Marketing is often just taken to be a glamorous and soft job; it can be contended that it does not have the on the ground pressure of sales, or the back end responsibility of the supply team. The truth though, is far from the above contention. Marketing is a job of bringing together the various pieces of the puzzle. It is a job of co-ordination: from ensuring supply to supporting sales; and of course, most importantly, knowing its consumers, their needs and ways of reaching them. This last bit is the most vital part of the marketing puzzle: if the consumer’s need is incorrectly defined, then the product will be useless; and it’s even worse if the communication channels go wrong. In this scenario, the marketing message does not reach the consumer, as a result of which, even if the product is consumer-relevant, the consumer does not know it. Hence, even if sales and supply do their best, the consumer will not buy the product if marketing doesn’t do its job.

Increasing the Degrees of Marketing
Marketing has to do it all. Understand the consumer, create the marketing message and then utilize relevant channels to target the consumers. When it comes to channel selection, one term that has become something of a buzzword in marketing circles is 360 Degree Marketing. Simply put, the term means to touch the consumer through all possible media that the consumer interacts with. When we say ‘touch the consumer’, we are referring to the delivery of the marketing message to the consumer. The aim is to make sure that the consumer sees the message wherever he/she interacts with media. The media mix may be such that the consumer gets a detailed message through certain avenues and reminders to the main message from other avenues.

The underlying concept is to identify and select different media through which a particular segment of consumers may be touched. The most obvious and widely used is TV. Next in line are radio, print and out door advertising. Even BTL activities should ideally be linked with the Marketing Message of the brand, so that they can also act as a consumer touch  point linked to the central positioning of the brand. The key to having a successful 360 degree marketing plan is ensuring the uniformity, consistency and connection of the individual message components (for one brand) in the various media, with the central message of the brand. What occurs more often is a mere ‘lip service’ to the 360 idea. The TV copy has been developed and put on air, and a few print ads and billboards are thrown about, and this is merely imagining 360.

360 is about identifying media which might be unique to the brand’s particular target audience, and is not about simply using radio, TV, Internet and print together. For certain brands and certain target segments, the Internet and digital media might not be relevant; whereas if you’re target audience consists of housewives to whom you want to sell a cleaning product, then billboards are most likely to not take your message to the end-consumer. This is where the actual joy and elegance of 360 comes into play. The concept is the very core of marketing: customization. Needless to say, when you are mass marketing, than customization is not a pressing concern, but the zenith of marketing would be customizing the product and the message to individual consumers. 360 helps in creating message customization for particular target segments by seeing how well the message can be communicated using a specific medium, and how the target consumers react to that particular medium. If the answer to both the above questions is a positive, then the identification process for various media is well under way.

Branching the Message into 360 bits
The marketer would ideally want to have few but focussed media for his/her 360 campaign, but would also want these few media to be relevant and effective. This is also a good idea, because it allows the allocation of good resources to few focussed media, rather than a half hearted scattering of resources on to many media avenues.

The next challenge for the marketer is to rework the message for use in the various media. While doing this, it’s important to retain the consistency of positioning of the brand, as well as being aware of the limitations or superiority of a particular medium. For example, a radio copy would retain the central positioning premise that the Brand has tried to convey through a TV copy, but it would adapted in a certain way to counteract the limitations of the radio in the sense that there is no visual stimulus for the consumer. Having said that, its also a good idea to define clearly the objectives for each media. The radio copy might be more about a reminder that compliments the TV copy, rather than the main channel through which the marketer is trying to explain the Brand’s premise.

It is also equally important to know which consumers from your brand’s target will be touched by a particular medium, and what their behaviours are with respect to the particular media.

Ensuring consistency of the message is also very important. Elements like the key visuals, the tag-line, the colours, fonts etc. used in a particular media need to be aligned with the central positioning premise of the brand in order to ensure a combined effect.

Milking it in Pakistan
A couple of very good examples of 360 degree implementation in Pakistan come from the milk industry. Olper’s is one of these examples. The brand has relied heavily on slice of life commercials, which are resplendent with the brand’s red colour and it’s use of celebrities. Apart from the TVC, the Brand has relied heavily on its in-store visibility, branding and availability. Compared with its competition, Olper’s red colour allows the brand to stand out. This is a subtle but excellent 360 degree technique, as the moment of truth that the consumer experiences in the shopping area is one of the most vital consumer touch points for a brand.

The brand also has high outdoor and print utilization, and in all cases the fonts, colour, taglines and message are consistent. The consumer is actually bombarded with consistent elements which pull together to drill home the Olper’s message. Olper’s has also been very active in the BTL front, with community gathering programs and door to door sampling programs. The objective of the BTL front is simple: generate trial in non users, and the themes, look and feel of the Olper’s BTL programs is consistent with the central Olper’s brand idea.

Another interesting example is that of Nestle’s Everyday. For years, the brand has gone with functional advertising to try to explain the need for a tea whitener. Having established that, the brand recently moved towards a more emotional campaign, where it associated the bonds between a husband and a wife with the ‘bond’ between Everyday and tea. As an extension of the campaign (which featured TV, radio, outdoor and print), the brand also generated massive buzz through its recently launched every soul-mates website (www.everyday-soulmates.pk). Everyday advertised about the website through print, and ensured a unique channel of communication for the brand. The website is about strengthening relationships between husbands and wives (rather than man and woman – very apt to Pakistan and central to the Everyday positioning) by offering advice and ideas. The website is true to the Everyday brand world, with the look and feel, the fonts and the theme being directly linked to the Everyday campaign.

Another example comes from Gillette. The brand’s current campaign is the worldwide Gillette Champions campaign, starring Theirry Henry, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods. They have localized the campaign in different countries by taking in a local hero. In Pakistan’s case, the hero is Shoaib Malik (a choice I personally disagree with). Nevertheless, the brand has put forward the campaign through a strong BTL presence, and complimented that well with the local edition of the Gillette Champions website (www.gillettechampions.com). Again, the central idea and theme remains true to the campaign premise, thus resulting in a uniform message being disseminated through multiple media.

Is it Good, or is it Great
It’s actually great, 360, but it’s something that should be very brand specific. Certain brands respond well to a 360 campaign on various media, while certain other brands are more aligned towards a particular medium. The point is that the 360 degree campaign should not be forced onto a brand; rather, it should be a natural extension of the central brand premise.

If it’s done well, the 360 degree buzzword can actually work wonders for the brand as it has the ability to communicate the message, or different complimentary aspects of the message to the consumer through different media that he/she interacts with. Imagine the consumer being constantly reminded of the brand. If this is coupled with a relevant, focused and clear message, then the most difficult job that marketing has to do will be done.

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