Press and Media

SWIMSUIT WINNERS HEAT UP THE WEB

Published on: 03/04/2004

iMatchup’s first Swimsuit Competition a hit with singles Pearl River, NY, March 5 – Popular online dating site iMatchup.com had nearly 200,000 participants in its first-ever Swimsuit Competition, ending December 31, 2003. The site, which has approximately 2 million members, features photo profiles, online and video chat, and community features.

In early 2003, members of the site were offered the chance to submit photos of themselves in swimsuits for a year-long contest that chose the top male and female swimsuit photo among all of the sites’ members. A total of 23 million votes were cast to determine the winner among 3,164 hopeful photo entrants.

The grand prize winners, each given a cruise for two to the Caribbean or $3,500 in cash, were Cherie Herron, of Haleiwa, Hawaii, and Joe Buchanan of Troy, New York. "I never thought I'd win the contest, I just wanted to meet people," says Ms. Herron, "I've had tons of emails from great guys, all because of the swimsuit competition." Ms. Herron had a total of 18,980 votes and Mr. Buchanan 5,236 votes to make them top choices among their single peers.

Other winners included Horvath Judit, of Los Angeles, California and Daniel Bokor of Lewisville, Texas, both 2nd place winners who were awarded $500 prizes; three thirdplace men and women were each awarded a free year of iMatchup.com Gold service.

The idea for the Swimsuit Competition was inspired by the members themselves. “Our photo rating feature has always been one of the most fun, and best-used, features on the site,” says Dan Levine, iMatchup.com’s romance director. “We thought our members would enjoy rating photos with prizes at stake – and our photo ratings shot up 500% as a result. People use iMatchup for many reasons and having fun is high on the list.”

Mr. Buchanan is only one of the many iMatchup members who enjoys the site: “I’m just a single guy, looking for a great relationship. iMatchup.com has definitely made that easier and more fun for me.”

About iMatchup

iMatchup is an Internet based dating site owned by Traffix, Inc., a publicly-held direct marketing company (NASDAQ: TRFX). iMatchup.com was launched in November 2002 and is one of the fastest-growing online dating companies, featuring over 2 million member profiles. iMatchup is a community of singles where people can be themselves and connect in a safe, secure, fun and exciting environment. Personal photo profiles on the site are free to all users, and interactive features such as astrological matching, member-to-member email, and online and video chat keep members active in the iMatchup.com community.

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