Chris Reed launches Tinder dating service to help lovelorn LinkedIn users
Fresh from his acrimonious split with The Marketing Group, Chris Reed has picked himself up with the launch of a personalised dating service that manages professionals’ Tinder profiles.
Launched under the Black Marketing umbrella, the company dubbed Spark claims to finesse a lovelorn person’s LinkedIn and Tinder profile simultaneously in order to encourage relationships between “like-minded professionals”.
Clients then insert a link to their professional platform into their dating profile in the hope of impressing potential love interests with their work history.
The move comes following a number of reports involving women receiving unsolicited non-work related messages on LinkedIn.
In some cases, these have crossed the line into sexual harassment, according to a recent LinkedIn post by US agency founder Josh Steimle.
However, Reed said Spark would seek to avoid allegations of LinkedIn harassment and stalking by encouraging users to message potential dates on Tinder and use the professional social network to determine whether the person ‘fits the bill’.
“Most people meet a partner through a work related catalyst, whether at work itself, through a client/agency relationship, or an event,” he said. “This allows people to find this person on Tinder and check out their LinkedIn profile. It also allows the woman to say to any unwarranted messaging that if she was interested in dating they could find her on Tinder, if not don’t approach her.
“It’s a Tinder-first proposition that is backed up with a professional and attractive LinkedIn profile. It gives the woman more protection as she can check out someone’s completed LinkedIn profile before deciding to go on a date with that person.”
When asked how many clients Spark has, Reed added: “We will see.”
According to Reed, Black Marketing now employs 30 people across four different brands: The Dark Art of Marketing – for personal branding, Mohawk Marketing – for TripAdvisor marketing, and Chris J Reed Mastery – a series of personal branding masterclasses.
Spark’s launch comes just four months after Reed’s very public spat with TMG chief executive officer Adam Graham when the two parties split.

Chris Reed: “t gives the woman more protection as she can check out someone’s completed LinkedIn profile before deciding to go on a date with that person.”
Reed, who previously billed himself as the “only NASDAQ-listed CEO with a mohawk”, was one of four companies bought by TMG’s founders Jeremy Harbour and Callum Laing – in a deal that gave him 18.65% of TMG’s 14.4m shares.
However, Graham, who came on board TMG in November 2016 – five months after its launch – said of Black Marketing: “It is not a business I would have acquired”
At the time of the severance, the two parties said they considering potential legal action against each other.
When asked to comment on Black Marketing’s current legal standing with TMG, Reed simply said: “They won’t do anything now.”
Is this real? As in, for real?
ReplyOf course. Why would it not be? There’s a clear need for this service.
ReplyHere we go again.
Since when are linked in profiles even verified? Anyone can be a CEO on linked in. So what, you think a 55 yo chairman is going to date a 50 yo chairwoman? More like he’s going to want to be matched with a 23 yo model…. (get real….)
Desperate times calls for desperate loser business ideas.[Edited under Mumbrella’s community standards]
ReplyDesperate times for who? Not for us.
LinkedIn profiles are not perfect but they are certainly verified by both LinkedIn and users to ensure that people can’t lie and if they do they can be reported to LinkedIn who can ask you to remove your “untrue” part or justify it.
A LinkedIn profile is certainly more substantial than a Tinder one.
ReplyEvery woman I know on tinder already checks the guy out on LinkedIn, FB etc anyway so not sure how this adds any value??
ReplyMany do which is great to hear and exactly what should happen, but many don’t. Plus the ones that do need to enhance their LinkedIn profile and the man definitely does, hence why there is need for this service.
ReplyThis is going to be the best “here’s how to click on a link” and “how to type a name in the LinkedIn search engine” course available… what a superb idea. I just typed my Amex card number straight into the Google search bar, please book me in!
Replyyou’re only jealous that you didn’t think of it first…..
Replyhahahhahhahahahahahaahahahahahahhahahaha no
Replyand that’s it? that’s raising the debate bar here?
ReplyWHAT A JOKE. This self-important man-child is a serious loser.
ReplyVery intelligent addition to the debate, what are you 10 years old?
ReplyI’m putting on some popcorn ? to watch this one unfold…. anyone want some?
ReplyYup I’m in, I’ll take salted
Replyha ha, are you not entertained?!
