match.com appoints new marketing director

Released on: February 13, 2009, 12:03 am
Author: Katie Sheppard
Industry: Internet & Online

match.com, the company that helps millions of people find love, has announced the appointment of Karl Gregory as UK Marketing Director. In 2008 match.com achieved a brand awareness of double its nearest competitor* and Karl is charged with extending this lead throughout 2009.

Bringing extensive brand experience from his time in senior marketing roles for Yahoo UK Search and AltaVista, Karl joins the team as the online dating site celebrates its most successful January on record with a 26% increase in memberships on this time last year and eight of the ten busiest sign-up days of all time.

In his new remit, he will take immediate responsibility for building and implementing strategies to drive acquisition, revenue growth and brand development for the UK market as well as taking control of match.com's multi-million pound marketing budget. Karl will also head up business development and continue to build strategic partnerships working alongside match.com's new Business Development Manager, Carlie Sillett.

Karl Gregory, Marketing Director, match.com commented:

"match.com is an innovative company with a strong, instantly recognisable brand that has successfully made online dating synonymous with finding love. Taking the brand forward at such an exciting time for the category is a very attractive opportunity for me."

Prior to joining match.com, Karl was the Marketing Director at iProfile where he developed and executed the go-to-market strategy to launch iProfile as the online CV of choice. He was also Head of Marketing at Yahoo UK Search and successfully grew its Search division in his four years with the business as well as leading the re-brand and re-launch of AltaVista across Europe as Marketing Director.

Jason Stockwood, International MD match.com said:

"Karl brings with him a wealth of online brand experience which makes him well placed to further develop match.com's customer base through new and engaging marketing. As the leading global dating brand, we are committed to growing our business by delivering customer-focused innovation, and Karl's strong leadership will be absolutely key."

In addition to his experience at iProfile and Yahoo, Karl has over 12 years of practice in traditional and digital marketing across B2B and B2C businesses. Karl spearheaded the launch of start-up brands such as TouchLocal and iProfile and during his time with Mindshare and Ogilvy & Mather, he gained extensive offline branding and online marketing experience.

match.com recently launched brand new Personality Test 'match insights'. Designed by Dr Helen Fisher the test brings science to the art of matchmaking on the site and has been completed by over 135,000 people.

* Isurus brand study Spring 2008

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About match.com
match.com is one of the original pioneers of online personals when it launched on the Web in 1995 and continues to lead this exciting and evolving category after more than a decade. Throughout its 13-year history, match.com has redefined the way people meet and find love and is credited with more marriages than any other site.

Today, more than 15 million people around the world participate in the match.com relationship network, providing a rich tapestry of ethnicities, interests, goals, ambitions, quirks, looks and personalities from which to choose. match.com operates leading subscription-based online dating sites in 40 countries, in 15 languages, spanning six continents. match.com also powers online dating on MSN across Europe, Asia, the United States and Latin America and is the premier provider of personals for Love@AOL. Match.com is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ:IACI).

For further information, please contact:
Katie Sheppard
match.com
The Communications Building
48 Leicester Square
London
WC2H 7LR
08453458759
www.uk.match.com