Mar 30 2009
PlentyofFish vs OkCupid: Boston Showdown
Being a resident of Boston, I use the “T” (subway for you out of towners) quite often and as of the last couple of weeks I have been seeing tons of advertisements for PlentyofFish.com. They are plastered all over the transit system, in the subway cars and on the platforms. They are bright pink with simple white text saying, “We Delete Users Unfit to Date,” gives the website URL and below that has the words, “100% Free Dating Site.” See below for some of example advertisements seen around Boston:
and here,
Yea, they’re pretty ugly but they definitely stand out and get your attention.
Online dating site ads in the Boston transit system is nothing new. In the last five years I’ve seen advertisements for a bunch of other dating sites, most noticeably AmericanSingles.com and True.com. Not to mention the area specific Boston Date Network. No doubt, these online dating companies are targeting the Boston area due to it’s incredibly high amount of college students and young professionals, as Boston IS the ultimate college town.
So here’s the thing, Plenty of Fish has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last several years from simple viral marketing with zero to little actual advertising. So why the big advertising push now?
One thing comes to mind, the increasing competition in free online dating sites. Ever since Markus became successful with his “free” advertising supported dating model, competitors and entrepreneurs alike have been following in his footsteps. One such dating site that has been growing rapidly is OkCupid.com.
OkCupid is a similar dating site, except it has a much more aesthetic appeal to it, along with a number of other features that help it’s members to connect, meet and go on dates.
I have seen in many web forums and blogs discussions regarding which is the better free online dating sites. It seems that a lot of people are recommending OkCupid over PlentyofFish.
Also, in a recent interview with the CEO of OkCupid, Sam Yagan, he stated that Boston is one of OkCupid’s best markets boasting the largest share of it’s member base.
If you want my opinion, it looks to me like Plenty of Fish is trying take OkCupid head on in this particular market and increase it’s market share with the 18-25 college crowd. It will certainly be interesting to see how this all plays out and if the PlentyofFish ads will continue to run on the Boston transit system.
