In the world of food and restaurants, there is no bigger authority than the Michelin Guide.
This mysterious group reviews tens of thousands of restaurants, in secret, handing out Michelin Stars to only the very best.
So how did the Michelin Guide become the behemoth it is today? Was it truly created by a tyre company?
Two French Brothers in a Farmhouse
Let’s go back to the late 1800’s in central France, to a province called Clement-Ferrand (insert map)
Edourd and Andre Michelin were rolling along in their farm equipment factory, when a local cyclist dropped in, looking for some help with a flat tyre.
Turns out bike tyres in 1889 took about 24 hours to fix. The Michelin brothers knew they could do a better job, so they started a tyre company.
Michelin revolutionises bicycle tyres
Two years later in 1891, the brothers patented a new, detachable tyre that was repairable in 15 minutes. They persuaded a rider to use their new tyre in a local, 1200 kilometre race. Michelin’s rider had 5 punctures during the race, but still took the W, smashing the second place rider by an epic 8 hours.
By 1892, they had repair time down to 2 minutes, so the brothers organised another bike race.
With sharp nails scattered throughout the race, there were 244 punctures. This gave plenty of opportunity to showcase the revolutionary speed of changing a Michelin tyre.
By 1893, 10,000 cyclists had fitted Michelin tyres.
Michelin starts making car tyres
Just two years later in 1895, Michelin started making tyres for cars.
I love that you can see right here, from the very beginning, the innovation and strategy that was baked into the Michelin brothers dna.
By 1900, the car market had barely started, with only 3000 cars in all of France.
The Michelin brothers were not deterred.
Birth of the Michelin Guide
In an effort to encourage car travel, which would in turn encourage more tyre buying, the brothers spun up the idea of a free guide.
A small red booklet of helpful information for car owners including maps; how to change a tyre; as well as a list of restaurants, hotels, mechanics, and petrol stations along popular routes in France.
Remember, cars were still absolutely brand new, so this would have been a seriously helpful resource.
And so in 1900, the first Michelin Guide was handed out for free throughout France. Over the next two decades the brothers published dedicated Michelin Guides for a tonne of other countries. Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Britain and into Northern Africa.
Introduction of the Michelin Stars
In 1926, the first Michelin stars wer introduced. Starting out as a single star for noteworthy establishmentsfor travellers, then expanding to the iconic 3 star system that is still in use today.
One star - A very good restaurant in its category.
Two stars - Excellent cooking, worth a detour.
Three stars - Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.
Checkout this excellent pic of an original copy of the Michelin Guide from 1926.
And the rest is delicious history
Today, the guide rates 30,000 venues in more than 30 territories across three continents.
There are hundreds of Michelin Guide reviewers, flying all over the world, reviewing restaurant experiences.
All thanks to a couple of French brothers who wanted to sell a few more tyres!
A Content Marketing masterclass for the ages
If there is ever a content marketing Hall of Fame, the Michelin Guide would be a first ballot entrant.
The strategic clarity of the initial idea, in the context of the time, is powerful; create something truly helpful, outside of the business, to build the brand. So damn simple, and masterfully executed.
The global expansion across decades is also difficult to wrap your arms around.
99% of companies never come close to achieving this level of expansion, let alone a marketing initiative, and especially a content marketing strategy.
The infancy of the car market, the cost of printing, the sheer logistics of the idea all blow me away.
Divorcing the content from direct sales in a time when the practice of marketing and building a brand was still in its infancy, all point to true marketing genius from the Michelin brothers.
They understood that creating a truly valuable resource in the Michelin Guide, would develop the most valuable resource of all; a dedicated audience.
And what started out as a small, helpful red booklet is now the peak culinary authority for the entire globe.Clay to riff on how fucking clever this is. “Let’s think about this for a second …. Blah blah
So keep rockin my friends and keep marketing, more vids and case studies coming soon.
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