Category: Uncategorized

BUSINESS WIRE — Apr 4 — CGI Holding, which plans to change its name to Think Partnership, announced a deal to buy Vintacom and Real Estate School Online. The Company expects to pay an aggregate of $4.95 million in cash and $4.95 million in stock to acquire the two companies. The acquisitions should add $3.2 million to its pre-tax income.  Located in Edmonton, Alberta and founded in 1999, Vintacom operates DreamMates.com, SingleMe.com, and PassionatePersonals.com and the Relationship Exchange affiliate network of dating sites. "We see great potential for immediate synergy between ourselves, Cherish, WebSourced, PrimaryAds and KowaBunga," said Brad Hogg, CEO, who will continue to lead the business.   CGI has seven subsidiaries: 1.WebSourced, (SEO & PPC management Keyword Ranking); 2.MarketSmart Advertising, 3.Rightstuff/Bright Idea Studios, and 4.Checkup Marketing, providing off-line advertising, PR, marketing, branding and shopping evaluation services; 5.Cherish (online dating); 6.Ozona Online Network (web design, web apps, hosting, e-commerce; and 7.KowaBunga! Marketing (affiliate marketing). CGI plans to also acquire Proceed Interactive  (marketing agency) and PrimaryAds (affiliate network). 

Mark Brooks: Think Partnership is building itself a powerful marketing team and online personals hub.  They will shortly have a combined workforce of 400 people.  Scott Mitchell has been leading the acquisitions team and commented to me, “Vintacom will be a very important ingredient in our long term growth strategy within the online dating vertical.  Vintacom’s expertise in online dating technology, affiliate marketing, and community management will benefit all our dating properties.”  Brad added, "access to these (marketing) competencies will enable Vintacom to accelerate its already aggressive growth strategy.”  Watch this space! 

NEVADA APPEAL — Apr 4 — "People are visual animals. With the Internet, you miss out on that magic feeling of eyeing someone from across the room and getting the thrills and chills of instant attraction," Kelly said.  "No matter how good the Web site is, there's always that lingering suspicion you may never really know exactly who you're communicating with."  Kelly has decided to revive Nevada Singles for 40-year-old-plus singles after a six-year hiatus.  "We're too young for the senior centers, and we're too old for the dance clubs," she laughed.  "Putting people in the same place and seeing what happens," said Kelly. "That's what we're all about."  Ice cream socials, full-moon hay-rides and hosted dinners – what Kelly calls "good, clean, conversational fun." 

The full article was originally published at Nevada Appeal, but is no longer available.

 Mark Brooks: A resurgence of real world singles clubs is in order.  Some are touting background checks and safety. 

ONE2ONE LIVING — The US has more single adults than any other nation in the world except for China and India. There are now more single head of households than there are married households with children.  Married-couple households – have fallen from nearly 80% in the 1950s to 50.7% today.  Delaying of marriage and changing societal norms has resulted in a tripling of the number of unmarried men and women in their early thirties; from 9% to 30% for men and from 6% to 22% for women within the past three decades.  Nearly 59% of all singles have never married.  85% of all singles will marry at least once in their lifetime – this is a 10% decrease from the 95% of all Americans, who married at least once in the 1950s. DeBeers, the Diamond Trading Company, has created a right-hand ring for professional women to buy their own jewelry without waiting for till marriage. Unmarried America – American Association of Single Persons (AASP) is an organization modeled after American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) which fights for singles right.

Mark Brooks: I took a little more time to read One2One's singles report.  Some handy stats.  Very nice!  Thanks to Mary Spio/One2One Living for compiling it.

PRWEB — Mar 29 — Youggle.com has launched; includes a virtual speaking host which guides users though the total sign up stage.  Free 1 month introductory full membership trial period.  PRESS RELEASE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: Fill in the blanks… cat in xxxx's chance.  First there was Google, then Youggle.com.  Gotta love it.  "I'll bet Google is drafting the lawsuit documents as we speak."  (Thanks to Glenn Millar for the heads up on this one)  Youggle's speaking host is courtesy of oddcast.com btw.  I use it at ACE-CLUB as well.  I wonder why Lemontonic pulled their speaking host?

ASIA PULSE — Mar 29 — Friendster has launched Friendster Classifieds by Pusit, a Filipino classifieds community designed to serve Metro Manila and the 78 other provinces that make up the Philippines. "Friendster has created a safe, online community for millions of Filipinos who trust us to deliver services that help them keep in touch, meet new friends and share personal interests and experiences," said Joe Hurd, Friendster's director of international bus dev.  SMS alerts for Friendster Classifieds by Pusit users and other text message-based services through Friendster Mobile will be offered soon, in addition to WAP services.  Pusit is Tagalog for "squid" and is a favorite local dish.  

The full article was originally published at Yahoo Asia News, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Is Friendster gunning for Craigslist?

ONE2ONEMAG — Mar 26 — Growth in non-traditional-family households will continue to drive purchasing decisions – this is not a passing phase; it is a trend that will continue for the next several years. The impact on population growth and society will have dire consequences for brands that do not make provisions for marketing uniquely to singles.

• $1.6 TRILLION in annual spending
• 86 Million+ Americans Are Single
• 32.9 Million Singles Live Alone
• 49.8 % of the Nation’s Consumer Units or
• 55.8 Million US Households are occupied by Unmarried Americans
• 42% Of The Nation’s Workforce Is Single
• 35% Of All Voters in the 2000 Election were single 

INQ7 — Mar 24 — Friendster has disclosed its partnership with Pusit, which has been running an online classified service since last year.  Last year, Friendster launched its first mobile service in the Philippines with a Filipino mobile phone content provider. 

The full article was originally published at INQ7, but is no longer available.

SOCALTECH — Mar 18 — MySpace.com has launched an online music album for the group "Queens of the Stone Age". MySpace offered streaming access to the new album to users of the MySpace.com service ahead of the album's physical release. 

The full article was originally published at SocalTech, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: MySpace; in with the in crowd.  Prime territory for the 18-34 yr olds that TV is failing to captivate. 

E-COMMERCE TIMES — Mar 10 — Online personals and dating remained the leading paid content category in 2004, with spending at an all-time high of $469.5 million for the year, up 4 percent over 2003, according to the study.

WIRED — Mar 7 — MoSoSos (mobile social-software services) are the mobile equivalents of Friendster and LinkedIn. They help users find old friends, or potential new ones, on the go.  Dodgeball: Currently rolled out in 22 U.S. cities, and with about 15,000 users, is the  standard-bearer.  It works, explained founder Dennis Crowley, by having users check in with text messages announcing where they are. Anyone on a user's friends list who is within 10 blocks gets a message that his or her pal is nearby.  The "crush" feature allows users view profiles. If the object of a crush is nearby, he or she gets a message to that effect.  Playtxt: 6,000 members key in the postal code where they want to be found when they're on the go.  Founder is Andrew Scott.  Jambo: Utilizes Wi-Fi hotspots to connect its members.  Highlights similar interests.  Plazes: Based in Germany.  Anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop can define a "plaze;" usually a hot spot.