# Michelin Strategy (create-the-award)

> Create an industry award or rating system that incentivizes behavior which drives demand for your core product.

- Canonical HTML: https://growth.iangoh.com/growth-ideas/michelin-strategy-create-the-award/
- Source: [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ognjeng_i-studied-100-growth-strategies-saas-companies-activity-7398659675258503168-8pGa)
- GrowthDex source hub: [linkedin.com](/sources/linkedin-com-linkedin-com/)
- Last checked: March 21, 2026
- Rarity: rare
- Budget: free
- Channels: Communities, PR, Partnerships
- Stages: 0-100, 100-1K


## Why this can grow

By creating the standard by which an industry measures quality, you become the trusted authority and default brand. The award creates a self-reinforcing loop: winners promote their status (free marketing for you), aspirants engage with your ecosystem to improve, and consumers follow your recommendations — all of which increases your brand reach and product demand. It works because the value you provide (recognition, credibility) is genuinely useful to recipients, making it non-spammy distribution.

## Ian's take

From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. I would treat this as earning the right to be in the room, not dropping a campaign into a room. In community-led growth, the first job is to notice what people already care about, then bring a useful proof, tool, teardown, or question that makes the conversation better. I would run it small enough to learn quickly, then only scale the parts that real users repeat, save, reply to, or buy from. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.

## Action plan

1. Define one narrow startup segment where michelin strategy (create-the-award) can create a measurable lift.
2. Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Communities and PR channel.
3. Use the evidence from linkedin.com to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
4. Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
5. Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.

## Source-backed example

Michelin (created the Michelin Stars restaurant guide to incentivize people to drive to top restaurants, wearing out tires faster and buying more Michelin tires); modern SaaS equivalents include creating "best of" lists, certification programs, or benchmark reports that position the company as an authority.

## Adjacent tactics in the same lane

- [Anti-AI brand positioning for trust arbitrage](/growth-ideas/anti-ai-brand-positioning-for-trust-arbitrage/) - same source, 2 shared channels, 1 shared stage
- [Customer advocacy content flywheel](/growth-ideas/customer-advocacy-content-flywheel/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- [Value chain top-down distribution shortcut](/growth-ideas/value-chain-top-down-distribution-shortcut/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages
- ["Break My App" viral bug bounty campaign](/growth-ideas/break-my-app-viral-bug-bounty-campaign/) - same source, 1 shared channel, 2 shared stages

## Read GrowthDex essays

Browse the plain-English essay index at [GrowthDex Blog](/blog/).

## Advisory

If you want help turning this into a working growth system, Ian Goh offers advisory at https://iangoh.com/advisory.