Ashley Madison

In a publicity stunt, the adultery website AshleyMadison.com sent Tiger Woods a contract which offered him $5 million for "advertisement, endorsement, sale and promotion" of their dating site.

At this point in time, Tiger Woods now has a fourth alleged mistress which would make him an ideal front man for the infidelity dating site. I have a feeling, that this $1 billion dollar sports figure wouldn't even consider such an offer. 😉

Seriously though, Ashley Madison didn't let this marketing opportunity that Tiger Woods presented them go to waste. They offered Tiger Woods a contract that they knew, he would refuse. By connected themselves with the hottest news topic of the week, month and maybe even the year, AshleyMadison.com received plenty of free international press.

For more on the story, visit the New York Daily News.

Update: (2009-12-08) - Tiger Woods now has 10 alleged mistresses.

CEO Noel Biderman is the face of Ashley Madison, and he has taken the marketing of the affairs dating site to the next level. He has a partnership with the Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show, has ads on billboards and has created TV commercials (that most never seem to be allowed on air, see Story). He has even started to market AshleyMadison.com as a place where the married can pursue their same-sex attractions.

Currently The Ashley Madison Agency has between 4.6 and 4.7 million members who have logged on seeking and extramarital affair (I assume since the site launched in 2001). 30 percent (or 1.41 million) of these members are women. Also, about 150 thousand members are looking for a same-sex affair with two thirds being women looking for women. From a survey run on the affairs site, 50 percent of all respondents (both men and women) are not first timers and admit to cheating within a relationship at least once.

It is estimated that Ashley Madison generates tens of millions in revenue a year. People who have created a membership on the website can search for other members for free but must buy credits to message or chat. Ashley Madison even guarantees an affair with their most expensive subscription package. For $249 USD it is guaranteed you will find someone in 3 months to have an affair with, or you will get your money refunded. Currently AshleyMadison.com is the leading extramarital affairs dating site in the United States, Canada and Australia.

For more on this story, read MSN Money.

It seems to me, part of AshleyMadison.com marketing strategy is trying to buy ad time or space for advertising that they know will be rejected by the publishers. This way they get free publicity when the media write about AshleyMadison.com problems. Recently they had a Super Bowl TV ad rejected (see Story) and back in 2007 Microsoft denied their ads from showing on their Microsoft Network web portal (see Story). There have been other incidents as well, including a bill board in New York City.

The most recent print ad problem deals with a $20,000 ad in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The advertisement was suppose to run 2 days after U.S. Sen. John Ensign's confirmed an extramarital affair with a women who worked on his campaign. The publisher of the paper decided the ad was not right for their paper and did not run it.

On April 30, 2009, President and CEO of AshleyMadison.com, Noel Biderman talks with the hosts of the View about the online dating service he founded. It is interesting to note that all of the dating sites which deal mainly with matching members up for intimate encounters, that Ashley Madison seems to be the one which is ok to talk about on prime time TV. People who use Ashley Madison are looking for someone to have sex with but not a relationship. This is pretty much the same thing as the members of such sites as Adult FriendFinder, Fling.com and Sex Search are looking for. Yet you will not find these sites talked about on The View, CNN, Good Morning America and the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

In the clip, The View starts off the discussion with one of the TV commercials produced for Ashley Madison. It shows a man and woman scantily clad and kissing with the following message being presented near the end This couple is Married ... But not to each other. It is similar to a commercial which was denied by NBC to be aired during the last Super Bowl (see Story). Of course all the hosts are up in arms about the concept but, I have to hand it to Noel he came off pretty good in the interview and answer each question well. The hosts also discussed how the actual site works and if there is any type of security (The Craig's List Killer was mentioned). Barbara Walters also asks Neil about his own marriage and what he is going to tell his 2 children (aged 1 and 4) what he does for work when they grow up.

The Miami Herald has some interesting information in their article about people going online to look for married dating and affairs. The largest affair dating site of it's kind is Ashley Madison. As with most dating sites it is free to join but requires you to buy tokens or credits to message other members. AshleyMadison.com reported in March revenue in the 10's of millions of dollars and 3.86 million members worldwide. 12 months ago we reported that Ashley Madison had just over 2 million members (see Story). Business has been very good for them as they increased their membership by 50% in less than a year. The six largest markets for Ashley Madison in order are:

• New York
• Los Angeles
• Toronto
• Dallas
• Houston
• South Florida - With over 177,000 members.

The gender split on average is 70 percent male and 30 percent females but in Florida it is more even with 60 percent of South Florida members being male. This ratio split is on par with other dating sites whose main theme is the intimate encounter.

Founder Noel Biderman when he launched the dating service in 2001 decided to name it after the two most popular girl baby names that year, which happened to be Ashley and Madison. He originally decided to create an affair dating site after he did some research and found that almost 35 percent of people using online dating sites already had a partner. He thought this would be a win-win situation by providing a place for cheaters to go and preventing singles on other dating sites getting duped by people just looking for affairs.

I heard on the radio today that in Canada, the television network CTV is not airing The Ashley Madison Agency commercial during the Super Bowl. The commercial has been approved by The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to contain no false advertising and meets with the standards set for a commercial airing in that time of day.

Known worldwide, Ashley Madison is a dating site which allows married people to find each other and hook-up. According to the web site they have over 3 million members. AshleyMadison.com is based in Canada and has run several late night TV and radio commercials on such US networks as FOX. The owner also has appeared on CNN several times for interviews.

Here is the banned Super Bowl commercial with the tag line "When Divorce isn't an Option"

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

There is nothing wrong with the commercial except for the fact of how the husband and wife are treating each other. Of course, there is also the message that it is ok to cheat on your husband or wife if they are treating you badly. The problem is, I don't see this commercial being much different than daytime soaps or TV shows like Desperate Housewives which one of their main reoccurring themes is people cheating on their spouses.