Speaker: Sam Yagan, CEO, OKCupid

1. Building the Data-Driven Brand
Digiday Data Marketing Summit
Sam Yagan
Co-Founder & CEO, OkCupid
President, Match Media Group
@samyagan, @okcupid

2. ABOUT OKCUPID
2

3. OkCupid Background
• Leading online dating site,
launched in 2004
• Exclusively organic growth
• 10,000,000+ registered
users
• 500,000,000+ messages
sent each year
• Acquired by Match.com
Our brand has become synonymous with data.
“The Google of online dating” – Boston Globe
3

4. 4 Math Majors Started a Dating Site?
• Fundamental belief in data.
• Why do people date online?
• What kinds of data can we collect?
4

5. The Three Uses of Data
• User experience (making better matches)
• Marketing (PR)
• Sales (targeting ads more effectively)
The combination can build a powerful brand.
5

6. Modeling the Offline Dating Decision Process
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7. A Unique View Into Consumers
• Sure, Amazon has deep purchase data
• And Facebook has deep social data
• Dating sites – and especially OkCupid – have
– Demographic data
– Psychographic data
– Lifestyle data
– Consumption data
Whom would you share your most
personal info with?
7

8. What Are We Optimizing?
• What’s our definition of success?
– A 3-way.
• Key elements:
– Distribution of messages
– Recipient’s interest in the message
– Keeping reply rates high
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9. OKTRENDS --
HTTP://BLOG.OKCUPID.OCM
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10. We have data. Now what?
• Goal: Use data to build our brand
– Leverage our data
– Create buzz
– Engage authentically
• First we tried traditional PR
• Then we started blogging…
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11. Did It Work?
Launch of OkCupid’s
blog, OkTrends
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12. ABOUT MATCH MEDIA GROUP
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13. Largest Group of Dating Sites
• Powerful combination
of reach, depth, and
data.
• Not only use data to
target campaigns…
• But also to turn data
into the campaign itself.
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14. DonQ’s Campaign Created Data
14

15. The Data on Singles
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16. CASE STUDY:
A TOP-25 INTERNET RETAILER
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17. The Retailer’s Core Customer
• Female
• Between 25 – 45 years old
• In these zip codes:
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18. Ok, Cupid?
• This retailer had many data sources
– Ad agency
– Customer surveys
– Focus groups
– Market research
• We analyzed the 490,439 active OkCupid
members that fit these criteria.
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19. How She Describes Herself:
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20. Her Male Counterpart
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21. What’s Top of Mind: Age
• 25-45 is pretty broad!
• Retailer especially interested in older women
• So we explored the impact of age
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22. Her Preferences by Age
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23. His Preferences by age
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24. Women Seeking Men
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25. Men Seeking (Younger) Women
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26. Men Seeking (Older) Women
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27. Attractiveness is Exponential
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28. She is More Positive
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29. She’s Also More Sex-Positive
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30. Age vs. Attractiveness: Who Wins?
250x
200x
150x
100x
50x
0x
1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.82.0 2.22.4 2.62.8 3.03.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0
attractiveness rating
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31. Attractiveness Wins
Interest from Males by Attractiveness Quartiles
14
12
10
8
top quartile
6 2nd quartile
3rd quartile
4 bottom quartile
2
0
23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45
the woman's age
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32. The Older Mass Retail Shopper
• She is competing (for men, possibly jobs) with women
much, much younger than herself.
• Perhaps counter-intuitively, she is much more confident than
her younger competition.
• She has two weapons: her attitude & her looks.
• This should influence communication and merchandising.
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33. HUMAN NATURE
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34. Do You Spend More $ on Clothes or Food?
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35. iPhone “Autobiography”
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36. Android “Autobiography”
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37. Blackberry “Autobiography”
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38. “We just paid a market research
firm $250k to tell us that.”
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39. Men’s Ratings of Women’s Looks
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0
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40. Men’s Messaging to Women
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0
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41. Women’s Ratings of Men’s Looks
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0
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42. Women’s Messaging to Men
8%
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0
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43. Is that an iPhone in Your Pocket…?
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44. DATING TIPS
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45. Say Something Interesting
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46. Avoid the Superficial
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47. Ladies: How to Dress for Success
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48. A Typical First Date
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49. Do My Date & I Have Long-Term Potential?
1. Do you like horror movies?
2. Have you ever traveled
around a foreign
country, alone?
3. Wouldn’t it be fun to chuck
it all and go live on a
sailboat?
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50. What Else Can We Learn?
Men Women
1. In a certain light, wouldn't 1. Do you like the taste of beer?
nuclear war be exciting?
2. Assuming you were in the
position to do so, would you
launch nuclear weapons under
any circumstances?
3. Could you imagine yourself
killing someone?
Will You Have Sex on the First Date?
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51. 51

52. Building the Data-Driven Brand
Digiday Data Marketing Summit
Sam Yagan
Co-Founder & CEO, OkCupid
President, Match Media Group
@samyagan, @okcupid