What do the Guinness World Records and the Michelin guide have in common?

They both started life as marketing ventures – some of the very first, and most successful examples of what we call today ‘content brands’.

What is a content brand?

A content brand is a content initiative that supports the main brand but is a self-contained asset that can independently attract and retain an audience.

Even where there isn’t an immediate need for the main company’s products or services, the audience keeps returning to the content brand because what is offered – be it outstanding entertainment or a trustworthy, unbiased resource – is of genuine interest to them. In other words, whether or not they are actively in the market for the core brand’s offering, the loyalty and goodwill generated by the content cement the brand’s reputation in the audience’s mind.

What’s the difference between branded content and a content brand?

So what is the difference between branded content and content brands? In essence, where branded content is often promotional material very much tied to the core brand’s products, a content brand aims to fulfil a need in the audience, without trying to ‘sell’ anything. At its most advanced, a content brand can become a spin-off with its own ecosystem, which includes a bespoke mission/editorial statement, and a separate digital real estate (website, social media, etc.).

The link to the core brand is rooted in shared values and interests – and crucially, a shared audience – but visually, it can be limited to a logo and/or subtle signifiers like font and colour palette, with barely any mention of products or services.

This may all sound like blue-sky thinking, but make no mistake: successful content brands are not vanity projects. They are underpinned by a solid strategy that closely aligns with business goals, and laser-focused on the audience’s habits, needs and aspirations.

The Guinness Book of World Records, first published in 1955, was billed as a way to put an end to pub disputes (the pub, of course, being where Guinness drinkers are usually found).

When the first Michelin guide was launched in 1900, car travel was the prerogative of a small, extremely wealthy section of the population, and garages and petrol stations few and far between. What better way to engage your customers than listing essential services and recommendations for fine dining on the road? Of course, if that resulted in tyres wearing out faster in pursuit of said fine dining, no one at Michelin was going to complain.

Modern brands with successful content brands

Who are the modern-day descendants of the Michelin guide?

Red Bull practically wrote the book on how to turn a brand into a publisher, steering clear of brand messaging, and pivoting instead towards category entertainment. Red Bull Media House is an adventure-sports media empire in its own right, with films, documentaries, magazines, YouTube verticals and livestreamed extreme events. Its content doesn’t feature any direct energy-drink messaging; it behaves instead like a sports and culture publisher.

But your content brand doesn’t need skydiving or riding a motorbike through two moving trucks. One of the most effective content brand strategies is simply to be useful to your audience, and build a resource they can turn to. The healthcare sector is ripe for this approach, and providers like the Cleveland Clinic are investing in freely available advice for the wider public.

Health Essentials looks and feels like a lifestyle magazine, with recipes, travel advice, and wellness features, all underpinned by the solid expertise of a major research hospital. Other than a logo and a discreet menu tab inviting users to ‘find a provider’, there are no overt brand signifiers or CTAs. Large chunks of its readership probably live thousands of miles away from the actual hospital facilities, and may never become paying customers.

So why engage in this exercise at all? In one word, authority. The clinic is consolidating its reputation, and it has nothing to do with vanity. Brand equity is regularly classed as an ‘intangible asset’ (alongside the likes of IP and human capital). These content assets have such an impact on growth and differentiation that they underpin 90 per cent of the market value of S&P 500 companies.

How can I build a content brand?

You won’t build a content brand overnight because it’s a long-term strategy requiring careful planning, consistency, and patience to come to fruition.

The good news is a brand newsroom is an attainable initiative even small businesses can operate successfully. I’ve dedicated a whole post to running a brand newsroom, but in a nutshell, it involves producing unbiased, journalism-style content (no sales or marketing messaging) and distributing it to your audience, as well as amplifying it to expand your subscriber list.

At its simplest, it doesn’t require many bells and whistles, but you do have to get the fundamentals right:

  • Research your audience: who are they, where are they, and above all, what do they want or need?
  • Define your goals and mission statement: what are you trying to achieve with it? What do you have that they need, and how do you plan on providing it to them?
  • Hire (or upskill) your team: content specialists who understand your audience and goals
  • Develop an editorial workflow: processes, templates, editorial calendars and publishing cadence for seamless production processes.

The cheat code for starting a content brand for your business

Perhaps editorial is not part of your company’s DNA, and the prospect of upskilling or growing your current marketing team is simply too daunting. Or maybe you’re looking to reduce the ROI window before the investment starts paying off.

In that case, Content Marketing Institute’s Joe Pulizzi argues you could do worse than acquiring an existing content initiative. The benefits are obvious:

  • The long-term foundations are already in place
  • You have a ready-made subscriber list and a tested content format.

This, however, doesn’t exempt you from doing the strategy homework upfront. You still must clearly define your audience and their needs/expectations. Be clear on your objectives:

What do you want this sophisticated content machine to do?

  • How does it align with your business goals?
  • What value are you providing to your audience?
  • These are non-negotiables, whether you build or buy.

What’s the long-term opportunity for businesses who invest in a content brand?

Brands have a fantastic opportunity to provide critical information and education that people are looking for within their industry, especially when they’re trying to make purchasing decisions.

In other words, you need to plug a gap in content. Where is there an appetite for an unbiased, trustworthy voice that your audience can rely on, even if they don’t know they want it?

To return to our earlier example, in 1900 Michelin did precisely that: they identified where their customers were not being catered to and created a resource that fulfilled a genuine need (such as planning a car trip based on where you might find petrol!) On top of that, showing a keen sensitivity to their audience’s tastes, they paired useful services with recommendations for meals that would satisfy demanding, sophisticated palates – and the rest is history.

Think bigger than your customers

Now, no one would argue that we currently live in an age where content (branded or otherwise) is in short supply. Far from any audience being underserved, every niche is supposedly ‘oversaturated’. Despite this, successful content brands continue to be launched even in extremely competitive markets. And yes, even in the relatively ‘unsexy’ B2B world.

Take for instance HubSpot Media Network. In 2021 they acquired Sam Parr and Shaan Puri’s My First Million podcast and newsletter. In 2022 they launched their own Marketing Against the Grain hosted by HubSpot’s CMO and SVP of Marketing.

Once again, these shows feel like VC/influencer/creator podcasts, not SaaS. My First Million retained its original branding and editorial style. Aside from a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it logo, Marketing Against the Grain has no overt links to the CRM provider. HubSpot intentionally created a media brand layer separate from their software brand so it could attract an audience larger than people currently shopping for marketing tools.

What is the value of a content brand?

The obvious benefit of a content brand is building awareness and trust in a loyal audience. This is particularly useful in B2B’s long sales cycles, where supplier choice is determined well ahead of the actual purchase: as Demand Gen reports, 81 percent of B2B buyers already have a preferred vendor at the time of first contact.

If your content appeal reaches further than the small segment who is in the market for your product at any given point in time, you’re effectively feeding your pipeline months, if not years, in advance.

But it gets better. When a content brand takes off, it can start monetising its output, for instance through clever sponsorships or paid subscriptions. When you’ve been doing it right long enough, the value compounds: the Guinness World Records was sold to Gullane Entertainment for £45.5 million in 2001. It was later sold again in 2008 to Ripley Entertainment for £60 million.

If those sums don’t get your attention, in 2025, Red Bull Media House generated $2.52 billion in revenue.

Content brands are a long-term play – but if you can pull it off, it’ll pay off in spades.

If you’re unsure how to start your own content brand or revive an existing initiative, let’s talk!