Is a beauty salon or single’s spot the ideal upload zone for visual user data? It might be if the goal is to put the “best face” on the product and the product happens to be your sex appeal, good looks and sparkling personality. “Sitting around with hair color on your head can get…well… ho-hum tedious,” notes the new Bellevue-based video chat service AttractOne.com, but this is precisely the time and the place where cyber-casting a new doo, a smile or a twinkle in the eye can pay off handsomely.
Capturing the “moment” when patrons look and feel their best — AttractOne.com is out to not only spice up beauty salon waiting time, but train its video lens on all kinds of computer users with the goal of making face-to-face introductions and putting pretty faces online.
“AttractOne.com is different from other services, in that its revolutionary technology enables you to see, hear and chat with sixteen people onscreen at the same time,” imparts Richard Braun, CEO and inventor of AttractOne.com’s group video chat system. “We decided to offer free memberships to women at selected salons. They sign up and do data input while they wait for color or are under the dryer and they debut with their first video chat after their hair is finished and they look spectacular.”
In the murky dating world, there are always “unknown” variables, people posing and posturing, white lies about age, background and plastic surgery, but the world of online dating can be even more deceptive. AttractONE.com, with its unique audio-video chatrooms, offers a better way to observe, chat and get to know potential dates—in group audio/video chatrooms.
“When you’re reviewing photos or videos on other online dating services, you have no idea if the photo is new, old or even if it is the person supposedly profiled online,” explains Richard Braun, C.E.O. of AttractONE.com. “AttractONE.com offers a more natural way to get to know potential suitors—through group chats. By observing how people interact—hearing them speak and watching their expression onscreen, getting to know their friends, you can get a better idea of who they are. While you may not know if they are lying about their income, you may be able to figure out if that is a really bad hairpiece or whether they really are as fit as they purport to be.”
Combining elements of a dating service, social networking scheme and chatroom theAttractONE.com plans to offer a subscription service to users including instant access to its community of social networkers, the ability to invite friends into a private chat broom, and Web-based online messaging among members for $26.99 per month. The company has packaged the video chat service into a “Singles Bar in a Box,” a party-box containing a webcam, headset and other essentials necessary to “have a great time” on AttractONE.
Participating salons were given laptops, wireless access, 100 free webcams, headsets and six- month membership packages to give away to female patrons. Salons were also provided careful technical support from dedicated AttractOne.com experts. Patrons are offered the laptops while waiting for hair color or highlights to process, or during other lengthy treatments. They are guided to the AttractOne.com homepage where they input data. The laptops are returned while their beauty treatment is completed. Afterwards, they are given a spot in the salon where they can do their first video introduction and chat-looking their absolute best! The program is being launched in five select salons.
Richard Braun, who has attracted investment from two Japanese funds, acknowledges that adding real-time video to the chat function on a dating site creates a whole new dimension in online communications. “You will be less likely to log on in your bathrobe,” he explains. “And you may have to check your teeth before you log on if you’ve recently eaten. But what really makes the difference is the group dynamic. It’s a more natural way to meet other people in a happy group setting.” [24×7]
