Bay Area woman turns to billboard campaign in search for love
By Sara Donchey
A Bay Area vintage clothing store owner has gone viral in her search for love, by turning to a digital billboard campaign on local highways.
“I never thought that this would be something I would do. Like never. No,” said Lisa Catalano, who launched the website MarryLisa.com in her search for a husband.
Catalano explained to CBS News Bay Area the process.
“I figured, you know what, I’m just going to make my own website. And I kind of channeled my frustration a little bit into that. And then I was like, you know, well I have to promote the website somehow. How am I gonna do that?” she said “And then you’re just driving along 101 and you see all these digital billboards and I figured, well, hey it’s a very local form of advertising. It’s targeted. Yeah, captive audience if you will.”
On the website, prospective dates can read about her interests, check out her pictures — some she took herself — and even read anonymous “references” from friends and family. Potential suitors can even apply for a date.
Reporter Sara Donchey pointed out this sounds like a job interview.
“Yeah…it kind of is a big application for, I think, the most important person you’ll hire in life,” Catalano said, laughing.
Dating was just not working for Catalano. She had other relationships, including a long time partner who passed away. Since then, it’s been harder to actually break through the initial swiping to make it to substantive dating.
Catalano has approached the website and billboards like a kind of part time job. She’s planned for safety, screens her messages and checks her web traffic.
“When I first told my friends and family about it, I think at first everyone was shocked and then questioning whether or not this was a good idea. And then, after it took anywhere from 10 minutes to two weeks for people to kind of be like, you know what? Sure. Okay. Why not?”
Catalano said she has even optimized the eight-second digital billboards, timing them perfectly with the morning and evening commutes.
Since she’s launched her efforts she’s gone semi viral on TikTok, has received calls from reporters and had thousands visit her site.
“I was definitely prepared for negative comments, very prepared for negative comments. Because of course you’re always going to have those. I was not prepared for the volume of positive comments,” Catalano said. “I’m 42 and I want to start a family, so I want to make sure that when I start to date someone that there is not something that’s gonna come up that’s a deal breaker for me, six months or a year into the process.”
Along with the billboards, Catalano said she has also bought ads on the top of taxis in San Francisco.
