4D branding: what it is and what role it plays in marketing

4D branding is a technology that involves promoting a business in 4 dimensions, thanks to which it is possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company, choose ways to improve performance and, thereby, promote promotion in the market. This technique was invented by the famous American marketer Thomas Gad at the beginning of the 21st century, at a time when a stable demand for neuromarketing appeared on the market. Thomas himself is known in specialized circles for his world-famous slogan for the Nokia corporation "Connecting people". He based 4D branding on people's attitudes towards the brand, suggesting that this is one of the most important criteria in the development of any company. Thomas Gad bet on the fact that the company should win a name for itself on the market that would speak for itself and contribute to the fact that people would voluntarily and without any incentives recommend the brand's products to their friends and acquaintances.

4D branding is implemented by a special four-dimensional model, each component of which assumes a certain perception of the brand by the consumer market. The brand's thought field is the name that Thomas Gad came up with for his scheme. Today, this technology is used quite effectively in practice, allowing the company to build the most loyal and trusting relationships with its target market, to obtain strong emotional connections that ultimately have a positive impact on business development and will require a minimum of time and material costs for advertising: the company's name will already work independently.

As part of today's review, we will dwell in more detail on how to implement 4D branding in practice. Let's get acquainted with the main dimensions that became the basis of this technology, as well as the advantages that it guarantees to business. We will describe in detail what a brand code is, and also provide a number of successful projects that have already been launched on the market. We will talk about how to implement 4D branding in your business and what prospects await this technology, we will tell you what to expect from it in the foreseeable future.

Four main dimensions of 4D branding

In order to improve interaction with the user audience, attract its attention, involve it in the business and form the most loyal target audience that actively interacts with the brand, marketers put in a lot of effort, time, and show incredible creativity. At the heart of 4D branding and the very idea of Thomas Gad is the establishment of emotional and deep connections between the brand and each of the representatives of the consumer market. To implement such an idea, 4 main dimensions are used:

1. Functional. Here the emphasis is on practical benefits. That is, on the advantages that a person will receive when interacting with the company. In order to attract the attention of the audience in this dimension, brands rely on high quality, usefulness, reliability of their products, ease of interaction. In order for the product to meet current market trends, companies constantly improve and enhance it. That is, it is important to show how you differ from other companies operating in the same segment. So, if you sell children's toys, then focus on their environmental friendliness and safety for children, as an option, the absence of small parts, hazardous compounds. Show that you care about the younger generation, use natural materials and dyes.
2. Social. In this case, the emphasis is on forming a kind of group of like-minded people. People are always interested in communicating with those who share their opinions and have corresponding interests. In this case, the brand can provide its audience with a sense of involvement, cause a connection on an emotional level, show everyone their involvement in something bigger, larger than an ordinary online store. But the main thing here is not to touch on current social problems, because this can cause a huge number of disagreements. As an example, we can name, let's say, the undisguised mutual dislike of people who use Android smartphones and iPhone fans. The former consider the latter to be snobs, impractical people, while for others, buying an Apple product in itself indicates their social prestige (and it does not matter that this iPhone is taken on credit for more than one month, and in order to close it, you will have to deny yourself something). But such contradictions are not everywhere. As an option, Xiaomi smart gadgets integrated into the Smart Home system have managed to unite a huge number of fans of advanced technologies and innovative solutions. The company has formed a social dimension that has united everyone who strives for high levels of comfort at home.
3. Mental. Here we are talking about brands learning to provide their consumer market with inspiration, increase their self-esteem, give a feeling of satisfaction from the purchase itself and cooperation. In many ways, it is manifested through a constant and competent support service, the provision of high-quality products and guaranteed safety, motivation for certain actions. A striking example of this dimension is the LEGO Corporation. Firstly, the company focuses on the development of the younger generation, creativity, fine motor skills, and perseverance. Secondly, there is a clear division of products into age categories, which makes it easy to choose construction sets that a child can handle on their own. Thirdly, LEGO cares about the safety of children. Not only is the plastic itself completely safe, but it is also coated with a special substance that will allow the element to be seen on an X-ray if a child accidentally swallows it.
4. Spiritual. In this dimension, the brand is supposed to appeal to eternal human values. Most of them are manifested in sincerity, care, solving important, and in some cases even global problems in the field of ecology, ethics, and the social environment. As an example, we can name the Swedish company IKEA, which has been caring about the environment and future generations since its appearance on the market until 2030 (this is the period for which the corporation's strategy was written).

