A Cape Town web publishing entrepreneur has sprung \u201ctryvertising\u201d on South Africa\u2019s online advertising industry. Jonathan Cherry is probably best known as the driving force behind the SA Blog Awards, conceptualised after his own blog, (or web magazine, as he prefers to call it) cherryflava.com, grew from strength to strength since its inception three years ago.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old former Santam brand manager has always been passionate about \u201cbusiness trends happening globally and the way things are changing\u201d.<\/p>\n
On his home turf, Cherry has become something of a trendsetter and in February launched an online brand showcase called cherrypicka.com \u2014 a website which could challenge traditional advertising mediums if it catches on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was at a wine tasting when I came up with the idea. I realised that when wine marketers do their campaigns, they let people taste. No other business really does that, lets you form an opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo my idea was to use the interactive nature of the Internet to allow people to try things out and then share their reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manufacturers provide free samples of their products on cherrypicka.com, and the website, in turn, charges its users a \u201ctest ticket price\u201d, which is 30%-40% of the retail value of the item.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis lets people try products at a discounted rate. It\u2019s a role reversal of advertising \u2014 the consumer is paying for the advertising,\u201d said Cherry.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing like this is being done anywhere else in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tryvertising is a new breed of product placement, a phrase coined by a Dutch trend-spotting company, said Cherry, adding that the response from users was \u201cfantastic\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout advertising, we already have more than 500 registered users and are still in our testing phase,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The site has already launched tryvertising campaigns with Vida e Caff\u00e8, Hoopenburg and Stormhoek wines, Taittinger Champagne, Pronto Condoms and South African band Coda.<\/p>\n
Shane Dryden of Yuppiechef.com, who sells kitchen tools, was one of the first merchants to use cherrypicka.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to expect and were surprised about what it did for sales and our exposure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur reviews were really good and the great thing was that we could respond to consumers who had minor problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
The demographic on the site shows its users are people living in high LSM areas, mostly aged 25-35.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had an 80-year-old buy on the site,\u201d said Cherry.<\/p>\n
Cherry aims to be getting 50 new merchants on the site each month by the end of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more merchants we can get, the more advertisers we can get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cherry resigned from his day job last year, after realising he was spending more time \u201canalysing marketing trends rather than implementing them\u201d and he felt it was a natural progression to take his ideas further.<\/p>\n
Cherry also runs sports blog feverpitcher.com and celebrity gossip site jetstreaker.com<\/p>\n
\u201cI had always wanted to do my own thing, and the popularity of the site was at a point where I could do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While Cherry feels web users in the US are more inclined to share their views online, he believes South Africans will find their online voices eventually.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has also taken a while for South African marketers to include blogs on their media schedules. At first they were sceptical of social media as part of an ad campaign, but it\u2019s been the \u2018flava\u2019 of the month since the blog awards.\u201d<\/p>\n
While cherrypicka.com gathers momentum, big money is being spent by corporates around the world on establishing whether they should enter into online dialogue with web users who attempt to trash their brands.<\/p>\n
Cherry acknowledges it is the more \u201cballsy\u201d marketer who comes on board.<\/p>\n
\u201cLocal brands are nervous about being reviewed online, but isn\u2019t it better for them to know what people are saying rather than have them discussing it around the braai?\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, cherrypicka.com\u2019s reviewers have all adopted a predominantly positive approach.<\/p>\n
Cherry intends to sow his seeds in the international market, \u201cespecially in the UK, where they are ready for innovative marketing trends\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, he has no time line for this, as South African banks do not allow online payment system Paypal to deposit funds into local bank accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to find a way around this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cherry has no regrets about leaving the corporate world. \u201cThere are so many opportunities in South Africa, it would be a waste not to grab them.\u201d<\/p>\n