Friends Reunited set to roll out ‘social’ service

Friends Reunited is preparing to launch a new service – codenamed Friends Reunited Live – which will allow registered users to find new friends online, rather than regain contact with old ones.

The news comes as the social networking site ramps up its marketing, with the launch of a global identity and a customer acquisition campaign for the core site, created by integrated agency Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw.

Friends Reunited marketing director Tim Ward says the Live service will allow members to contact people with similar interests or hobbies. He adds: “This is not a dating site – we already have Friends Reunited Dating for that. This is an opportunity for people to make new friends with common interests online.”

Similar online discussion forums and community sites already exist, including Yahoo! Groups (formerly eGroups), but Ward believes that the Friends Reunited brand is strong enough to break into the market.

Meanwhile, the Kitcatt Nohr-created online campaign for the core Friends Reunited site goes live this week. Seven ads focus on nostalgia, including playground romances, classroom pranks and musical tastes.

The executions will run as pop-unders on a range of sites, including Contactmusic.com, Daily Express, Excite, Square Meal and Virgin Flyer, and take viewers directly to the Friends Reunited site.

The new global identity, which is being phased in over the next few months, has the Friends Reunited name against a background of a map of the world, rather than the snapshots of four people which appeared on the original.

The logo will appear on all the sites the company operates, including those run by Schoolfriends, the recently acquired Australian website company. Schoolfriends has sites in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Friends Reunited also has links with English-language reunion websites in Malaysia and Singapore.