ReplyBang
That was the sound of Chris Reed hitting rock bottom
Come on Chris, it doesn’t need to be like this
Still time to grab back some of your dignity
Replycan’t get much lower than an anonymous troll like yourself….
ReplySigh, sigh, sigh. And we want our industry to be seen to be ever-more professional…
Replywhat is “your industry” and what are you doing to make it “seem more professional”? you think by writing anonymously on here and not adding anything positive that you are achieving this for your “industry”?
ReplyWhat about Tinder/LinkedIn that incorporates salads and pets as well?
ReplyRaising the bar of the debate as ever
ReplyI hear heavy keystrokes coming from the LinkedIn Office….
Wild Cat typing….
Replyand your intelligent addition to this debate is?
ReplyWitt over intelligence ol’ boy.
I was merely casting a light on the undoubted truth that you’ve got some cats at LinkedIn typing feverishly….but you know this already…of this I am sure.
Sometimes the rabbit wants to be caught just to make the greyhound look silly, but at the end of it all, the rabbit is still a dummy.
Feel free to use that any time.
Righto. I’m off to listen to The Remix To Ignition on repeat. There’s food everywhere like the party is catered.
Replyyou know me so well
hope you enjoyed dancing, sounded like a great party……
ReplyI’m sure LinkedIn & Tinder will be happy about this. Not.
Replyand why wouldn’t they be when we’re helping them address key concerns raised by their audience?
ReplyWhat data do you have to back up these concerns? And why would you think LinkedIn and Tinder would be ok with you using their brands? You might want to quickly take a LinkedIn Learning course on Trademark Infrigement…
ReplyEleanor covered this in her piece and people have the same concerns about Tinder, ask your friends, if you have any
ReplyI am not sure whether to laugh, cry, facepalm or just ignore (that one lost)…
If the proposition for men is; “Don’t be a dick, message women for dating on a dating app” – and to add a LinkedIn link to your tinder profile, then I’m not sure what the ongoing value provided by Black Marketing is?
What is the value proposition for women? “It also allows the woman to say to any unwarranted messaging that if she was interested in dating they could find her on Tinder, if not don’t approach her.” – so, wait for the harassment/approach to happen and then instead of going back and saying “this is inappropriate” or reporting the person, they send them off to try and find them on Tinder.
Thanks for the entertainment value Mumbrella but I’m amazed this warrants the label “news”.
ReplyNice of you to give in to temptation….You miss the point of why anyone buys any service including every agency commenting on here; most professionals are not managing their LinkedIn profiles and have incomplete profiles.
Therefore that service is being offered here to men and women who wish to have a more professional and attractive LinkedIn profile not for sales or marketing or employer branding but for “romance” instead.
As with all our services we save people time and energy. They don’t need to do this, we can do it for them, as we do for all our Black Marketing clients. Seems to be popular.
Reply“Therefore that service is being offered here to men and women who wish to have a more professional and attractive LinkedIn profile not for sales or marketing or employer branding but for “romance” instead.”
I don’t think anyone wants to specifically beef up or beautify their LinkedIn profile to find romance. Yes, it is indeed used by people to check each other out (more for verification than anything else), but I wouldn’t go out of my way to use it as a means to attract people for anything other than jobs or professional networking.
It’s great that you think there is a legitimate business case here, and I wish you well with that, but just don’t hold your breath that a tonne of people will be beating down your door to sign up.
ReplyAll excellent points Alina, thanks for sharing.
Time will tell. At least it will make people think about it.
We’ve already had enquiries and interest in the service so there is definitely a demand for this. Many people see it as one part of a holistic strategy to generally improve their LinkedIn profile to achieve a multiple things, one of which may be finding a partner.
Appreciate you commenting, all valid points.
ReplyMumbrella dips to new lows by treating this as newsworthy… Not going to help with the ad calls guys!
ReplyMumbrella knows well this is not news
It is though going to get an above average number of clicks
Personally I think Reed has missed a trick. The last time he was given media coverage it was when he was “launching” his Trip Advisor consultancy. Surely there is room for an integrated LI, TA and Tinder proposal? Holiday dates with fellow professionals.
See – there is still some bottom of the barrel that has yet to be scraped.
ReplyI like that idea….that will be next venture!
The market is there for all our ventures, hence why we’re growing, where are your ground breaking ideas and companies?
ReplyChris, I think we have very different takes on what makes an idea “ground breaking”.
