not like a Match.com type of thing. You've got a girl in your arms for two and a half minutes. You can talk. They're right there." Match.com lists 9,000 local members in their 40s, nearly 60% of them men. There are another 5,000 in their 50s. Seattle's own PerfectMatch.com currently has more than 100,000 "over-39" members in the Seattle/Tacoma area. The over-39 category is one of their fastest growing age groups. Some local options: PlayDate Seattle, Space City Mixer, Elements of Soul and Spartay.com, which recently added events for the 35 to 55 set. FULL ARTICLE @ SEATTLE TIMES
Mark Brooks: Social events are a pain to organise and not that profitable. But, they are the last vestitude for online personals to make a real world connection and offer instant gratification for those who venture out from behind their computers. Check out my little club www.ace-club.com. I started it in 1998 by sticking a poster up in a bagel shop in Silicon Valley. People talked and it grew to an email list of 3600. Now, my legion of hosts run a few hundred events a year for an exclusive base of paying members; $20 a month.
Personality Profiling Sites: Who Would You Trust
ONE2ONE MAGAZINE -- Sept 15 -- ARTICLE BY MARK BROOKS, ONLINE PERSONALS WATCH EDITOR/BLOGGER -- Which of these people would you trust with probably the most important decision you’ll ever make? Dr Warren of eHarmony is a clinical psychologist with a theology background and 30 years of counseling experience. Dr Houran of TRUE is a young clinical psychologist with 15 years counseling experience and many journal papers to his name. Then we have the sociologist Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch.
SIMILAR/COMPLEMENTARY: eHarmony matches on similarities whilst PerfectMatch offers you a choice. You can see people who are similar to you, and also people who are complementary to you. TRUE is mainly focused on matching you with people who have complementary traits.
MAGIC BOX: eHarmony does the searching for you. PerfectMatch and TRUE take alternative approaches. You have more visibility and control over the way you are matched and the speed at which you can get out on a date. PerfectMatch and TRUE also offer instant messaging which eHarmony doesn’t favor. Both TRUE and PerfectMatch are less decisive, and more open box rather than magic box. Dr Pepper Schwartz of PerfectMatch commented, ”I’m a sociologist, not a deity.”
ON CHEMISTRY: Cupid.com CEO, Eric Straus argues that chemistry can only be gauged in the real world, by meeting and getting eyeball to eyeball. “There’s no mathematical formula to love,” affirms Abe Smilowitz, CEO of WebDate.com. “You can’t qualify love by doing a profile analysis. Love is about feelings and a persons emotions.” On the other hand Pat Dines, CEO of Mary.com argues, “chemistry works in unison with long term compatibility. Compatibility tests simply identify who you are compatible to be friends with. You need to meet many ‘compatible’ people to find chemistry.” Dr Glenn Wilson is one of the fathers of compatibility testing and states, “[Compatibility testing] will not tell you whether or not you are going to fall in love with another person in a compulsive, ‘chemical’ way, just whether or not it is a good idea if you do.”
Imagine, you walk into your favorite coffee shop, bar or club and meet someone that you click with. You spend the next six months with them, only to find you’re COMPLETELY incompatible. Would you have had a better time with someone who was a ‘good match.’ How about the perfect match? Relationship based online personals sites hold high promise. They are new. They are still experimenting. Dr Houran confirmed, “we’re in the infancy of compatibility testing.” FULL ARTICLE @ ONE2ONE MAGAZINE
Mark Brooks: ONE2ONE Living (available on Amazon) is a magazine for the singles lifestyle...'Fuel for the single life: entertainment, travel, culture, events, style, dating.' I thought Halle Berry's quote in the latest magazine was fascinating. "I'll never get married again, and I always hate to say never to anything, but I will never marry again... I want love and I'll find it hopefully and have a committed relationship, but no more marriages." These attitude is fueling the decline in number of people getting married... and the future success and growth of the online personals industry.
Hooking Up Is Out; Finding Your Perfect Match Is In!
