Nudeplaces.com WE CAUGHT UP WITH Aaron Block, president of NPA Inc., the day after he’d hired an airplane to fly over the set of the TV show “Big Brother” with a banner bearing the name of NPA’s Web site: Nudeplaces.com. Block was basking in the impressive response: 50,000 more hits than usual that day and “lots of calls from reporters.”
Not that Nudeplaces is hurting for business. The dot-com, which appeals to a growing niche in the online travel business – folks who like to go nude while on vacation – received more than 2 million hits in August. And, until the stunt, Block’s only marketing consisted of mentions and links on nude-resort sites that placed banner ads on Nudeplaces.com.
“We get 30% of the traffic [on] any site that puts our link on their home page,” Block says. “We have a name that screams out at the visitor.”
There are several nudist listings on the Web, but Block maintains his is the most comprehensive. He claims it’s the only site featuring a searchable database of clothing-free resorts, spas, beaches, campsites and bed-and-breakfasts worldwide. Visitors can check out location, price and other vacationers’ impressions, among other details.
Those looking for gratuitous nakedness will be disappointed.
“There’s no nudity on our site,” Block declares.
The 6-month-old company, headquartered in Lake Forest, CA, is steadily building a database for future marketing. Block has collected 30,000 names of people who have opted in to receive regular information by e-mail. In return for their name and e-mail address, visitors receive a discount at a spa or resort.
Some 2,000 who have formerly signed up as members give their name, address, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers, occupation and whether they want a single or family membership. Members get discounts at resorts.
Typical customers are high-income families or people in their 20s who like to go nude. He points out that the children’s resorts have very strict rules about behavior appropriate for kids. The airplane stunt was a stab at expanding the current demographic to the uninitiated, who would see a clothing-free resort as an exotic, fun place to visit.
Block’s previous business? A Web site (www.vfinance.com) rated as the No. 1 venture capital site on the Web. He sold it to an investment bank in 1998.
“Vfinance took off right away, just like Nudeplaces.com,” Block remarks.
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