Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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.
Friday, May 20, 2011
What Brands Can Learn From Small Business Entrepreneurs
Thursday, May 19, 2011
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!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Give Back Mojo
What Groupon's Got Up Its Sleeve
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
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.
Monday, May 16, 2011
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
This Spot Has Mojo!
Anything that affords us a really good laugh has to have good mojo at some level because it lifts our spirits and makes us feel happier and more optimistic - even if just temporarily.
Brands that use humor in their advertising tend to do so with mixed results, often to do with whether the mojo that the humor imparts can be directly tied back to the brand after the commercial is over, or whether it is funny in its own right but no one can remember what the commercial was for.
I loved this commercial for AT&T, not only because it made me laugh out loud and was very memorable but also because the idea is so integrally linked to the product and brand that is being advertised, the viewer is not going to be left wondering whether it was for a cell phone or a new brand of energy drink.
Also, in these dead serious days, it is nice to have a brand that is willing to indirectly take a poke at itself - great stuff with lots of mojo!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Mojo At The Register
I am not sure that anyone really imagines working at Wal-Mart is exactly fun. Unlike a retail or restaurant destination like Starbucks that over the year has created the impression that working there is like a non-stop party, no one really feels like that about Wal-Mart. Clearly the retailer does employ a lot of people who need jobs and that is a good - if not great - thing, but I can't say that when I am there I see tons of employees having what seems to be a great time.
That is probably why on my last visit I was so impressed with the woman who checked me out at the register. She was an older woman who looked like she should be sitting in a living room and enjoying her grandchildren rather than working the register at Wal-Mart, but the thought never seemd to have occured to her. She had a line up of customers with bulging trolleys a mile long, and yet she was moving us through with a speed and enthusiasm that one couldn't help but admire.
She was sweet, kind, helpful and in a word just had a tremendous amount of 'mojo'. I walked away realizing what a difference it makes to a retail experience interacting with someone who doesn't seem to hate every minute that they have to work there. Unfortunately, due to a rather low minimum wage and an increase in the overall level of societal disgruntlment, it doesn't seem to happen very often any more - mores the pity.
My impression is that if more stores realized the importance of having truly happy sales associates, they might put more emphasis on doing what it takes to make them happy and keep them that way - a sales person with mojo certainly encourages one to go back another time.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
A Sale with Mojo!
Although, like most people, I have been trying to be thrifier, I can't resist a good sale.
However, I also find myself getting rather annoyed at retailers who pretend to be having a big 'holiday' sale and put up huge 'blow out sale' posters all over the place - only to offer their customers the same percentage reductions on the same clearance racks that they were doing prior to the supposed sale.
So I have to take my hat off to Coldwater Creek who really know how to do a sale.
Their apparel, which is targeted at the 35 and up female consumer, is well made and relatively speaking, fairly high priced. However, when it comes to their two semi-annual sales, they do it in style. For a period of 10 days, they give their consumers 50% off everything in the store - no exceptions.
I can tell you from personal experience that their stores were packed every day for that 10 day period with hundreds of extremely happy customers.
The items were still far from bargain basement priced, but as a customer you felt like you were getting a great deal on high quality items and that you didn't have to settle for the dusty, clearance merchandise to benefit.
A smart sale that has lots of mojo - which has resulted in my bank account having a little less - mojo that is.