PRNewswire -- Aug 23 -- PerfectMatch.com appears prominently in the "Must Love Dogs" movie trailer and throughout the extensive television campaign. PerfectMatch's remarkable growth in 2005 has been driven by partnerships in entertainment with Sony Pictures' "Hitch," the Dr. Phil Show and Lifetime Television, as well as major online brands MSNBC, iVillage and drugstore.com. PerfectMatch is a premium "relationship" site and continues its impressive growth while the "casual" dating space faces an industry-wide slowdown. A primary reason for the slowed growth within the casual dating space is the emergence of the savvy Internet dater. "Casual sites like Match.com and Yahoo! Personals are terrific to introduce users to online dating," Mr. Dahl, CEO, stated continued. "As singles gain confidence, we can expect them to graduate to a community of like-minded people. At PerfectMatch, singles can do that because we have a community of genuine people looking for real love and sincere 'relationships.'" PerfectMatch.com(TM), is preparing for another sizeable growth increase in 2006 with the release of a book "Finding Your Perfect Match" authored by PerfectMatch relationship authority Dr. Pepper Schwartz (Penguin), and a partnership with NBC Universal's "The Break-up" starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. RELEASE @ RED NOVA
Mark Brooks: Match and Yahoo Personals, along with True.com I might add (a relationships site with a slightly broader perspective), allow users the freedom to decide what kind of relationships they are interested in. eHarmony and PerfectMatch are focused on people who are 'very single' and very motivated to hook up for a longer term relationship. Examples of full-on casual dating sites include Adultfriendfinder/Passion.com (Alexa rank has gone from 100 to 45 over the prior 12 months), Sexsearch (Alexa rank grown from 1500 to 600), Mate1 (15,000 to 2,000). Eroticy and IwantU are plugging along as well. Morals aside, full-on casual dating sites are here to stay. This segment is alive and kicking and not to be ignored.
Must Love Dogs
ROLLING STONE --July 22 -- A frisky romantic comedy with a great title and wonderfully appealing performances from Diane Lane and John Cusack as computer-dating matchups. REVIEW @ ROLLING STONE
Seniors Discover New Way to Connect — Online
SEATTLE TIMES -- June 4 -- Al Farrar, at age 74, was a bored and lonely widower when his daughter urged him to go online and look for a lady friend. That's how Farrar, a retired postal-service supervisor, apprehensively came to sign up for "Cupid Junction," a computer dating service. "Two years ago, the percentage of age 50-plus online daters was very, very small. Now on a daily basis that percentage is growing by leaps and bounds," says Duane Dahl, president of PerfectMatch.com. AARP counsels beware when dating online but touts the strategy as a good way for older people to meet. In April, more than 1.6 million age 65-plus visited online personals sites, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. "The most important thing to do is make sure the site you choose has a large enough database of people you're interested in and who are interested in you," advises Ron Geraci, a special-projects editor for AARP. FULL ARTICLE @ SEATTLE TIMES
Mark Brooks: Older singles discovery of online personals has been one of the big stories of the year.
OPW Exclusive Interview #4 - PerfectMatch's CEO
OPW CEO Interview -- June 1, 2005 -- Duane Dahl is CEO of Perfect Match and the former CEO of Kiss.com and Udate, which were acquired by Match.com/IAC. Perfect Match is eHarmony's most direct competitor. It's the only other top tier dating site that requires all it's users take a personality test. - Mark Brooks
How is Perfect Match different from eHarmony?
Dr. Neil Warren has done some excellent things within the Christian ministry and his Christian oriented publications. However, he doesn't hold a candle to our Dr. Pepper Schwartz. We've made Dr. Schwartz available and accessible to our PerfectMatch.com members, which we believe is key. Neil, on the other hand, is a spokesperson who appears on TV and that's all he is. Our vision has been to leverage experience and expertise for the good of our members through several Dr. Schwartz vehicles: Her Q&A, chat, monthly column, etc. Also, we do not condone exclusionary practices. I think people want to know how people are being matched. People are starting to question the matching. If you're going to discriminate, you need to be up front and disclose why you're discriminating.
How does your matching philosophy differ from eHarmony?
Transparency is the key. eHarmony has a black box approach. We’ve worked very hard to create a matching algorithm that members can actually use, benefit from and work to their advantage. Take a look at the True.com test. They contracted doctors to come up with a test. It's a good test on a poor site. We want to put our members in a position to impact results. We encourage our members to review results of their tests and identify with those they had relationships with in the past, so they can get an idea of who would be a good match for them in the future. Also, wouldn't it be nice, while users are waiting for their matches, for them to be able to search the database freely? On PerfectMatch.com that’s a highly prized option. On eHarmony, you just wait for someone else to decide your future.
What are your thoughts on the progression of matching technology?
It's still very, very early days in the business. I think the business has grown so quickly, the technology hasn't been able to keep up. As the space evolves, it's going to become more specialized...more member centric. We make sure every single one of our members has the ability to have their profile reviewed on the site. There are millions of members who don't quite get it and they need assistance. So, we have a comprehensive 10 point review, from photo selection to the content in their profiles. This review is available with our standard membership. It's very important to make sure the membership is educated and someone takes the time to teach them what works and doesn't work. We've developed our own leading-edge technology to have our member services team review all profiles. We're constantly reinforcing to our membership 'they're not alone here.' A few years back we saw a Jupiter report and most online personals members were on three or four sites. The reason? They don't really know how to use online dating. They're just going to three or four 'bars' at different times of the week. We're making sure our members can leverage the vast experience we have, and greatly increase their odds of success.
