Let's visit a ninth grade math class. You're learning the basics of geometry and discover that a circle has 360 degrees. If you add up the degrees of each angle in a four-sided figure, it's 360 degrees, as well. But on a more thematic level, the number 360 represents a route that might travel near or far but lands in the same place it started. Everything is connected.
Marketers are always looking for ways to give their ideas a fresh spin. Sometimes a new terminology can set apart an idea. "It's like what we did last year, but now it's gamified," someone might say. And sometimes a term comes along that is not only fresh, but flexible. The phrase "360 campaign" is one. The number 360 is both broad and powerful, and there's no definitive example that sets apart what a 360 campaign really is. Rather, it can mean a lot of things.
There's no appearance of "360 campaign" in books up through 2008, as a Google Ngram shows, so it's a relatively new term.
Google Search Trends show usage of the term popped up around 2007, and as interest creeps up, the interest in similar terms begins to drop.
The most popular use of "360 campaign" is to define a marketing plan that is both online and offline, on social media, and more. It's a holistic promotion that truly covers all the bases. Nike is a great example -- its product is the shoes while its wearable tech, the FuelBand, is an extension of brand values. In short, to be truly 360, a campaign would need to encompass everything -- mobile, digital, television and social (until new mediums arrive, in which case the campaign would need to again expand).
You might also consider a 360 campaign to be the one-up to integrated marketing. It goes a little bit further -- all the way around.
Still, a visit to Twitter shows not everyone is on the same page with what a 360 campaign is.
Here, it just combines social with TV:
Amazing to see essentially every commercial with a hashtag. Great way to build a 360◦ campaign. Convo carries from offline to online. #SB47— Jenna Golden (@jigolden) February 3, 2013
Here, a 360 campaign involves sensory experience with radio broadcast:
Truely a 360 campaign, Bravo!! A coffee aroma is released when a dunkin ad is on the radioyoutube.com/watch?v=kmrc8Z… via @youtube— Yousef S. Batook (@Yousefsb) July 27, 2012
Perhaps it just means as many media channels as possible:
By 360 campaign i mean when you have op at LIVE event, email group, blog, social media, etc. all pointing to product #startupchat— Startup Princess (@startupprincess) October 26, 2011
Here's truth of '360° campaign' at most agencies. Bit outta date since I drew this up 6 yrs ago, but still close: bbhlabsblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl…— Tim Geoghegan (@timogeo) April 25, 2013
Take a gander at Geoghegan's diagram here:
Image courtesy of Twitter, Tim Geoghegan
Of course, no term is truly a marketing buzzword until it gains a fair amount of ridicule:
Trying to put together a 360 campaign that uses big data, gamefication, real time marketing, augmented reality and doritos taco shells— Scott Ziegler (@szieg) March 28, 2013