Be a cash test dummy

Continues Cherry “The idea actually came about during a wine tasting. It seemed so normal to taste wines and make notes of the ones you liked to buy later on. I wondered why no other brand managers had ever thought of potential customers 'taste testing' their products in a more organised way.

“More and more I realised that I paid less attention to ads and rather Googled the name of a restaurant or guest house or whatever it is I'm thinking of buying, to see what other users have written about it.”

As a part virtual shop, part blog site, Cherrypicka allows readers to buy test tickets to try out the showcased brands, and then share the reviews of their experiences on the blog.

“I also really wanted to find a way to generate a bit of viral buzz for local brands that don't have big ad budgets to help them. Getting potential customers to hunt and seek out new things to try, and pay a bargain price for the honour was a nice way to do that,” he concludes.