What is 360 Degree Branding?

360 degree branding is a branding effort which tries to include the brand identity into a holistic approach so that the brand is in touch with and visible to the customers at all the times.  It’s all about creating a distinctive brand philosophy which is centred on consumers. It helps to anticipate all aspects of consumer needs. Especially when brand is fairly new it needs to be present everywhere to build a brand image.

360 degree branding is a combination of integrated marketing communications and web 2.0 usages.

Integrated marketing follows a user centric approach and primarily focuses on use of online and offline tools to engage and excite consumers. Integrated communication ensures that message is consistent throughout irrespective of the channel. A good marketing communication plan helps onboard more customers and increase sales revenue & business.

A web 2.0 usage pays more attention to customer rating and social media as consumers talk about the brand outside of the boundaries of the brand

A 360 degree branding has various elements like print, media, broadcast, email, phone etc

A brand manager has to ensure that each of these elements should run according to the essence of the brand and the marketing strategy.

For example: In Social media apart from posting messages, we can also establish conversation, get a feedback from user, collect big data, or even manage issues and complaints.

360 Degree Brand Identity Defined

A term that has come to describe this new rule of brand identity is 360 degree brand identity. Think of your brand as a circle divided into four equal parts:

• Visual Qualities — including photography, typography, logo, iconography, color palette and patterns associated with your brand.
• Verbal Qualities — including company name, the tone of voice, messaging and original or unique language associated with your brand.
• Sensory Qualities — including sounds, jingles, smells, taste, light, illumination, touch, texture and gesture controls that users associate with your brand.
• Interactive Qualities — including navigation icons, user generated content, social content and behavior icons like Facebook’s ‘like’ symbol, Twitter’s ‘bird’ symbol and Google Maps’ pin icon to mark a place.

If brand identity is a circle, 360 degree brand identity is a wheel. That wheel has spokes. Each ‘spoke’ is a touchpoint — a way for consumers to interact with and experience a brand.

Successful marketers understand that brand identity has evolved beyond broadcast messages to two-way communication.

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360 degree branding advantages and disadvantages

The primary goal of a 360 degree branding is to ensure that the message across all channels is the same. The goal of a 360 degree branding strategy is to keep the consumers engaged. It is an initiative that aims to present the brand in front of the customer in the most holistic manner possible. Its primary aim is to create a brand image which centers on the customer. It is an effective tool to predict the needs of the consumer.

The main advantages of such a branding strategy are:

• It combines the best of integrated marketing and web marketing
• This pattern is versatile and capable of being used across all industries
• This branding strategy allows you to get as creative as possible
• Special emphasis is laid on continuous communication with the consumers’ right from the beginning stage that is from product discovery to purchase at different points across multiple devices or in person.

The only visible disadvantage that can be seen is the over emphasis on brands which can lead to an irksome customer. When the brand is presented in all the levels of the chain, the customer might believe that it is too intrusive and aggressive to say the least.