Good luck. It’s a big world. Plenty of room for us all. But maybe wind in the bravado. came back and bit you last time.
ReplyIndeed and thank you.
Fair point but I’m not sure it did in quite the way you think, you shouldn’t believe everything you read especially coming out of TMG
ReplyHe just laps it up every time though, doesn’t he? and that’s what makes it so funny! He just doesn’t seem to get that this stuff stays online forever!
Personal Branding forever!
Replydon’t I?
think the joke’s on you
Replyand yet you comment…..
ReplyHow old are you?
ReplyOld enough to know not to engage with trolls on here but it’s so much fun……
ReplyDidn’t somebody already fail at this back in 2014?
http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedup-dating-app-2014-5
Also there’s this belinkedn app. Business is clearly thriving as they are up to 776 followers on their Linkedin company page now!
https://www.linkedin.com/company/linkedup-/
As somebody once said, “what’s the downside?”
ReplyOnly up sides, that idea was 4 years ago and ours is different….
Replyso there!
As somebody already said, most people already check out their match on Linkedin before going on a date with them, so interested to learn where you add value here.
Unless you are helping people to tailor their Linkedin profile to make it more attractive to potential love partners…Now there’s an idea!
ReplyEye rolling……..
Think we covered both these points already…..
ReplySometimes you don’t need to smell the vino to figure out who’s typing drunk.
Replysurely everyone commenting here is just naturally high and enjoying life?
oh maybe not….maybe they do all start drinking at 1pm and don’t stop…
you notice their comments stop after I reply….are they too drunk to reply?
ReplyI wonder if LI and Tinder would like their reputations besmirched…(not that Tinder could get any worse) but any ounce of respect LI has will go down the drain with this. I am surprised they aren’t shooting a lawyer’s letter off to Reed seeing how he’s clinging on to his associations with LI with desperation. I get that your reputation is quite tarnished and you’ve become the posterboy of “what not to do if you want to run a respected business in Singapore” but it appears that you’re really too desperate to think straight. Not that you ever did.
ReplyWhatever. It’s just entertaining for the rest of us.
I think the joke’s on you….as everyone can see
As for running successful businesses in Singapore, Black Marketing has been going for 5 years now and has never been bigger in staff, revenue and clients…. I seem to be doing something right….
Where’s yours?
ReplyBonus points for using the term ‘besmirched’.
Kick push, kick push….
ReplyHahahaha!!!
ReplyWhy so serious?
ReplyMohawk man’s reputation will forever be associated with mindless banters and “business ideas” on Mumbrella Asia
ReplyYou wish that were true but you hit the nail on the head buy headlining that comment “Mohawk”. More people know me for that and LinkedIn marketing than anything on Mumbrella, it’s only marketing people in Singapore who read Mumbrella anyway…..
“Business ideas” that actually lead to real business being won and real people being employed….more people are being touched by my real LinkedIn services than anything on here ever could.
Anyway what will you be remembered for? Being anonymous? Irony.
ReplyNice one Chris – you have extended the life of this article and made it a lot more interesting. Good luck with the new venture
ReplyCheers Tim
ReplyThat is a great news for lovelorn linkedin people. Support Chris to do that.
Replyindeed Lucky, a worthy cause!
ReplyI don’t see why people hate it so much. It’s indeed a good idea.
ReplyCheers Omka, it is indeed!
ReplyWhy so negative “Dave”? Are all your friends lawyers?
ReplySo did you get permission Chris or not?
ReplyGreat innovation. I am tired of recruiters and InMails cluttering my inbox. Looking forward to finding out how many Horny Singles Are In My Area.
Replywho are also professionals looking…..precisely
Replybecause you’re clearly prejudiced and closed minded you mean? you probably talk diversity but don’t actually mean it
you want everyone to be very prim and proper, wearing a suit and tie and joining the right boys club and going to the right university…in other words all the reasons I left the UK to live in Singapore, why don’t you go back to the UK since you want everyone to be like that?
very brave of you to say this while being anonymous – try saying it to my face instead
ReplyI’m an Asian woman actually… talk about being prejudiced and small minded…I don’t wear a suit and tie, don’t belong to a boys’ club and it wouldn’t make much sense to go back to the UK.
