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

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!

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.

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.