Oprah's Secret Source of Mojo

I recently read an article about the end of the Oprah Winfrey show and the fact that other shows were going to have their work cut out to replace it in terms of broad appeal and popularity. The reason that she has been able to create such a special and enduring relationship with her audience intrigued me, and on reflection I think that the author is absolutely right.

The unique magic that Oprah brought to her show was that despite the fact that she is exceedingly rich, always beautifully turned out and mixes with celebrities on a regular basis, she manages to never alienate her audience. In fact, the exact opposite. We love her because no matter how wealthy or famous she has become, she always makes us feel like she is one of us. We all want to be on the Oprah Winfrey show or have our story taken up by Oprah or her magazine because we feel like she gets us, better than almost anyone in our lives - sometimes even our closest family and friends.

It is this sense of not just sympathy but true empathy and understanding that makes Oprah so unique. Due to her ability to make her audience feel loved and understood she has become one of the biggest brand success stories in history - because of course, she is a brand as her magazine, her show and even her store in Chicago will attest to.

Which leads me to draw a parallel here between the bond that many brands try to build between themselves and their audiences and too frequently fail to create. Why this bond fails to materialize is a conundrum that has many marketers scratching their heads because they certainly spend enough time searching for that oh so elusive 'consumer insight.

My experience has shown me that there is a fairly important difference between audience insight and audience empathy. The first tells the audience that the brand in question has ferreted out a fact about their mindset or their lives that they are now going to play back to them in a way that hopefully will make them more inclined to buy the brand or product in question.

Audience empathy on the other hand goes beyond saying to the audience that the brand has learned a little something about their lives. It demonstrates a deeper undestanding and ability to relate to what it means to be the person the brand is trying to reach and therefore has a far greater ability of really making a meaningful connection.

Clearly, not every brand is a candidate for the creation of audience empathy - sometimes we just want to know that the soda being advertised is going to be damned refreshing - but for many brands if they thought more in terms of the creation of audience empathy instead of searching for a mere consumer insight, might find that it made all the difference to their sales and success.

What Brands Can Learn From Small Business Entrepreneurs

It occurs to me that companies could learn a lot about igniting the inherent mojo of their brands from the struggles of start up entrepreneurs in their first couple of years in business.

In the early days of a start up there is a lot of 'mojo marketing' going on as the proprietor tries a wide variety of innovative marketing activities in the hopes of finding the ones that will add a shot of momentum into their business. Their efforts are inventive and interesting and, in many cases, exhibit an instinctive understanding of what makes their prospective customers tick.

Even while they explore many different forms of marketing to juice up their brand's mojo, they keep a clear eye focused on what their business proposition is. They work fast. They try. They fail. They succeed. And they do it without ever losing sight of the mojo that makes their offering special.

An interesting example can be seen in this clip from a television show on the Planet Green channel called the Fabulous Beekman Boys. The show follows the trials and tribulations of two men who, leaving corporate careers behind, buy an abandoned farm in up state New York and embrace an experiment in natural, seasonal living. They are attempting to start a small business that, consistent with their natural living standards,  sells artisanal cheeses, goat milk soap and other organic inspired products from their property.

In an endeavor to advance the visibility of their own business among their core audience of sophisticated urban taste makers, these organic entrepreneurs host an auction at Sotheby's in New York City.

The idea behind the auction is to sell-off heirloom vegetables grown on local organic farms to be donated to soup kitchens in New York. The proceeds of the auction are then plowed back into the community of small farmers and village proprietors who are trying to survive and thrive. Ultimately, the auction raises over a quarter of a million dollars for small farming operations. And it raises the profile of the Beekman Farm business even more.

And interesting experiment in marketing mojo that seems to be working.

A Little Female Mojo?

I was so excited to see this commercial for a new Danish beer called Copenhagen.

Having worked with a major beer brand a few years ago to convince them that targeting women beer drinkers did actually represent a huge opportunity - after all, women do account for over 25% of all beer consumed - I thought that beer was destined to be a product that was caught in a time warp. Bad humor and frat boys was the land of beer drinkers and that view of beer and beer culture was here to stay.

So when I saw this commercial and the very tasteful packaging being used for the new beer brand - it almost looks like a wine bottle - I realized that Carlsberg - that makes Copenhagen - had finally taken the reins on trying to capture this huge untapped segment of the beer drinking audience.

I wish Carlsberg the best of luck with this venture.

