FHM
Based on the success of our collaborations to date, Bauer Media is excited to continue to work with WhiteLabelDating.com.
Background
FHM is the UK's largest men's lifestyle media brand and Europe's largest men's lifestyle website. The global brand, owned by Bauer Media, has existed since 1985 and is available in 30 international editions across five continents. FHM is geared towards young men, delivering entertainment and information to help them navigate through today's complex world.
In the UK, FHM.com targets young single men between 18 and 35 years old. The website features all the things that young men are interested in, including: gadgets, games, women, sex and entertainment. FHM.com has over 1.7 million unique users per month.
The Challenge
During 2008 the media landscape in the UK changed as media brands increasingly turned their focus to their online offering. Some brands even made the move to remove their print versions all together so that they could focus on digital.
Bauer Media was in a strong position as its portfolio of magazines and radio stations had already been online for some time. However, rather than having to scramble to the market, it wanted to focus on enriching its digital offering through value-add services.
2008 also saw the online dating industry booming. More than ever, people were being careful about how they spent their money and choosing to stay in rather than go out on the town. As a result, people were turning to online dating as a cost effective way to meet potential partners.
Jonathan Reynolds, Digital Partnerships Manager at Bauer Media, saw the opportunity of providing readers of FHM with online dating services from a comfortable and familiar surrounding through FHM.com. The dating service needed to be in line with FHM's brand values – fun, sexy, useful – not only in terms of content, but also in terms of the look and feel of the website.
FHM.com and WhiteLabelDating.com are generating additional revenue while building brand loyalty and retaining advertising revenues from other dating sites
The Solution
Online dating services were not new to Bauer Media. In 2005 it successfully launched FriendsofYours.com for Yours magazine together with WhiteLabelDating.com (WLD). However, as Yours and FHM are complete opposites in terms of audience and branding, Reynolds wanted to make sure that the service provider they used maintained the site's individuality.
Reynolds looked at several vendors and maintained that WhiteLabelDating.com still offered the most comprehensive solution whilst also offering the best conversion rates of browsers into paying customers. Additionally, Reynolds favoured WhiteLabelDating.com as its model does not include third party advertising that detracts from the service and driving traffic away from the site.
WhiteLabelDating.com worked closely with Reynolds on the layout and implementation of the dating service on FHM.com to ensure that it met the strict brand guidelines.
FHM Dates was live within 4 weeks and with access to WLD's existing database with default member search results displayed on the homepage only showing profiles of women between 18 and 30 years of age, the site was an instant success with users. Members immediately enjoyed all of WLD's functions including: searching, dating diaries, chat, private messaging, winks and gifts.
The full service approach, including the ability to "seamlessly integrate" with all existing branding, together with hosting infrastructure, payment processing services and marketing advice matched FHM's requirements perfectly.
Reynolds, comments: "FHM's commitment is to provide young men with fun and enjoyable content. In addition to featuring attractive women, we wanted to extend this by giving them the opportunity to meet them as well. While we are using a third party to provide us with online dating services, because we were able to completely brand it as our own, members continue to enjoy a FHM experience throughout.
"The implementation of the service was completely painless and after a year, thanks to the support team at WhiteLabelDating.com, the site minds itself. Our focus now is how to market it the right way. WhiteLabelDating.com continues to provide us with advice and tips on this and we have even been able to incorporate FHM Dates into the newsletter with a 'Date of the Week'."
Business Success
Since the launch of FHM Dates, the website has matched and exceeded expectations. Over the past 11 months, monthly revenue has increased by 3250%.
Reynolds comments further: "Based on the success of our collaborations to date, Bauer Media is excited to continue to work with WhiteLabelDating.com. On the back of the success of Friends of Yours and FHM Dates, we have recently added online dating services to our regional radio station portfolio and will continue to roll this feature out across relevant brands knowing that each site will be unique."
Download PDF