South Africa Special: Gareth Pon

How many likes did your last Instagram selfie or #avotoast pic get? Ten? Twenty? That’s chicken feed to 29-year-old influencer Gareth Pon, whose arresting landscapes and self-portraits can rack up 5,000 likes a pop. The photo-sharing platform is still in its infancy in South Africa but with 260,000 followers at the time of press, Pon is clearly one of the country’s leading lights

I meet the photographer, filmmaker and consultant (he describes himself a ‘multi-faceted creative’) in a suitably ’gram-worthy café in the upmarket Sandton district. Tattooed baristas grind Fairtrade beans and perfect latte art, while outside a bustling street market sells vintage clothing, artisan cookies and jewellery. Dapper in a black fedora, Pon is the embodiment of the rainbow nation: half-Chinese, half-Mauritian by blood, but born and bred in Johannesburg.

In true millennial fashion, his career has followed a meandering path through the creative industries, dipping his toe into fashion design, retail marketing (creating high-tech window displays for the likes of Nike and Xbox), events and film production.

He first experimented with Instagram in 2012, while studying for a degree in visual communications. “I was trying to work out what exactly this app did, how could I use it?” He ended up majoring in film while using Instagram as a platform to build up a photography profile. “In terms of style and subject matter, I’ll shoot whatever,” is how he describes his approach, “but one common theme I try to bring out is the level of emotion and relatability.”

Pon’s landscapes are breathtaking even on a tiny iPhone screen – a boat left high and dry on Mozambique’s ribbed sands; a volcano in Réunion scarred dramatically by a chalk-white path – but it’s the less conventionally photogenic settings that interrupt a scrolling thumb. Jo’burg will never rival Cape Town for stunning geography, but in the stark geometry of its cityscapes Pon reveals an unexpected beauty. “Portrayals [of Jo’burg] can be very negative, and there’s a lot of opportunity to break through that, to show the fun and beauty that isn’t normally seen,” he explains.

As Pon’s follower numbers swelled, he realised “how Instagram was a way to bring different ideas into the country – but also centralise and push something out as well.” Inspired by the chance to show another side of South Africa to the world, in 2013 he set up the country’s first official Instagram community, organising regular ‘Instameets’ for users and providing a platform for them to mingle, create and gain local and international exposure.

At the time, he was working in film production, but when international media outlets such as Huffington Post and Instagram’s official blog spotlighted his account, he faced a career crossroads: set up his own production company or travel the world and research Instagram’s possibilities? He picked the latter, of course, and spent a few months “visiting different spots in Europe and the States, meeting and learning from the communities and how they did things overseas, because that activity wasn’t happening at all [in South Africa], yet.”

The age of the influencer is upon us

It’s this combination of research, marketing nous and creativity that has kept Pon at the top of the influencer food chain as the platform gains in popularity: South Africa user numbers have leapt from 1.1 million in 2014 to 2.68 million in 2015.

He’s since seen “a lot of spin-off groups and other  communities being set up. People ask me if I get precious about it, but I don’t. It’s amazing.” While the cost of advertising schools is a major access barrier to the industry, Instagram has proved a democratic platform for creativity, says Pon.

One of his favourite projects has been to organise and shoot the campaign film for South Africa’s first national Instameet: “My approach was simply [to show] how different colours can come together and explore diversity. Every [Instagrammer] had a different approach, so it’s seeing the value that all those differences can bring.”

On the commercial side, Pon has worked with creative agencies and brands, including Samsung (he holds the grand title of ‘digital imaging ambassador’), high-end hotel chain LUX* and the South African tourist board. He also consults on influencer marketing and Instagram strategies for brands and individuals.

How social media-aware are brands in South Africa? “To be honest, most still take a very conservative approach on social media,” says Pon, “and budgets are a fraction of those allocated to more traditional advertising [channels], like TV.” Why is that? Pon puts it down to South Africa’s mobile data limitations: “Not everyone will have access to 3 or 4G.” 

Another sign of Instagram’s immaturity as a marketing space is the lack of influencer agencies, specialist companies identifying and connecting influencers with brands. “It’s getting there,” says Pon, pointing to Webfluentials, an influencer database, “but there are no traditional agencies representing [influencers] yet.”

Asked if he’s been tempted to fill the gap himself, he says a photography studio with a creative management arm is “in the works” – he’s just trying to work out the right business model. As an influencer himself, Pon knows all too well how “people won’t trust their creative to just anyone and [marketing] relationships need to be fluid, dynamic.”

Pon describes his hometown’s current vibe as progressive. “I like to think of Jo’burg as a small London; it’s got the same energy, it’s multi-cultural, there are lots of creative spaces opening up. There are markets in the malls, community drives, an emerging cycling culture…”

For Pon, it’s all part of the region’s huge creative awakening: from film to art, once-derivative mindsets are moving to original thinking. “South Africans love to repurpose: we’ll take an idea that worked in London and do the same thing here. But now, I’m seeing a lot of people starting to think for themselves,” he concludes. “We’re realising we have unique stories to tell.”

For more, follow @garethpon on Instagram or visit garethpon.com