To hear Media Profile president Alison King tell it, it was love at first site when her Toronto PR agency first met with new client Match.com.
“We felt incredible chemistry with them when we met them, and they felt the same thing,” said King. “This business is really about the chemistry and trust between a client and its agency, and I think they felt our creativity and that we were people they could work with.
Media Profile was one of three agencies shortlisted for the Match.com assignment, which includes traditional media relations as well as social media and event planning.
Based in Dallas, TX, Match.com operates subscription-based online dating sites in 25 countries across five continents. In addition to its flagship product, Match.com’s dating services include Chemistry.com and SinglesNet.com, as well as 27 highly targeted products including BlackPeopleMeet.com and SeniorPeopleMeet.com.
The Media Profile team is currently being briefed on the assignment, with the agency’s first work for the brand expected as early as this summer.
Media Profile has worked with several online only brands, including the genealogy site Ancestry.ca and PayPal. “I think [Match.com] liked the fact that we have experience there and have taken some pretty creative approaches to promoting an online business,” said King.
According to King, Media Profile’s strategic approach will be lighthearted, while at the same time working to eliminate the stigma associated with online dating. “It will be very much about making people feel like it’s okay to talk about online dating,” she said. “People are doing it and it’s not a dirty little secret.”
The agency’s approach will be research-based, but will also tie-in to current events, she said. When Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert mocked Canada in the lead-up to the Vancouver Olympics, for example, Ancestry.ca got considerable media attention around a release revealing that one of the comedian’s ancestors lived in Canada during the 1850s.
Outreach will also be timed to coincide with key periods for online dating services, such as the post-Christmas period, said King.
While rival dating sites such as Lavalife.com and PlentyOfFish.com tend to focus on more casual relationships, and eHarmony.com uses potential marriage as the basis for its outreach, Match.com tends to focus more on serious relationships, said King.
People 35-54 tend to comprise the bulk of Match.com’s clientele (57%), while people under 35 comprise 32% of its business, and people 55+ comprise 11% of its business.
