Every now and then we get sent a press release for a service that just grinds you in a certain way. Maybe it’s the lack of coffee I’ve had this morning, but Secret Diamond Club, an exclusive dating site coming out of Denmark, does just that.
Users can browse around the flash-based site a little bit, but for a guy to contact any women, you must pay between $10 000 and $100 000, based on how wide of a network you would like to search. Women have it a little bit easier, they must only between $10 and $50 a year based on how attractive their pictures are to a panel of men and women.
Secret Diamond Club isn’t worried about compatibility much beyond the I’m-loaded-you’re-hot angle because, “…no man or woman likes to have their love life surveyed by a control-freakmatch-maker telling them who to date, when to date, where to date and what to wear,” says CEO and founder, Gus Terkelsen in the press release.
I’m really curious what problem this service is trying to solve. Do millionaires hate the embarrassment of ladies not believing they’re actually rich whenever they go on dating sites? Or do women just have too hard of a time finding actual millionaires, so it makes sense for millionaires to signal to the market by paying far too much money? The end goal being so then they can find the type of women who only want a guy with a bunch of money?
You know, I get it. I understand the risk/return relationship entrepreneurs are going for here. You throw up a fairly simple product, make sure it’s shiny and has a soft focus (rich people love that), and hope loaded curious people will buy it. It’s sort of that I Am Rich app that sold for $999.99 (and did nothing) before Apple took it down. It was a status symbol, so eight people bought it. Not bad work if you can get it.
This is somewhat on a different level, but kind of the same message. My neighbor had a camping supplies webshop and one of his big sellers was a certain type of hardware cloth he bought at the local hardware store. He shipped a ton of it to China apparently. I asked him why he even put it online since it wasn’t even really camping related, and he told me, “You put something for sale online, and you’ll be surprised how many people buy it.”
Entrepreneurs: go ahead and get your slice. Feel free to tie your service to the luxury angle if you think you can make it in that market. But don’t have your press releases hit me with the human condition when all I’ve had is a watery cup of instant. $100 000…
