In the year 1946, a young guy named K.M Mammen Mappillai is selling balloons on the streets of Madras. Mammen, who was born into a Christian household in Kerala and has nine other siblings, had no notion that those balloons would be the foundation for his success.

It was a modest business; it was a small manufacturing unit in a shed that used to create toy balloons, which Mammen would load into a bag and sell from street to street.

In 1952, he spotted a foreign firm selling tread rubber to a tyre retreading plant, and that was the turning moment (So, a tread rubber is a rubber in the tyre that makes contact with the road, and tyre retreading is the process of making old tyres re-usable.) He had a thought,

"Why can't I put up a plant to manufacture tread rubber right here in India?"

The Starting Point

With all of the money he had accumulated over the years, he decided to invest it all at once in the tread rubber manufacturing industry, which finally gave rise to MRF, or Madras Rubber Factory as it is more well known.

This business grew quickly because it was the only Indian company producing tread rubber, and its competitors were international companies. As a result of its exceptional quality, MRF was on its way to the big league, and within four years it had a 50% market share. Many foreign manufacturers withdrew as a result of this.

Things were going so well that Mammen decided to branch out from only making tread rubber, and this time he set his sights on tyres!

The year was 1960, and MRF had already established itself as a well-known brand when it came to treading rubber, but manufacturing tires was a different story. Mammen had previously managed to drive foreign competition out of the country, but this time they needed help from such companies to set up a tyre manufacturing unit because India was not technologically advanced enough to produce the high-quality tyres that Mammen desired. As a result, the Mansfield Tire & Rubber Company from the United States was brought in as a technical partner.

The tyre manufacturing unit was soon up and running, and work began. The first tyre from the unit was produced in 1961, and MRF launched its first public offering on the Madras Stock Exchange the same year.

Everything was going smoothly until Mammen realized that the technological collaboration with Mansfield was unsuitable for Indian road conditions.

On the other hand, foreign corporations posed an insurmountable challenge. Multinational tyre manufacturers such as Dunlop, Firestone, and Goodyear dominated the Indian tyre manufacturing business at the time.

These three corporations dominated the industry in terms of pricing, production numbers, and suppliers, as well as providing stiff competition to newcomers.

Dunlop had a huge market share and made it difficult for smaller companies like MRF to enter.

India had just recently acquired independence, and political officials were eager to promote Indian businesses, particularly in the rubber industry, which boosted MRF's prospects even further. MRF began to compete hard for government contracts once the government intervened to ensure fair competition.

Also, do you recall how Mansfield Tire & Rubber Company's tyres were inadequate for Indian road conditions? This challenge was rectified in 1963, when the Rubber Research Center was established at Tiruvottiyur, paving the way for the Tiruvottiyur factory to open.

Decades had passed since a young man named K.M Mammen Mappillai sold balloons on the streets of Madras, and his company, MRF, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1963.

The Throat-Cutting Marketing

MRF was growing in size, and Mammen wanted it to grow even more. When it came to the car business, the corporation remained a B2B player and was still lacking in OEM. OEM stands for an original equipment manufacturer. OEMs are companies that produce goods utilized in the manufacturing of automobiles in the automotive industry. MRF tyres were rarely used by OEMs. Mammen just had one chance to grow, and that was in the retail market, which included us.

Mammen intended to be the top player in replacement demand, which means that when a shop replaces a tyre, they only choose MRF as a replacement. To do so, he needed to educate the public about MRF.

Alyque Padamsee was brought in to help with this. At the time, he was the marketing rockstar. Also known as the God who revolutionized Indian advertising. Padamsee began interviewing a variety of truck drivers. Who said a tyre had to be robust and powerful? As a result, MRF tyres' identity should be something strong and powerful, which gave birth to the MRF MuscleMan in 1964, symbolizing the company's tyre's strength. People grew to associate and recognize Muscleman as a result of his appearance in TV commercials and billboards.

What Happened After That?

Mammen had already made a name for itself in India's retail tyre market in the 1960s, and now was the time to expand internationally. MRF became the first Indian company to export tyres to the United States in 1967, a market formerly controlled by US multinationals such as Dunlop and Goodyear. By the early 1970s, the business had established a number of units around India. MRF was the first business in India to commercially manufacture and market Nylon passenger car tyres in 1973.

MRF began its foray into sports in the 1980s, establishing the MRF Pace Foundation and sponsoring the MRF World Series competition in India.

Do you remember that cricket bat with MRF written on it? From Tendulkar to Dhoni, each one of them has made that bat iconic. To be honest, at some point we all have thought that MRF was a cricket bat-making company.

The well-known bats with the MRF logo

These bats continue to enthrall young boys, and the corporation is well aware of this. When the boys are young and excited about cricket, they want a bat with the words "MRF" written on it, and when they get older, they want a bike tyre with the same words written on it. So, in a way, MRF's bat marketing is aimed toward boys starting at a young age. Smart?

Not only cricket, but the firm also delivered the first-ever boxing championship to India, with 39 countries competing. MRF began producing F3 racing cars in the late 1990s.

Isn't there a plethora of sports-related businesses? Like an MRF tyre, it represents strength and power. Who'd have guessed a basic tyre could be branded in such a way that people could relate to it?

MRF's first tyre store opened its doors in 1997. Fast forward to 2007, when MRF had a $1 billion revenue year, followed by a $2 billion revenue year in 2011. The list could go on and on.

Mammen Mappillai, K.M.

The man behind it, KM Mammen Mappillai, would never have imagined while strolling the streets of Madras that he would build an empire so huge that it would become one of the world's greatest tyre firms; his legacy will go on for generations, and it all began with selling balloons! He served as Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of MRF for many years until passing away in 2003, leaving behind a wonderful legacy and true rags to riches narrative.