Personally, I am heading out right now to give it a try - whether I like the taste or not, that bottle is going to look great on the shelf in my fridge!

Give Back Mojo

How much easier can it be?

A young entrepreneur named Steve Paletta, winner of Oprah's Big Give, has taken his prize money and started a new philanthropic organization designed to enable everyone, regardless of their financial circumstances, to give back to causes that matter to them.

His brainchild.... GiveBack.org. 

GiveBack.org is a brilliant way to harness the power of everyday buying behavior and social media in service of doing good in the world.

It's easy to do. Simply sign up with GiveBack.org to create your own personal philanthropic foundation. Then you can either donate funds into your foundation from your own pocket, or you simply shop online with over 400 major retailers and earn up to 15% of the value of your purchases in charitable monies that get deposited by the retailers into your foundation. The list of retailers is vast including major and desirable brands from Apple to Nordstrom to Barnes & Noble.

GiveBack.org oversees your foundation as it is collecting money. When you are ready, you  direct the funds from your account to the charity of your choice. There is no charge for the transaction and the donation is tax deductible to you.

You can also highlight your charities on your Facebook page and inspire your friends, in a pay-it-forward kind of way, to build their own foundations with GiveBack.org. The more of your friends that join, the more impact points you receive, which can then translate into even more dollars donated to your charities by the Give Back organization itself.

Now that is mojo at work!

What Groupon's Got Up Its Sleeve

I love it when companies are savvy enough to give people new and different ways to access their brands. And its even better when they show that they get how people really live ... on the fly and with spontaneity.

Goosed by the spate of me-too competitors, Groupon is getting down to business leading the charge to redefine the retailing experience. Recently launched in Chicago test market, the inventor of community buying has gone live with a great new offering...Groupon Now!

The idea behind Groupon Now! is to give people access to great deals happening in the moment in their area. It is essentially an instant mobile version of their daily deal offering. You can get a Groupon deal in real time, when you need it most.

You simply plug in your location on your mobile and Groupon tells you about short term deals going on at nearby locations. You can choose from a whole bunch of options including 'Eat Something,'  'See a Show,' ' Go Out' or 'Take a Class.' Once you find the deal you like, you simply tap the buy button, pay for the deal on your mobile and an electronic bar code is sent to your phone. The retailer scans the code and you are off and running with your deal. The deals are short term and basically instant. There's even a timer that lets you know how much time you have to redeem your deal before its gone.

And Groupon Now! is not just great for consumers, its also a great way for local retailers to access new customers. Local proprietors can schedule deals at anytime and maybe even get a few new customers in the door on slow days.

That's cool for everybody.

Green = $ + Environment = Mojo

If you are like me, you probably still have the impression that there is a fundamental conflict between the concept of companies meeting their profit goals and their ability to implement initiatives that support the environment and sustainability.

Consequently, I actually felt a flicker of real hope when I read about Walmart's initiative, started back in 2005, to reduce the amount of cardboard used across its product line up that not only helped reduce waste ending up in landfills but also saved the company $3.4 billion a year.

Walmart has since brought in "eco-friendly consultants who have helped find innovative ways to reduce waste almost everywhere, from the use of chemicals to something as simple as installing electrical generators in the trucking fleet so that refrigerated trucks don't have to idle overnight." Walmart also found that they could sell local, organic cotton T-shirts just as cheaply as imported, chemical-laden shirts, so they did.

What makes all of this even better is that Walmart realized that not could it be profitable to 'go green' but that the majority of it consumers were women and they would start turning their backs on the retailer if they didn't get with the program.

This is a definite mojo maker for Walmart and for all retailers and manufacturers who are still claiming that you can't go green without loosing a lot of the green that comes in bills.

Mojo Mamas

Global Mamas is a women's non profit organization with tons of mojo, that I had the good fortunte to work with in Ghana for a month earlier this year.

Cause marketing in general has tons of mojo these days because most consumers, especially women, want to feel good about the brands and products they buy, and that goes beyond their mere functional performance. Across the board, women say that they are more likely to buy products from a company that shares their values and concerns.

Global Mamas supports the financial wellbeing of women, specifically in Ghana, by hiring them to make clothes, jewellry and even shea butter to be sold in the US and Europe - to the same women that many large health and beauty, fmcg and retailers depend on to buy and stay loyal to their brands. Most importantly, they are a member of the Fair Trade Organization so they pay these women a fair wage.

So check them out - a really great non profit(and cause marketing opportunity)with a ton of mojo - www.globalmamas.org