When it comes to picking your next date, is there a list of criteria to meet, or do you just wait for sparks to fly? What about partnerships with your brand? Is it purely business, or do you look for that unique chemistry as well?

According to John Gamvros, managing director of new brand-matching agency Brand Dating, business is not so unlike one’s personal life, and the company that your brand keeps says a lot about your business as well.

Having created partnerships such as that between Sony and FIFA, Diet Coke and Karl Lagerfeld, and the Fashion Rocks music and fashion fundraiser event with Condé Nast and The Prices Trust, Gamvros believes that, “In a market where budgets are shrinking, partnerships create new ways of engaging consumers with minimum investment.”

“As marketing budgets squeeze in the current soft climate, and brand marketers have less time and money, we believe that strategic marketing partnerships offer brands a cost effective way to unlock synergies, share assets and reach new audiences.”

Gamvros’ company matches brands based on complementary objectives, values and assets.

“In our experience, it’s often the partnership idea that ignites the match. We connect brands with partners they would never think of or would have difficulty finding,” says Gamvros.

Brands that have already signed up with Brand Dating include BMW, Mini Cooper, Samsung Mobile, Tiger Beer and Charles Sturt University.