Who Will Create the Next Globi? The Next Michelin Guide?

Content marketing comes in many forms, but at its core it's about mindset. The key question is this: Do I genuinely want to create value for my audience?

If the answer is yes, then don't bombard customers and prospects with product features and endless discount campaigns. Inspire them instead—with stories, practical advice and useful insights. Inform them. Earn their trust. Be there when they have a question, and answer it so thoughtfully that they instinctively feel: "This brand gets me."

From John Deere to Migros

Some of the best examples of content marketing are more than 125 years old.

Back in 1895, John Deere launched The Furrow, a magazine for farmers that is still published today. Filled with practical advice and stories about farming, nature and rural life, it remains one of the world's longest-running content marketing initiatives—and could easily hold its own against any lifestyle magazine.

Five years later, in 1900, tyre manufacturer Michelin followed suit. Its first guide offered French motorists practical advice on maintaining their cars before gradually expanding to review restaurants along the way. The rest is culinary history.

Switzerland also embraced content marketing early on. In 1932, department store Globus introduced its advertising mascot Globi—a colourful blue parrot who became such a cultural icon that he long ago took on a life of his own.

The cocoa drink brand Banago tried to replicate the success with its own character, Nagoli, using the same verse structure and six-panel layout. But Globi remained unrivalled.

In 1942, Migros founder Gottlieb Duttweiler launched Wir Brückenbauer ("We Bridge Builders"), a weekly magazine designed to promote his social vision while strengthening customer loyalty. Today, it lives on as the Migros Magazine.

Even banks rely on content marketing.

Companies such as UBS (remember the clever little fox Topsy?), Red Bull—which has effectively become a media company in its own right—and Lego and Hasbro, whose blockbuster films compete directly with Hollywood, have all demonstrated the power of content marketing.

Ironically, Switzerland's digital bank Swissquote has chosen an analogue approach. Its eponymous customer magazine is sold at newsstands alongside respected business titles such as Bilanz and Handelszeitung.

The New Three Ps of the Marketing Mix

Great content marketing reflects a company's DNA. We see it as an integral part of marketing itself: consistently aligning with the needs of the market while creating tangible value for customers.

That's why we expand the traditional four Ps of marketing—Product, Price, Place, and Promotion—with three more:

• Purpose – Why do we exist?

• Plot – What stories do we tell?

• Personas – Who are we creating them for?

The next Globi—or the next Michelin Guide—won't emerge from a marketing meeting. It will be created the moment a company stops talking about itself and starts focusing on serving its community.