What Star Wars and the Michelin Guide can teach us about content strategy.

I’ve always been fascinated by the subtlety of content marketing.

What’s even more fascinating? This subtlety has been going on for a while.

A. Long. While.

One example dates way back to 1895.

Back when John Deere published The Furrow.

It was the go-to magazine for farmers, to help them run their businesses.

Perhaps this second example is a more familiar one.

French industrialists Édouard and André Michelin introduced the Michelin Guide, a handy booklet of all the best places to eat and service your car if you were on a road trip all over France, in 1900.

And then, there were the day time serial dramas on radio (remember radio?) in the 1930s.

Who’s behind those? Proctor & Gamble.

The purpose was to sell soap.

Hence the term, ‘soap operas’.

And then, there’s my personal favourite.

The G.I. Joe animated series and comics in the 80s.

You see, they were all selling something.

John Deere sells farm equipment.

Michelin sells tyres.

And G.I. Joe sells action figures.

Perhaps the most lucrative content comes from a galaxy far, far away.

It was reported that 40 million Star Wars action figures were snatched up, bringing in $100 million in sales.

That was only 1978.

Ironically, successful content creators seemed to be doing anything but selling.

They were educational.

In the case of the soap operas, G.I. Joe and Star Wars, they were entertaining.

Selling was the end result of great content.

It seems that what content marketing experts are pushing for these days isn’t brand spanking new.

100 years ago, Deere, Michelin, and the folks at P&G already understood this human truth.

That before selling, they had to first add value to people’s lives, by educating or entertaining.

Way back then, they were already way ahead.