I initially came across the "360 degrees of branding," some years back while I was researching the history of the infamous advertising agency, Ogilvy & Mathers in NYC.

Their idea was extremely simple. Make sure that all of your media has a contiguous look/feel, and that all promotions etc. delivered the "same message." Yet they found that many companies and brands didn't adhere to this principle.

I also researched, and was inspired by another pioneer in web advertising, Hillman Curtis. While living in NYC, he produced many works for the likes of HP, IBM, and Apple among many others. He had great vision, and the ability to condense a complex idea into a simple theme.

One of his basic beliefs was that "TEXT," was king. He questioned how a brand could advance itself by using only textual statements. In addition, he was also one of the first on the web to create flash animations and banners. Keeping in mind that large images and videos were not commonplace at all during the early start of his online career, he was able to produce some very compelling advertising art. You can see a  wonderful overview of his work concepts and his life:

Hillman Curtis: 2015 AIGA Medalist