• by Janie Curtis , May 31, 2011

It seems like we could all do with a bit more mojo these days -- something to get things kick-started and steaming forward again. The economy has certainly been lacking it for a while and the people who are still employed are so stretched that they would do anything for a little extra mojo to turbo boost their performance.

When it comes to injecting brands with a bit of extra in market zip, mojo works pretty well there, too.

So what is mojo in the context of a brand? It is the energy and drive that comes from within that allows a brand to keep growing and kick the competition in the butt. When a brand has mojo it has stature in the market and draws flocks of evangelists like bees to a honey pot.

So how can a brand get a little extra mojo to do everything from revving up its success rate behind new product innovations to identifying a cause that it can really own and capitalize on?

For those people in the marketing realm who don't like to be faced with just one option, there are actually eight different sources of mojo that a brand can tap into -- so basically, whatever a brand's weak spot at a particular point in time, there is a mojo source that will probably provide the answer.

So let's take a look at a few of these sources.

The first Mojo source comes from the brand experience and, no -- that doesn't mean the experience that comes from being around a long time. I mean the experience that it gives consumers who interact with it -- use it, eat it, touch it, wear it or however else it defines its purpose. Traditional marketing puts a lot of stock in positioning a brand for success, but that doesn't always translate into truckloads of consumers who can't wait to, well ... jump on the truck.

Brand Experience is so much more than just brand positioning -- think the Mini, Starbucks, The Nook, Virgin -- defining how people are going to experience your brand and why that's different and yes, exciting is a lynchpin of creating brand mojo. It should also be noted that brand evangelists should be able to articulate what makes the experience of the brand so unique even if being asked to articulate a brand's positioning results in head scratching and quizzical looks.

A second source of Mojo is called Personal Progress because -- let's face it -- we don't just expect a brand or product to clean our floors or get us from A to B these days, we expect it to make us better people. It's easier to see how certain types of brands can deliver this type of mojo -- Weight Watchers (our thinner selves), Hallmark Cards (our more loving, caring selves) -- but what about a can of soda or an airline? Well, for a start, not all the eight sources of mojo are going to be equally relevant to all types of brands, but a soda could probably offer a little personal progress by encouraging sharing and an airline by promoting its ability to stay kind in a harsh world -- personally, I am still waiting on the last one.

A third source of Mojo is a brand's advocacy, and this doesn't just mean following the pink ribbon wherever it may lead. This comes from a willingness to stand for and promote deeply held values that lead to it supporting causes that are relevant to its core target consumer. Fundamentally, this source of mojo generates brand sales by letting the consumer know that it cares about more than just making sales and money -- a type of reverse psychology.

So what types of causes and advocacy give a brand mojo? A program like Electrolux's "Vac from the Sea" initiative is a very powerful use of Advocacy mojo. The initiative, which features vacuums designed from plastic waste removed from the sea, shines a spotlight on the issue of excess plastic pollution that is contaminating seas around the world.

So what are the other five sources of mojo? Everything from Ingenuity, Access and Life Role to Inspiration and the brand's Value Equation. Finding ways to tap into the sources that are right for your brand can be as good as giving it a shot of Red Bull -- should such a thing be possible.