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Time Magazine has named eharmony.com one of the top five worst sites on the web. Ouch, that’s going to leave a mark.
Personality profiling will be front and center in coming months.
Markus gets it right, the Chemistry.com “Rejected” anti-eHarmony campaign initiated the investigation into eHarmony’s exclusionary practices (if reporters copying what other reporters say without understanding the entire issue is an investigation). Once the media caught wind of the situation and the pile-on began, it was clear that eHarmony lost the battle to Chemistry, but what of the war, because like it or not, that is what the skirmish between the two has become.
(Disclaimer: I have done some work with Chemistry in the past.)
Does anyone else feel like eHarmony has been more focused on hardware upgrades than media relations and PR this year?
There is something to be said about keeping your mouth shut and focusing on taking over a large portion of the online dating market, which eHarmony has accomplished brilliantly in a few short years, leaving the majority of the online dating industry to fight over the precious few daters that pay for the privilege of belonging to a date-warehouse.
“No comment” has always been the party line at eHarmony in regards to the whole pro-Christian/anti-gay allegations. Why open the company to the scrutiny of the media and public when there are hundreds of millions of dollars to be made? The problem for eHarmony now is that they have no choice in the matter. High-powered PR operatives experienced with damage control are in place and certainly putting together a response, be it marketing-focused or in the courts. Make no mistake, eHarmony brought this on themselves. Bringing this courtside would probably do more harm than good for both parties, especially Chemistry, which is the new kid on the block and can’t afford the distraction at such a critical time in the company’s lifecycle.
Eharmony has established itself in the dating market, but at what cost to singles?
Eharmony is certainly going to feel the sting of the Chemistry.com ad campaign, which if they play their cards right, will be worth much more than the $12 million ad campaign which put the “Rejected” ads in front of prime time viewers on shows like The Office.
You have to give it to Chemistry, those ads are compelling, funny and make you think, which is a lot more than I can say for any other online dating ad I’ve seen on tv.Yahoo! Personals France has dome some pretty interesting ads, but those are, a bit too French for the American market.
The interesting thing is that it doesn’t matter how many people are on Chemistry or what their test is like. Is it demonstrably more efficient than the eHarmony test? Who knows? I’ve spend time with Helen Fisher, who created the test for Chemistry, and I like her basis for the test, but when it comes to results, the jury is still out.
Food for thought: Imagine how popular eHarmony would be if they came out with a 50-question test for those currently excluded.
Further reading: Time did a piece, Is eHarmony Biased Against Gays? back in June. Or, as usual, Google is your friend.
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I strongly advise everyone to do your homework and be very careful of who you are talking to.