Content Marketing is Old News
When you think of the Michelin Guide, do you think of the tyre company? Or do you think of the finest foods and expensive price list?
Well, what about if I told you that Michelin Guide was set up by Michelin Tyres? Crazy right…I am going to talk you through one of the first ever pieces of Content Writing.
In 1900 in France, 2 Brothers called Edouard and Andre Michelin had started a Tyre Company, they wanted to increase the demand for cars and (obviously) car tyres, as at the time there were only 3000 cars on the road in France. Therefore, they made the ‘Michelin Guide’.
They freely distributed over 35,000 copies across France to help road users with: Maps, Tyre Repairs, Find Hotels, Find Petrol Stations and more! It was basically the first one stop shop for all things Cars and Car Repairs.
It did start off as a free guide, but in 1920 after World War I that changed, as one of the brothers saw the guide propping up a workbench in a garage, which made him realise that ‘People only respect what they pay for’. So, they started to charge for the guide. The power of money!
They also made changes to the guide and this is where they first introduced listing restaurants!
After it was added to the guide, the restaurant section was hot stuff (pardon the pun) so focusing on this, they recruited a team to go and inspect and review restaurants.
In 1926, the guide began to award stars to restaurants. Initially there was only a single star, but in 1931 they moved this up to 3 stars.
The stars are rated as follows:
ONE STAR: VERY GOOD RESTAURANT IN IT’S CATEGORY
TWO STARS: EXCELLENT COOKING, WORTH A DETOUR
THREE STARS: EXCEPTIONAL CUISINE, WORTH A SPECIAL JOURNEY
In 1974, the first guide since the war graced Britain’s shores. Twenty-five stars were awarded to English Restaurants in that year!
In 2005, Michelin produced its first ever American guide and in 2007 a Tokyo Michelin Guide was launched. As of 2013, the guide is published in 23 countries!
The beauty of the Michelin guide is that all the inspectors and reviewers remain anonymous, the inspectors weren’t even allowed to tell their family what job they had in case other people found out!
Who knew the Michelin Guide is the equivalent of MI5!!
It hasn’t all been plain sailing though, there has been a few notable incidents.
In 2004, a French Ex-Michelin Inspector released a book called: The Inspector Sits At The Table where he describes what it was like to work for Michelin and that Michelin doesn’t go out and review all 4000 restaurants every 18 months in France but that it was more like once every 3 and a half years!
In 2017, a restaurant in Bourges was accidentally given a star when it was confused with a restaurant with the same name in Paris. We bet the restaurant owner woke up to a shock when he realised people now want Potato baked 4 ways and the finest Sea caught Bream, rather than Croissants and Breakfast!
All in all, it just shows that creating content for your business or something to help drive sales, can turn into something far bigger than you ever anticipated. The 2 Michelin brothers wouldn’t have ever thought that this guide would now be used solely for Restaurants and that Top Chefs around the world fight to gain the honour of a Michelin Star!
Something that you start as one thing can develop over time to become a totally separate entity to your business. Meaning that you could have a different source of money and more chance of getting in your prospects mind!
Now, go out there, and think of something that could help your customers learn more about your industry, whilst providing them with the value and information that they want.
You never know…your Guide on How to Feed Your Pet, could lead to a Pet Michelin Guide or your guide on The Best Construction Tips could lead to Construction Safety Awards used around the world!
These are off the top of my head so don’t judge me!
DID YOU REALISE THAT MICHELIN TYRES AND MICHELIN GUIDE WAS LINKED?
DO YOU KNOW OF ANYMORE LIKE THIS? AS ALWAYS, LET ME KNOW!