Extreme ultra-niche advertising
Social entrepreneur, Arye Kellman, wants to change the way you shop in 2009. And given his energy and passion, he almost definitely will.
“I am trying to create a new type of South African consumer … who truly wants to only support companies who support their country,” said Arye. “I believe that South Africa will grow exponentially socially, politically and economically when South Africans truly support fellow South Africans.”
Arye is the founder of www.500k.co.za, a website that sells advertising by the pixel in order to raise money for Childline South Africa. When I first wrote about the site last year I wondered about the model and why people would visit it more than once in order to drive the traffic that would make advertising on the site worthwhile.
Arye happily explained.
First up is his vision of creating a new South African consumer that willingly consults sites like this and Proudly South African in order to choose companies based on what they give back to South Africa.
“I want to get to a stage in this country where before buying anything, consumers evaluate the product according to the Proudly South African criteria,” said Arye. ”500K.co.za is a website consumers can go to, to see what companies give back to South Africa and build this country as they build themselves as a company.
Secondly Arye says he is very happy with his efforts to drive traffic to his site thanks to the media coverage he achieved at the end of 2008 and into 2009. This ensures a steady stream of new visitors to the site.
And thirdly, Arye is creating a community around the site via the related blog, behind the scenes details on his press activities, and giving advice to other budding social entrepreneurs and people wanting to go online.
The first point is a nice example of the ultra-niche trend that seems to be gaining momentum. Think of things like the popularity of the Neighbourgoods Market in Woodstock near Cape Town, the general rise and rise of community newspapers and magazines (have you noticed how glossy titles like Getit are?) and the popularity of niche-interest titles like BPM and Muse music mags.
But back to Arye Kellman and 500k.co.za … In 2009 Arye plans to use the media momentum from 2008 to approach corporates for advertising. They currently only have one advertiser, which I am sure will change soon. He is also launching a reseller programme to drive sales.
In addition, this all-round cool guy is working on a top secret TV programme, a couple of other projects, and also somehow fitting in his second year BCom at Wits University.
