I’m in North Carolina working on a new dating site. Last night was a big night out with the client, who knows how to have a good time. Asprin and strong coffee, stat!
The news this week was all about the new Chemistry.com attack ads against eHarmony. I saw the ads during The Office last night, they definitely play differently on a 50″ plasma in the middle of my favorite shows than in a tiny YouTube video. The Chemistry interview has more. My Mate1 interview is on deck, should show up here early next week. Oh, and Lavalife turned 20, happy birthday Double L!

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20 years is a long time in this business, congrats to Lavalife for making it this far, which is quite an accomplishment given the tumultuous nature of the dating market.

Via PR Leap.

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What’s happened to get it where it is today over the past year or so?
Chemistry.com launched in February 2006 and over the past year, we built the business organically allowing us to learn so much from our customers along the way. Currently, more than 2 million people have registered on the site and we have had more than 350,000 first dates in the past 6 months.

We’ve had great success matching people based on individual chemistry, and that’s because our system was developed by Dr. Helen Fisher, the acclaimed biological anthropologist. Dr. Fisher used her research into brain science to create the Chemistry.com profile, which captures deep personality characteristics that yield chemistry-inspired matches.

Who is on Chemistry.com?
While people of all ages are flocking to Chemistry.com, if you pressed me, I’d say that most people here are older than thirty and younger than 55.

What does “Come as you are” mean?
We believe that consumers care deeply about what a brand stands for, and what its values are. That’s especially true when it’s a place that brings people together. This campaign introduces a philosophical difference between Chemistry.com and eHarmony — its largest competitor — into the dialogue. Chemistry.com doesn’t have a check list of criteria, we invite everyone to come as they are.

What goes into creating an ad campaign?
Looking inward and outward. Inward, to understand what needs consumers have that aren’t being satisfied. Outward, to look at trends and social forces that shape the way consumers perceive brands.

Why did you choose Hanft Raboy?
We chose Hanft Raboy & Partners because they are a fiercely independent advertising agency that is agnostic to media. They represent Match.com; you’ve recently seen their work with the “It’s Okay to Look” campaign.

What media are addressed?
This is an integrated campaign that includes national TV, print and a strong online presence including the “Great Mate Debate.”

Where will it run, for how long?
TV will run on NBC for 5 weeks, you can see ads run during shows like The Office, SNL, Heroes, Access Hollywood, etc. Print ads will run for 4 weeks in People.

Here are the links the TV spots on YouTube:
Dear John, Small Things, Still Gay, Five for Free, How Happy.

Chemistry Print Ads (392k PDF).

What about the feedback loop and paying attention to customers
We receive hundreds of customer calls a week. I am in close communication with the teams who are talking to customers everyday. Not only do I sit in on the calls to really listen and understand both the complaints and success stories, but I also read through every customer comment each week.

Thanks Mandy!

More conversation with new Match CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony and Mate1 coming soon.

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Ccube

This is good for dating and social networking, especially on a site like Classmates and Reunion.com. A great way to reconnect with the guy who beat you up for lunch money or the girl you always wanted to ask out in high school.

I like the idea of voice profiles the most. The world is full of people with enough free time to yap away with strangers about all sorts of things. I worked with some people on a business plan the did just this, based on Skype, last year. It’s a compelling idea and the technology is all there to make it happen. It needs a solid scheduling feature to make it turely useful, who wants to get random calls all hours of the day?

The logo has a woman talking on the phone in her car while it looks like the door is open! And she’s not wearing a seatbelt, a la Jon Corzine. Thumbs down from the safety police.

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Microsoft and Match partner. MS to offer Instant Messaging capabilities to Match members. Hopefully this works better than the old Match chat app which was rendered mute by everyone’s pop-up ad blockers.

Chemistry.com: Come as you are.

eharmony chooses Strongmail. Why is most of the recent eHarmony news about it’s technical infrastructure?

Let’s Grab a Drink: What kind of beverage are you?

Classmates.com launches dating service. True is an advertiser, and Yahoo used to be onthe site as well, will they remain on the site?

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