The 20th century’s most enduring content marketing experiment

Surprise is still the most powerful content marketing tool out there. But how do you use it effectively to create strong associations with your brand and build memories with your audience? Move over McKinsey. Here’s how tyres and beer changed content marketing for good.

Let’s do a quick thought experiment: imagine you work in the content marketing function of a tyre manufacturing company. The CEO asks you to come up with a content campaign idea that will promote the brand and boost sales of its latest tyres. After some brainstorming, you come up with three options:

1. A content series that does a deep dive into innovations in tyre manufacturing — from new compounds that extend longevity to advanced simulations that improve performance.
2. A set of videos profiling today’s diverse forms of motorsport — from F1 and Formula E to rallies and cross-continent bike races.
3. A book of restaurant reviews that recommends good dining establishments across the country.

If you choose to proceed with the third option, you’re in good company. This was the choice made by the Michelin brothers, who had taken over the eponymous tyre company from their father. First published in 1900, the guide provided general advice for travellers, with maps, lists of hotels and restaurants — and, naturally, instructions on how to change your tyres. The idea was to encourage drivers to head out on the road, hopefully on a new set of Michelin tyres.

Michelin discovers star power

In 1926 the Michelin Guide hit new heights by introducing a star rating to indicate a fine dining experience. A few years later, this evolved into the legendary Michelin stars, which awards one, two or three stars to the best places to drive to for a high-end food and wine experience (no specific guidance was provided on how to drive back home again). The rest, as they say, is history. There are now more than 3,000 starred restaurants spanning about 40 countries, and the list grows all the time.

When I tell people this story today, I’m met with almost universal disbelief: “You mean it’s from the tyre company?” is a common reply. The guide itself has become so famous that its original purpose of boosting demand for longer road trips has been largely forgotten.

Does this make it a failure? Hardly: in 2022, Michelin remained the world’s biggest tyre manufacturing brand, outselling Bridgestone, Goodyear and Continental. For me, the Michelin Guide is the 20th century’s most enduring and successful example of content marketing. It has a legacy that any marketer would be proud to have been a part of.

The book that became a banker for a brewery

If had to choose a runner-up for content marketing achievement of the 20th century, then it would be the Guinness World Records book. It’s a wonderful example of how a simple idea can build a lasting brand and a major commercial success.

In the early 1950s, the then managing director of the Guinness Brewery, Sir Hugh Beaver, got into a dispute during a shooting party about which is the fastest game bird. It must have been a heated debate, because Sir Hugh — clearly not one to back down from an argument — commissioned two brothers, both sports journalists, to research and write a book of assorted trivia that could act as a reference guide to set the record straight. The first edition was published in 1955 and it quickly became a bestseller.

Today, Guinness World Records has sold more than 151 million copies since it was first published, making it one of the top-selling books in publishing history. Although the book publishing and the Guinness beer company are no longer linked, the book’s success has undoubtedly bolstered the beer company’s global brand.

When I talk to marketers about which is the longest-running brand in thought leadership, they usually say McKinsey. The McKinsey Quarterly launched in 1964, nearly a decade after the Guinness World Records. It is probably the longest-running example of B2B content marketing (please let me know if I’ve missed any that have run for longer), but would you put it ahead of the Michelin Guide as the 20th century’s best content marketing?