You must understand that the brand development process cannot be called stable. In addition, it is quite rare to achieve ideal coverage of all 4 dimensions. In addition, a bias in one direction or another is often made specifically in order to attract people's attention to one of the directions. So, if you bet on the social component, then the spiritual, as a kind of opposite to the first, will clearly suffer. That is, if you focus on it, you can avoid many reputational risks, but you will still lose some potential customers.

To get the perfect balance for your business, you need to experiment. Focus on one dimension or another and check how the consumer market will react to it, evaluate your own benefit. By trial and error, you will be able to choose the best solution for your business.

Why it is worth using 4D branding in practice: main advantages

A business that has opted for 4D branding at the stage of its development will be able to personally see a number of quite significant advantages. Here are just the main strengths of this technology:

• Increasing engagement of the target audience. Through it, you will be able to ensure for yourself the deepest and most emotional interaction with potential buyers of goods, services, which will become the basis for increasing their involvement. In the person of such people you will find regular customers who will bring income to your company time after time. Your work with the market will be carried out at the level of maximum trust, will be memorable and unique. This is what will also contribute to the fact that your regular customers will be happy to recommend you to their friends.
• Ensuring a strong emotional connection. By implementing various sensory stimuli in practice, you will be able to improve interaction with your audience. Your customers will subconsciously associate the company with positive things, which will have a positive effect on improving loyalty on their part and will significantly increase the likelihood of new orders.
• Increasing brand awareness. 4D branding will help people easily remember your company and will be able to highlight it, as well as the corresponding products, against the general background of products presented in this niche. Thanks to this, you also get a unique chance to effectively stand out from the competition and take a stronger position in the market.

Yes, there are not too many main advantages here. Our list is limited to only 3 points. But we are sure that you, as business representatives, clearly understand how important each of these aspects is. This is exactly what any company focuses on when working on the market. That is, regardless of the niche in which the work is carried out, the focus is always on attracting the attention of the audience, holding its attention, increasing brand loyalty and its recognition in the market. And you can get all this with minimal time and effort by implementing a 4D branding strategy.

The main purpose of the brand code

One of the most important terms related to 4D branding is the brand code. It was also invented by Thomas Gad in order to combine in a single indicator all the ideas that a company or a separate product embodies. That is, a unique set of attributes and characteristics inherent in the brand will be hidden here and will allow you to customize individual interaction with the target audience, to form a stable perception of the company in the market among customers. The brand code is based on 6 key parameters:

1. Product usefulness. This is a briefly formulated description of the product or service itself, as well as its main advantages. Mostly, it has a direct interaction with functional dimensions. It allows business representatives to understand what benefit they directly bring to the target market.
2. Style. This is about the overall image of the brand. Here it is necessary to implement a fairly large number of tasks designed to obtain an ideal balanced picture at the end. It is important that when looking at it, the user audience could confidently say that they see your brand in front of them. Such aspects as visual attributes, image, brand voice are taken into account here. This parameter will be directly influenced by the social dimension and will unite a large number of the target audience around itself. Think about what exactly can make your brand recognizable, what can emphasize its uniqueness. This will be your corporate style.
3. Positioning. It involves a combination of a large number of unique characteristics and qualities that distinguish your company or a certain product from competitors and analogues, respectively. Positioning is a derivative of the functional dimension. It answers such a question as: "Why is our brand/product/service better than other solutions presented on the market?"
4. Mission. The very name of the parameter suggests that we are talking directly about the role of the company in society. Here, a clear connection with the spiritual dimension is already traced. At the same time, there is no need to solve any global problems here. To define the mission of your own company, you need to give an honest answer to the question: "If we discard the material component, why am I doing this work?" That is, the mission is it is something more than just making money.
5. Values. This is about the corporate principles on which the entire business is built. Most of them will reflect the ideals of the business owner. They assume an answer to the question “What have we done to earn the respect of the market?” That is, this is what informs both the company's employees and its customers about why the brand should be trusted and how it managed to earn this.
6. Vision. This is how the future of the brand is seen, what positions it will occupy in the market in the foreseeable future, whether scaling is planned and what the final result should be after a certain period of time. In this case, it is very important to correctly specify the time intervals and answer the question for yourself: "How do we see the company in 1/5/10 years?".