Thanks for demonstrating my point so convincingly…
ReplyYou’re still anonymous so difficult to believe this
Using words like “buffoonery” is not something as Asian woman would use. I stand to be corrected but I’ve lived in Singapore for 10 years employ 25 Asian women, have many Asian women clients and meet Asian women daily and not one of them has ever used such a classic upper-class English word like “Buffoonery”……
ReplyBoy, you don’t meet many upper class Asian women do you?
ReplyCome on now, it has nothing to do with old school ties or whatever other straw men (women) you care to throw in.
It’s about credibility and substance. As a Brit, I haven’t been anywhere near a chamber in the 17 years I have been in Asia – not my scene – but even I raised an eyebrow when I saw they were associating with yourself and your blatant and (to me) rather crass self promotion.
This style of doing things may work for you, and as you repeatedly insist, business has never been better. But you also have to accept that many other people see it as nothing more than snake oil and are actually laughing up their sleeves at you.
If you are going to put yourself out there as you do, you’ve got to get some thick skin.
Replythat’s all fair and I do understand but I’ve been a chamber member for 5 years running 3 business groups very successfully and professionally and profitably making money and engaging for 4 years and board director for 2 years.. zero complaints…..
so again getting rid of me only from the board based on gossip and that people didn’t like my mohawk or dress sense but and then asking me to still lead the two business groups was hypocritical and contradictory
I’m an entrepreneur so like all entrepreneurs I used the chamber to win business…100 others do the same…the only people who complained were those in cushy MNC jobs….
I’ve got a thick skin..hence why I enjoy this banter …I need it with a mohawk the most engaged LinkedIn profile in Singapore
Replysuch a small minded view…I ran the two most successful business groups….I also promoted their events and sold more tickets than anyone else and recommended and engaged with more members than any other director……that’s called cutting your nose off to spike your face…..
they also claimed to support entrepreneurs while getting rid of one so if you’re an entrepreneur you won’t now be heard….
if you’re happy paying your membership for 25 less events a year and all that means in terms of less networking then more fool you….
ReplyI think the phrase you are looking for is ‘Cutting off your nose to spite your face’ not SPIKE.
ReplyYou are of course correct! Cheers for correcting me! I quite like Spike though!
ReplyI don’t understand the service here. Can you explain the value prop? From what I understand you suggest people add a link to their LinkedIn profile to their Tinder profile, then charge them to sexy up their LinkedIn page?
ReplySpot on.
Not rocket science but then nothing on LinkedIn is, it just takes, time, effort, expertise, daily activity and more time…..
Hence why CEO’s and entrepreneurs outsource the service to us.
Cheers
ReplyChris you are very poor with timing and reading the tea leaves…At a time when male interactions with women in the workplace are under greater scrutiny than ever, you come out with a stupid idea that links a professional site to one that is designed for casual sex….what could ever go wrong?
ReplyThat’s precisely why the timing is perfect if you read my proposition Jim it actually is designed to give women more assurance and safety.
We have had more female interest in this by far than male. They want to know that the person that they are talking to on Tinder is genuine and has a good career/professional record. It also deflects people from contacting them on LinkedIn and tells people to go to Tinder instead and NOT on LinkedIn.
And as I have said in our marketing you and everyone else can’t deny that most people meet a partner, a long term one not just a ONS, through work or a work connected person or event.
If you also actually read most of the female profiles on Tinder, (as I have in my research), then you will find that a vast majority are on there for relationships not ONS or hook-ups. Hence why this marketing proposition is perfect in it’s timing.
Thanks for commenting anyway.
ReplyI’m struggling to see any value for women. Unless there is somehow also a “block” feature, stopping messages being sent over LinkedIN unless you have matched on Tinder, all I’m seeing is yet another way for guys to message women they haven’t matched with.
We already get unwanted messages from men who have seen us on dating apps, not matched with, so decided to stalk us on Insta/Facebook, I cant imagine why I’d want this to happen on LinkedIN as well. Many women already have their employment removed from their dating profile deliberately, disconnect their instagram from dating apps because we get sick of non-matches messaging us.
The only useful thing I can think of is when guys send creepy/rude/crude/abusive messages we can see where they work and can choose to show their employer how they conduct themselves.
ReplyNo reply for this one mate? I usually like to keep my work life and dating life separate. But hey I’m probably weird like that. I mean who wouldn’t want someone you’ve just accidentally swiped right on having direct access to message, email, and call you (albeit once Chris and his ‘furious 30’ have ‘sexied’ up their profile).
ReplyHave your say