Created by Kelvin To | Owner DWM Inc. Slogan(s) He's Here | |
Type of site Social Networking and Dating website | ||
Casting TVC Plun.asia
PLUN.ASIA, formerly PLU-N.COM, is a bilingual social networking site that caters to the Vietnamese gay community worldwide. The site is a digital brand of DWM Inc. It provides a set of tools to help users find and connect with friends. Its slogan is "He's Here" claiming the site's mission is to help singles to find their dream boy. As of November 2010, PLUN declared its business model, a gay dating & social networking site, is the only of its kind in Viet Nam and Asia. PLUN is believed to compete with Fridae and gaydar in Viet Nam market.
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PLUN was founded by current CEO, Kelvin To, in 2010. It took him nine years to seek fund for the project before he decided to start the website himself. PLUN is the main supporter and sponsor of some of largest local LGBT events such as Angel Style and Bitch Party and regional events such as Black Party, White Party, Pride Manila in Manila, Philippines and gCircuit Songkran 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.
The name
PLUN stands for PLU Nation. PLU (People Like Us) is a common term in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia used to indicate the LGBT community. Kelvin To, a Vietnamese, chose to have PLU in the site's name because he spent most of his early years in Singapore.
Features
PLUN is described by its users as "gay.com meets Facebook meets Foursquare" which is why the website became an instant hit to Vietnamese gay users when Facebook, their new favorite channel after Yahoo! 360 was closed in 2008, is getting more difficult to access due to government's issues. (See Censorship of Facebook.)
In January 2011, CEO Kelvin To announced a new version will be released by year end followed with a mobile application.
Management Change & Rebranding
In July 2011, Kelvin To made a share buyback offer to other partners and became controlling shareholder of DWM.
In December 2011, DWM rebranded the website as PLUN.ASIA and few months later, a new team was hired to start working on the next version of PLUN. In early December 2012, a month before version 2.0 to be released, PLUN created a viral video called "Even We're Apart" (Yêu Trong Xa Cách) which immediately became a phenomenon among local LGBT community as well as official media channels. It was featured on VNExpress' Ione, Zing's YouTube Channel, Kenh14, HimMag.