From Marketing To Publishing: What Red Bull, LEGO, And Michelin Teach Us
In her article for CMSWire, Michelle Wicmandy argues that brands must stop thinking like advertisers and start operating as publishers. The distinction is more than semantics. Advertising pushes messages into the market for short-term results; publishing builds long-term authority, trust and relevance. The brands that endure have chosen the latter path.
The metaphor is simple but telling: content is a garden. Quick pieces such as social posts, campaign snippets, and promotional videos are like fast-growing plants that bloom quickly and fade just as fast. More substantial work, such as thought leadership reports, documentaries or cultural storytelling, takes longer to cultivate but provides a lasting harvest. Success depends on consistent tending, not one-off bursts. A content strategy without structure is little more than scattered seeds.
The historical examples Wicmandy points to are instructive. Red Bull built its identity by embedding itself into extreme sports and producing the kind of high-energy media that defined a lifestyle, not just a product. LEGO transformed toys into storytelling, culminating in The LEGO Movie, which cemented cultural relevance far beyond the toy aisle. More than a century earlier, Michelin created the Michelin Guide, a publishing venture that encouraged motorists to travel further, dine widely, and, in turn, wear out more tyres. And even John Deere understood this principle as far back as 1895, when it launched The Furrow, a magazine designed to educate farmers rather than sell machinery.
Each of these examples underscores the same shift: moving from campaign-centric promotion to continuous publishing. The difference is stark. Marketing in its traditional form is reactive, short-term, product-focused, and treated as an expense. Publishing, by contrast, is proactive, long-term, audience-first, and treated as a strategic asset. Brands that publish are not simply selling; they are shaping conversations and setting cultural agendas.
This very principle is what drives AAR & Company to invest seriously in building content ecosystems through Ta-daa. The platform is designed not as another marketing tool, but as a publishing engine that helps brands sustain visibility, strengthen authority, and nurture growth beyond the life span of a campaign.
The argument reframes content as infrastructure. Campaigns may create spikes in visibility, but they rarely build lasting equity. Publishing builds credibility, cultivates community and embeds a brand into culture. It is not a seasonal tactic, but an ongoing discipline. The lesson is clear: the strongest brands do not compete for attention with louder advertising. They establish their own editorial presence and nurture it over time. As the line between media and marketing continues to blur, the brands that publish will be the ones that endure.