Do you really think you can trounce eHarmony?
I have no doubt. For us, my team got back into the space so we can compete and win. We are actively seeking out partners. Every time we compete with eHarmony on a proposed deal, we win. Sitting back and looking at it, why are we winning? We're not spending more money. We are, however, willing to go beyond traditional ads and be creative. Major brands will not work with eHarmony in this regard. If I can be in situations head-to-head for business development, I love that. Christian content is just not mainstream. We look forward to crushing eHarmony.
eHarmony doesn't favor webcams? Does PerfectMatch favor them?
A few years ago we thought webcam usage would ramp pretty quickly. One of the difficulties is the inability to audit what is going on in a community. This is why many sites have struggled. The same goes with recorded video. We just don't have time to review it all. Also, when we work so hard to build a brand, the last thing we want is a someone uploading inappropriate content.
eHarmony excludes homosexuals. What’s PerfectMatch’s position on homosexuals?
We never have and never will judge our members. We built a community to allow people to find sincere relationships, so of course, we allow individuals to pursue same sex relationships. I find eHarmony's exclusion of homosexuals almost as appalling as the notion of them excluding people who've been married a couple of times...because the assumption is they never will be happy in a relationship. To me, it’s absolutely laughable for some 70-year-old guy, who is sitting on the king’s throne in Pasadena, to judge men and women in this culture in such a way. Relationships go bad. But, that doesn't mean these people are not worthy of ultimately finding love. It's really ridiculous.
What does the future hold?
We're very excited for the online relationship and dating spaces. Some exciting things are happening at both sites. Dating sites like Yahoo Personals and Match, but we're still troubled with True's approach, though. We would like them to get away from the business of having to use suggestive female photos to drive members. I think that hurts both the dating and relationships space. We remain very committed and excited about the future. We’re there to compete and win. And, when we win, our members will win, by finding that special person.
Mark Brooks: After the interview Duane gave me a heads up on the following upcoming Dr Phil show...
"Finding Your PerfectMatch, June 3rd on Dr. Phil Dr. Phil wants to help make some love connections! Along with PerfectMatch.com, he's setting the entire studio audience up with their "perfect match!" Then, he kicks off "The Dating Game" ... Dr. Phil style! See what happens when Bree, who's been unlucky in love, quizzes three bachelors who are supposedly right for her and then chooses her man. And, Dr. Phil sends two singles on a date that will test their true compatibility ... as future parents. If you haven't met the partner of your dreams, find out what you could be doing wrong."
eHarmony Featured in Article Entitled 'The Perfect Match'
OPW Scoop -- Apr 30 -- Oops! Click on the image for a look at the cover of electronic retailer magazine. eHarmony's Dr Clark is featured in an article entitled 'The Perfect Match.' Perfect Match has got to love that. eHarmony is the powerhouse of the relationships/personality profiling niche of the online dating world...only it's hardly a niche now. They've carved out the niche and turned it into the fastest growing sector of the online personals market with it's high (perceived) value premium memberships. Perfect Match and Dr Pepper Schwartz are giving them a run for their money. If only Perfect Match could eke out some VC smart money as well. eHarmony raised $110 million recently. Still, Perfect Match landed exposure on Dr Phil.
Carat Interactive Launches New Campaign for PerfectMatch.com
PRNEWSWIRE -- Apr 4 -- Carat Interactive announced a new interactive online ad campaign for PerfectMatch.com titled "Genuine People, Real Love," building on the existing member base of over 1.5 million users and momentum created through the Dr. Phil show feature on February 11. "Using the 'love letters' in the ads gives us a strong visual device, which further distinguishes the brand," said Tamara Birdsall, VP/Creative Director at Carat. "We'd love to see the letters take on a life of their own, because they say so much about the importance that PerfectMatch.com places on the individual. The new theme speaks to both the sincerity and motivations of PerfectMatch.com members and the idea that PerfectMatch.com holds the promise of the sort of relationship people dream about -- one with permanence, reliability, romance, and mutual acceptance," The online advertising campaign began on April 1st and will run on sites including MSN, LifetimeTV.com, MSNBC, Netzero, eDiets and EarthLink.
Mark Brooks: Upstart Perfect Match is becoming a very serious contender as a relationships focused online personals site.
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