From Deseret News archives:
Lance's billboard has a mate: Anmaree
Former Brigham Young University basketball player Lance Archibald has created an international stir with the billboard ad campaign mounted by his friends to help him find his perfect match — 2,000 responses to his www.DateLance.com Web site, calls from hundreds of news outlets.
Who knows? Maybe there's a reality TV show in his future.
And who better to co-star than the niece of Donny and Marie Osmond?
Anmaree Osmond is the 30-year-old managing editor of Connect Magazine, a regional business publication. Her co-workers think she'd be a perfect fit for Lance — so they mounted a similar ad campaign to attract Lance's attention.
Her Web site is www.DateMeLance.com, and drivers on I-15 can see Osmond's billboard, which appears on two electronic signs bordering the interstate.
"Initially, we just saw the (Date Lance) billboard," said Jen Black, marketing director for Connect. "Immediately, we thought it would be perfect for Anmaree to, you know, get a date with Lance. . . . We copied the general design of Lance's billboard, and within a few hours we had our own billboard and Web site."
The Web site pitching Osmond touts her credentials as a returned LDS missionary and BYU graduate who looks favorably upon the prospect of having children.
"I think it's fun," Osmond told the Deseret Morning News. "Initially, I didn't think (my co-workers) were that serious about it, but then it just happened. . . . I was worried about seeming foolish and desperate, but then I decided I'd just let them do it. Why not?"
It was Archibald's co-workers and friends at Utah County-based LogoWorks who caused this romance ruckus. Without his knowledge, they secured a billboard on I-15 near Lindon and composed an advertisement that features a larger-than-life picture of Archibald, with a message that screams, "I'm Lance! Let's Go Out!"
The Web site invites women to apply for a date with Archibald, who earned an MBA at Harvard and is a former Cougar hoopster. Since it was launched, the Web site has already recorded more than a million hits.
What started as an elaborate practical joke has grown to much more than that.
"We've gotten phone calls from radio stations, TV stations and newspapers from all over the country," said Noelle Bates, one of Archibald's co-workers. "Philadelphia. Chicago. Albuquerque. You name it, we've gotten a call from them. It's shocking. The most surprising thing to us is the wide appeal of the story. It's so Utah County-specific. We can't figure it out. I mean, it's a billboard in Lindon."
The story has appeared in more than 150 newspapers — including five overseas. The largest paper in Italy ran the Archibald story on Page One.