That is, the brand code can be called a kind of cheat sheet, which will be convenient to use in those situations that require making certain decisions in terms of brand development. It will be useful both for existing companies and for those who are just taking their first steps in the market. With its help, you can come up with an original brand name, its logo, slogan. In this case, the main emphasis is on the company's values. The brand code will also help build effective interaction with the target audience. Your employees will develop a common strategy for dealing with the user market, which will improve the quality of service and increase the number of satisfied customers.

A brand code will also allow you to form a unified strategy for the development of the company, adjust all the components of the business, be it advertising, a website, personal pages on social networks, communication with the user audience and all other elements of the business to a single, easily recognizable style. It will also be useful at the stage of scaling the business, as an option by purchasing other companies operating in the same market niche, having the same or very similar values, missions.

Who should use 4D branding in practice: several examples

4D branding can be used by different companies, regardless of their professional activity, volumes, goals and objectives. Despite the fact that this technology has appeared on the market relatively recently, it has already repeatedly demonstrated its high efficiency and proved its right to exist. Now we will give 3 separate categories of business where 4D branding can be used directly with examples of practical application:

1. Large corporations. Here, one of the most striking examples of the effective use of 4D branding in practice can be called Apple. We are talking about the unique design of each individual product, the presence of branded sounds in specialized stores and the corresponding aroma branding. As a result, a client who has at least once contacted this company will retain all this on a subconscious level and next time will already know exactly where he is and what brand he is dealing with.
2. Local business. Companies operating in a particular region can also quite successfully use 4D branding in practice. So, as an option, a chain of coffee shops can use similar music to create a cozy atmosphere in their establishments, complement the natural aroma of coffee with the smell of the same chocolate. Flower shops can decorate all their windows in the same style, use the same packaging, pots and stands for them. It would also be a good idea to introduce a corporate style of clothing and oblige the staff to wear only branded items in the workplace.
3. Niche markets. In this case, we are talking about companies operating in fairly narrow areas. This includes those who sell premium goods, organic food, sports equipment, etc. In this case, 4D branding will also help to form an easily recognizable brand due to the psycho-emotional impact on the target audience. Thus, a store selling luxury Italian furniture can use exclusive materials, color combinations and motifs characteristic of a given country when decorating the salon. Again, with the help of aroma branding based on luxury fragrances, you can emphasize the premium nature of the brand.

Think about what image of your brand you want to form among your target audience, highlight the key points and systematically move on to their implementation. We will tell you further how to do this work correctly.

How to correctly implement 4D branding into your business strategy?

All the work that needs to be done within the framework of 4D branding of your business can be conditionally divided into several stages. Only after implementing the first of them can you move on to the second and so on. That is, only in this way will you be able to do this work as professionally as possible and not miss anything important. So, we perform the actions in the following sequence:

