PRESS RELEASE – Kelleher International has named John Berg as sole CEO, ending the co-leadership structure with co-founder Amber Kelleher. The company also promoted five senior staff across marketing, HR, client relations, and member acquisition.
Category: Kelleher & Associates
Amber Kelleher-Andrews, co-CEO of Kelleher International, Dies at 56
TODAY.COM – Amber Kelleher-Andrews, celebrity matchmaker and co-CEO of Kelleher International, died on April 13 at her home in Montecito, California, after a battle with cancer. She was 56. Known for her work connecting high-profile clients, she also hosted the radio show “The Rules of Engagement” and appeared on NBC’s reality series “Ready for Love.” Kelleher-Andrews, who joined her family’s matchmaking business in 1995, helped expand it into a global brand.
Finding Love for $300K: Behind the Scenes of a Luxury Matchmaking Business
LOS ANGELES TIMES – As co-CEO of Kelleher International, one of the country's largest matchmaking firms, Amber Kelleher-Andrews, 52, has been pairing off super-rich singles for more than half of her life. There is no minimum net worth required – being able to pay the $300K membership fee is proof enough – but clients must be serious about wanting long-term commitment. Kelleher-Andrews and her mother, Jill Kelleher, who founded the company in 1986, panicked at the start of COVID, fearing it meant the demise of their business. Times of crisis have often translated to an unexpected boom in business for the company. People are reevaluating. The majority of the firm's 800 inquiries a month come from online search traffic, and about a third from referrals. To make the cut, Kelleher-Andrews and her team probe a potential client's finances, education, marital status, dating history, family background and career trajectory, and conduct interviews to gauge commitment and charm. Fewer than 5% are accepted.
When the Dow Is Down, Love Is up
ESQUIRE – Dec 11 – VIDA Select is a modern matchmaking experience. It does match its clients with one another like a traditional service, but it also gets them set up on two to four dating apps. VIDA handling all the swiping and messaging, too. 15 people or more could be involved in the setup of an account. Its packages start at $895 per month. CEO Scott Valdez says his cheaper service is just as or more effective than expensive matchmakers, mostly because "the idea of relying on your own database of paying customers is something that made sense when there weren't huge online dating platforms available." Selective Search would disagree. "It's almost like self-serve at a grocery store versus someone that's actually making you gourmet food, organic, farm-to-plate, in your home," founder and CEO Barbie Adler says of how her team differs. Its custom programs can range from $25,000 to $1M. Amber Kelleher-Andrews, CEO of Kelleher International, thinks she knows why online dating doesn't work for everyone: There's no vetting. The company only makes matches for highly successful entrepreneurs, royalty, celebrities, and otherwise notable people, and only two percent of applicants are accepted. A Kelleher International membership costs $25K – $300K a year. In a pandemic-ridden world, the matchmaking industry is experiencing an unprecedented boom.
by Lauren Kranc
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Matchmakers Thrive In The Age Of Tinder
FASTCOMPANY – Oct 1 – When Match.com launched in 1995, it seemed like the matchmaking business was about to have its Amazon moment. "I wondered if we’re going to go out of business," says Amber Kelleher, a matchmaker who had been working with the enormous database of singles her mother had started building, by hand, in 1986. But the Kellehers' business grew. "People were able to take a baby step. They got to us faster," Kelleher says. Maria Avgitidis, the founder of Agape Match, says her clientele has also changed. "As online dating is becoming normalized," she says, "it’s driving up these niche apps and, at the same time, matchmaking." Agape typically charges $15K for six months.
by Sarah Kessler
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The High-End Matchmaking Service For Tycoons
NY TIMES – Oct 11 – High-end matchmaking service Kelleher International is hosting a private matchmaking event on Necker Island in Caribbean in January. The cost of the trip per person is ~$45K, excluding the flights and optional spa treatments. Kelleher International has 16 offices around the world and receives ~1K inquiries per month. Of those, ~700 are women, ~10 of whom are accepted as clients. A fee of $15K buys a year’s worth of unlimited matches in one city.
by Dan Crane
See full article at NY Times
Online Personals: Changing Norms, Changing Business Models
CLASSIFIED INTELLIGENCE REPORT — Oct '08 — JupiterResearch predicts the online dating industry will hit $1.9 billion by 2012, not including matchmaking services at $250m+ in the U.S. Mark Brooks, who monitors the personals industry, pegs 2004 as the year when dating sites matured. "There are less people on dating sites, but they're spending more money." The CEO of The Right One/Together Dating, Paul Falzone has been in the business 20 years. "When times are good, people want someone to share the fun with. When times are bad, they want companionship."
