Yahoo gives ads personal touch
Tammy Carmack is no yahoo. But she's a poster child for Yahoo.
The Raleigh, N.C., resident was selected from among 38,000 applicants
to appear in a new advertising campaign for the Internet company's
online dating site.
She and 49 other singles who use the Yahoo Personals service will
appear in banner ads all over the Web throughout 2004. There's even
potential that Carmack's face could grace newspapers, billboards and
other media, too.
The creative minds at the Sunnyvale, Calif., company decided to feature
real people to help pique the interest of prospective users, said
Cricket Wardein, director of marketing for Yahoo Personals. Subscribers
could actually bump into the stars of the campaign while using the
site, but they likely never would encounter models usually found in
advertisements.
An estimated 40 million people in the United States visit personals
sites monthly, according to ComScore Media Metrix, which tracks the
industry. And Yahoo wants more of them to use its services.
Carmack, 34, posted her first personal ad on Yahoo Personals last
winter and later dated a person she met there. They decided to be
friends. Updating her profile three months ago, she saw a solicitation
for "real people models" that included a chance to visit
San Francisco.
"I thought, 'I've always wanted to go to San Francisco,' "
Carmack said. "And I thought, 'If it's real people, you wouldn't
have to be a supermodel.' "
The winners range in age from 24 to 54 and include Marines, photographers
and firefighters. There's at least one graphic designer, Carmack.
