Match.com appoints former Yahoo! man as top UK marketer

Match.com, the online dating agency, has named former Yahoo! marketer Karl Gregory as its UK marketing director.

The marketing director role has been vacant for some time and marketing responsibilities have been handled by former marketing manager Abbie Cranage and overseen by international managing director Jason Stockwood.

Gregory joins from the position of marketing director at iProfile, the online CV site. He is a former head of marketing at Yahoo! UK Search and marketing director for AltaVista. He also has agency experience, having worked at Mindshare and Ogilvy & Mather.

He will build and implement strategies to drive acquisition, revenue growth and brand development for the UK market and take control of the company’s marketing budget. He will also continue to build strategic partnerships, working with business development manager Carlie Sillett.

Long-established US dating site eHarmony is set to establish itself in the UK as a rival to match.com and recently appointed St Luke’s to handle its launch.

Match.com’s advertising is handled by Hanft Raboy & Partners and its media planning and buying by Initiative. The company’s recent television advertising featured the characters Cupid and Fate with the strapline “make love happen”.

At the end of last year the company rolled out psychometric personality testing to help its members in their search for a partner.