The Free factor – Free has become a very real factor in the industry, with the emergence of PlentyOfFish.com. POF has more than 10m profiles, and 2m active monthly users. "He's the renegade of the market," said Brooks. "He's making the other players think about advertising money." Frind acknowledges that his $10m in yearly ad revenue has gotten people's attention, but he thinks the traditional dating sites are too invested in the paid-membership model to shift gears.
The Facebook factor – Many in the online dating industry believe social networks will not be a negative factor because SN are for friends and people are posting all sorts of material there they might not want a prospective date to see. But Robert Lee, who has been reviewing dating sites at ALoveLinksPlus.com, believes Facebook is going to figure out how to establish different layers of access, so a user can create a dating-oriented profiles that not everyone can see. As of Oct. 18, Facebook had 497 dating applications.
Different marketing and revenue models – "Personals ads" in newspapers was disrupted by the Internet in the mid-1990s but is being revived with a new focus on Web-first publishing, promoted in print. Another model uses the Web as its operating venue, but drives new customers through heavy advertising in traditional media. Cupid.com makes deals with radio stations to run ads for free in exchange for a share of revenue and claims a conversion rate of 13%. eHarmony and Match spend millions on TV advertising. The typical revenue model is "browse for free, connect for a fee." Matchmaking sites such as Kelleher and Associates, Together Dating and It's Just Lunch have a dual role in the online ecosphere. First, they buy leads from online dating sites, creating yet another line of revenue. Paul Falzone bought LoveAccess.com as a way to generate his own leads. In the 1980s, Falzone's cost per lead was $200-$250 using direct mail. Now his goal is to get that number to zero.
Growth of explicit sites – At the Internet Dating Conference held in London in September, the hallway buzz was all about the explosion in numbers of women signing up for adult sites like Fling.com and AdultFriendFinder. "I'd call it a sexual awakening," said Brooks. "Guys have always been interested in the adult sites, but this is new." The average length of membership on a regular dating site is three months, compared with five months on an adult site.
The future – Mobile and video remain theoretical game-changers, enabling potential match-ups by proximity or direct communication. Brooks sees another potential business model emerging from academic research: a dramatic improvement in the quality of matching.
The full report was originally published at AIM Group, but is no longer available.
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Matchmakers Conference Next Month
OPW — Aug 25 — The 2nd annual Matchmakers Conference is happening on September 12-13, 2008 in New Jersey with an optional Sunday matchmaker training session. The conference suits prospective matchmakers, current professional matchmakers and those interested in learning more about the matchmaking business. I'm doing the keynote session "State of the Dating & Matchmaking Industry. Paul Falzone and Terry Fitzpatrick from The Right One/Together Dating, Julie Paiva from Table For Six, John Galloway from Kelleher & Associates, Julie Ferman from Cupid's Coach and many others will be presenting. – Mark Brooks
Matchmakers In San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE — Mar 2 — People in one of the most wired regions of the country are turning to an age-old method to find partners: professional matchmaking. Marsha Winer runs 'Introductions by Marsha', a 24-year-old matchmaking company. She has matched 1,500+ people. Members pay $2k/year for six introductions. Melinda Maximova is the founder of Perfect Search, a firm that helps high-earning men find serious relationships and charges $5,500 a year. While traditional matchmakers tend to pair paying clients with each other, with Perfect Search, only the men pay a fee. Jill and Amber Kelleher run 'Kelleher and Associates'. Packages start at $6,500 for a year. $25k buys membership to the dozen branches, and $45k, a nationwide search. At $100k, members work personally with a co-owner and get 40% of their money back if they are unsatisfied. And for $150k, the co-owners will conduct an international search. Carole Shattil founded Check Mates Inc 16 years ago. Prices start at $2,500 for a trial membership, $5k for 18 months of local introductions and $10k for two years of local and Los Angeles pairings. FULL ARTICLE @ SF GATE
Mark Brooks: The internet dating industry is leaving money on the table! Here's the best way for your dating service to make money from matchmakers… Create a special 'matchmakers membership'. Bands get a special membership on MySpace. Headhunters get a special membership on Monster.com. Matchmakers should get a special membership on dating sites. Charge matchmakers $2k a year to set up their clients profiles, access your database, see who is 'really' active and likely to respond, and send priority messages to them. Let me know if you do this.
The Growing Industry Of Matchmaking
SACRAMENTO BEE — Oct 5 — The dating industry as a whole rakes in $1 billion each year. Professional matchmaking, with at least 1,300 matchmakers, accounts for about $236 million of that. Companies like DinnerMatch and Table for Six Total Adventures are helping some of America's 92 million singles who are finding it harder to meet people.
Mark Brooks: The Matchmaking Conference in New Jersey went well. 80 matchmakers and business people were in attendance. Kelleher and Associates were in attendance. They charge $65k-$120k per match! Most matchmakers charge ~$5k-$10k and have 25+ clients.