THE TYRE WARS (Part 1)
This is (part one) of a story about the battle for your wheels, changing behaviour and how to innovate.
In 1891 the Michelin brothers, Andre and Edouard, patented the detachable tyre.
The idea came to them by chance one spring afternoon when a passing truck picked up a cyclist with a puncture.
And, not knowing what to do with him, the driver took the cyclist to the yard of the brother’s struggling agriculture and rubber company near Lyon.
They discovered his wheels were fitted with a newly patented rubber tube, inflated with air and protected by fabric.
But this was glued to the rim of the wheel which made the puncture difficult to fix.
The brothers had never seen anything like it.
And it sparked their interest.
So they helped the man fix the puncture.
Then Edouard took the bicycle for a ride.
He was stunned.
The inflatable tyres made cycling faster, easier and more enjoyable.
He saw a new future for the family firm.
Together the brothers crafted a way to make an inflatable tyre that was also detachable.
And so were granted their patent.
It was revolutionary.
Today we’d call it a “disruptive technology”.
No longer would it take hours to repair or replace a tyre.
No longer would cyclists and drivers be stranded between cities.
Now a puncture could be fixed in minutes at the side of the road.
It changed how people could travel.
This was their first innovation: making the product function.
But it wasn’t enough.
At the time there were only 3,000 cars in France.
So demand wasn’t high.
And those that did drive only travelled when it was necessary.
They didn’t need to buy tyres often because they didn’t ware them out.
To succeed, the Michelin brothers had three problems to solve:
1. How do you persuade people to drive?
2. How do you persuade people who drive to drive with Michelin tyres?
3. How do you persuade people that drive Michelin tyres to drive more often?
Or, in business jargon, market expansion, market penetration and lifetime customer value.
They needed to explain the benefits of driving and remove the anxieties.
So Andre devised the idea of a guide with maps, instructions for changing tyres and places to visit, strategically located outside towns so people had to drive to get there.
And, in 1900, the brothers printed 35,000 copies of the first Michelin Guide, which were given away — for free — to drivers and would-be drivers.
This too was revolutionary.
No longer was driving thought of as a way to get you from A to B.
No longer was a journey somewhere new a risky guess.
Now people could drive to new places, try new things and then show off to their friends without worrying about getting lost or stranded.
And when they did they would think fondly of Michelin.
It changed how people did travel.
This was their second innovation: making the product useful.
After printing was halted during World War 1, Andre visited a tyre mechanic to discuss new orders.
That’s when he spotted something.
The reprinted guides weren’t being given out to customers as intended.
They were being used to prop up a workbench.
So because they gave it away for free.
Because they printed so many copies.
The guides weren’t valued.
And if the guides weren’t valued, Michelin weren’t valued.
How could they gain respectability?
How could they raise their perceived value?
Well, in Andre’s words, “man only truly respects what he pays for”.
That was the insight.
The action was to start charging for the guide.
Then, taking it one step further, they devised a star-system for the very thing the French valued the most and were known for.
Their cuisine.
So Michelin began publishing entire guides dedicated to restaurant recommendations.
And started giving out one, two or three Michelin stars to the finest establishments, which, unsurprisingly, were often located in strange and far off places.
Plus it could be revised each year with new places to eat and so new places to drive to.
This too was revolutionary.
No longer was trying a new restaurant a potentially expensive risk.
No longer did were restaurants and chefs judged on local knowledge.
Now people knew where to find the best restaurants to impress prospective lovers and friends.
And Michelin, because they were the ones providing the ratings, were perceived as prestigious too.
It changed where people went to eat.
This was their third innovation: making the product desirable.
Now — when you think of the word innovation, what comes to mind?
Big earth-shattering technologies?
Or small tweaks that make a product more useful and desirable?
Why not both?
What’s more innovative: the detachable tyre? Or the Michelin star-system?
Earlier this year, 124 years after the Michelin brothers were granted their patent, Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack — valued at over $2.8BN — said:
“The best — maybe the only? — real, direct measure of “innovation” is change in human behaviour.”
Changing behaviour doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens by design.
Yes, you need the technical innovation to create a product people might want.
But you need the psychological innovation to make it useful and to make it, and you, attractive.
That’s valuable innovation and not just innovation for its own sake.
That’s exactly what these three innovations did.
And why the Michelin brothers won part one of The Tyre Wars.
Thomas Cornwall is the Director of Behave, London’s creative behavioural practice.
