Chemistry.com Continues Its Gay-Inclusive Marketing Strategy in a New Campaign

Back in May of 2007, many television viewers were shocked to see an ad that depicted a man who thumbs through a girlie magazine, laughs, and tosses it aside, sighing, “Nope, still gay.” This was a bold move for an ad that aired during network primetime, on huge mainstream hits like NBC’s Heroes. But the truly interesting thing about the ad was that it was for an online dating site not specifically designed for gay consumers.

Chemistry.com, the somewhat more touchy-feely offshoot of dating megasite Match.com, has gone right for the jugular of main competitor eHarmony.com in its successful “Rejected by eHarmony” ad campaign. When we caught wind of the “Nope, still gay” ad last year, we asked the General Manager of Chemistry, Mandy Ginsberg, a few questions about their strategy.

At the time, Ginsberg noted, “We welcome everyone looking for someone to our site. We want to expose eHarmony's exclusionary nature versus our open, come as you are philosophy. We felt it was important to take a stand.”

Important, and apparently profitable. In a recent New York Times article about the ongoing ideological feud between the two sites, it was reported that Chemistry.com has enjoyed an 80% growth rate overall since the ads ran, with a 200% growth in LGBT members in particular, who now make up a full ten percent of the site’s users (reflecting, perhaps appropriately, the commonly held “one in ten” ratio used to account for homosexuals in the population at large).

And Chemistry.com has no plans to change their approach. In a new series of ads that debuted in the last week of 2007, the matchmaker again faces off against eHarmony and its founder, Dr. Neil Clark Warren, for policies that are out of line with contemporary American values and beliefs.

We caught up with Chemistry.com’s general manager to learn more about the new campaign and about how the company has arrived at their gay-inclusive marketing strategy.

In regards to the new ad campaign, Ginsberg sums up the approach thusly: “The print ads bring to life – in a powerful and unsettling way – what America would be like if we had to live by eHarmony’s rules. “ In addition to the “No Gays” sign posted on the beach another pictures a motel that doesn’t allow premarital sex (another verboten topic in Warren’s policies). Ginsberg adds, “We believe their views are out of sync with the real America.”