• Collect a portrait of your target audience. You should initially understand who your business will focus on in its subsequent work. Here it is necessary to take into account the gender and age of people, their interests, region of residence, income level, as well as a number of other indicators. Only if you understand your potential buyer's preferences and expectations from a product or service, you will be able to satisfy them and select the most effective sensory stimuli. You can perform these tasks as quickly as possible by using specialized services that parse data. As a result, you will receive a systematized table, simple and easy to perceive, and also save yourself from performing routine and monotonous work.
• Creating a multi-sensory experience. In this case, we are talking about the fact that you need to create a special perception of your company by the target audience. One that will attract potential customers, cause them to instantly associate with your business. At this stage, you can use tools such as the brand voice, which we have already discussed above, corporate color schemes, sound accompaniment, unique textures, aroma branding, corporate clothing style, etc.
• Integration of all 4D branding dimensions, which we discussed above, into one integrated strategy. Yes, you will most likely not be able to achieve maximum uniformity here, but you still need to strive for this. This way you will be able to cover the maximum target audience and ensure effective interaction with each potential buyer. All your dimensions should complement each other, which will ultimately allow it to form a single, easily recognizable and memorable image of the company.
• Monitoring the results obtained and making appropriate adjustments to the strategy. You need to see what results your work brings and whether they meet expectations. If you see that something is not going as you would like, determine the root cause of the problem and try to eliminate it as quickly as possible. It is also necessary to constantly monitor how the preferences of the target market change in a given time interval, what transformations occur in market conditions. Comprehensive monitoring is what will allow you to provide your strategy with maximum flexibility and improve the results of 4D branding.

Also at this stage, it is very important to determine the usefulness of your product and show it to your potential customers as clearly as possible. Alternatively, you can develop a unique positioning of the product or service, which will allow you to clearly distinguish it from competitors. Do not forget to create your own brand style, which will ensure a good recognition rate. Be sure to formulate your own mission, vision of the future of your company, formulate values. This will allow you to set goals and develop ambitions, even in the long term, increase loyalty from the target audience and gain their trust.

That is, it is in your hands to form a vision of your brand that customers will definitely share. This way, you will be able to retain the attention of your regular customers and attract new ones.

What challenges and risks can 4D branding face in practice?

The first thing I would like to draw your attention to in this case is the fairly high costs of implementing your strategy. It will take a lot of time, physical and material resources to form unique sensory elements, as well as integrate them into an existing business. That is, at this stage, you must understand how much money you will have to invest and evaluate the payback of the strategy.

Those who have already encountered 4D branding in practice have probably already noticed how difficult it can sometimes be to coordinate individual elements and implement them into a holistic idea. But without this, the effectiveness of all work will be very low. In order to obtain a holistic and consistent brand image, you need to ensure the most harmonious and even interaction of all 4 elements.

Another difficulty that I would like to draw your attention to is the instability of the consumer market. Yes, before launching your strategy, you will study the market, form a general portrait of the target audience. But, unfortunately, it is unstable. It will be influenced by new trends, interests, and changing tastes. That is, even if you manage to form a holistic and well-functioning 4D branding, your work will not be complete. You will need to constantly monitor the market, follow trends and make adjustments to your strategy. This is the only way you can meet market expectations.

If we weigh all the strengths and weaknesses of 4D branding, we can make assumptions about the future development of this technology. Here we can highlight 3 main trends:

1. The emergence of new technologies and innovative solutions. Many experts are betting on virtual and augmented reality, the introduction of artificial intelligence. This is what will make it easier and more effective to create a multi-sensory experience and ensure good interaction with the target audience, increasing their loyalty and satisfaction with service and goods.
2. The growing role of emotions in the marketing of the future. It has already become clear today that positive emotions contribute to the establishment of interaction between the brand and the consumer, contribute to the fact that people share their experience, tell their friends about the company. And this means that the time has come to learn how to evoke positive emotions in people and immediately associate them with the brand. If you manage to implement this idea, you will get an excellent competitive advantage.
3. The serious influence of social and cultural changes on business development. Here we are mainly talking about the impact they have on how the consumer market perceives the brand. As a business, you need to constantly remain relevant and in demand. This means that you will have to adapt to external changes, transform your strategy, and in many ways even the work of the company.

But still, 4D branding will continue to work. Moreover, its influence on business development will become stronger and stronger. Therefore, you need to think about the need for its implementation and implementation in your strategy today.

Summing up

As you can see, 4D branding is a fairly powerful tool that will help you form a deep connection with your customers, increase brand awareness in the market, and improve loyalty from the audience. Despite all these risks and challenges that this technology faces today, the prospects for its development are quite bright. The only thing is that you need to constantly keep your finger on the pulse and instantly respond to any changes.

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