The Michelin brothers were masters at creating value.

Not only did they produce a product, the pneumatic tire, which was objectively superior to the solid-rubber contemporary standard, but they frequently invested in marketing which provided genuine value to their customers (i.e. anyone with a bicycle or an automobile).

The most famous, although far from the only, example is the Michelin Guide with its maps and restaurant star rating system.

Of course, the point of the guide was to encourage travel, thereby increasing the demand for tires,¹ but it also created genuine value for tourists and foodies, and it’s still a world-standard for restaurants nearly a century later.

So let’s take a step back . . .

The Michelin Guide is content created by a tire company which provides intrinsic and extrinsic value through its maps and recommendations, respectively.

But they also treat this content like a product, because that’s what it is. Imagine how much time, R&D, and resources go into producing a full travel guide.

And all this extra value is created in service of an industry which is tangential to the actual business.

So, when you’re thinking of ways to provide value to your customers, don’t be afraid to think beyond your primary offering.

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P.S. If you want to hear more about the business acumen of the Michelin Brothers, I recommend this episode of the Founders Podcast.

1. As evidence of the tire-centric nature of the guide, these are the criteria descriptions of the Michelin star ratings:
   * – “A very good restaurant in its category”
   ** – “Excellent cooking, worth a detour”
   *** – “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey” ↩︎