Brands Unveil their Facebook Timelines
Coke, ESPN, Old Spice, N.Y. Times and Ford are among the first brands to show off their histories on the platform
By: Michael Learmonth, Published: Feb 29, 2012
While Facebook has long been a way to make connections with consumers, it just became a powerful storytelling medium, and an opportunity for brands with interesting stories to tell. Here are a few of our favorites culled from the staff at Advertising Age.
Coca-Cola
facebook.com/cocacola
What's cool: A handwritten letter from the owner of Alpha Drug Co. in Woonsocket, RI, in 1893: "In over 20 years experience of soda fountain management I have not known a beverage to be put upon the market that in point of giving universal satisfaction and extent of sales can compare with Coca Cola..."
Burberry
facebook.com/burberry
What's cool: Vintage ad campaigns trace Burberry's roots as a brand worn by explorers and adventurers in the early 1900s to its current state as a high-fashion luxury marketer. Plus, a photo of the original T Burberry & Sons store in Basingstoke, circa the brand's founding in 1856.
Walmart Stores
facebook.com/walmart
What's cool: A picture from the first Walmart store opening in 1962 in Rogers, AR. There's also the first official and consistently used logo, which was known as "Frontier Font Logo."
Tide
facebook.com/tide
What's cool: Where did the Tide name come from? No one knows for sure. One legend is that the company president was vacationing at the beach and while taking a walk he noted how well the morning Tide cleaned the beach.
ESPN "SportsCenter"
facebook.com/SportsCenter
What's cool: A photo of "SportsCenter"'s first studio set, taken in October 1979. Bob Ley, an early "SportsCenter" anchor who's still with ESPN, said, "It was a mandate from Getty Oil Company, former owners of ESPN, that one anchor had to wear a (Getty) red jacket..."
Starbucks
facebook.com/Starbucks
What's cool: Starbucks is focused on showing it's a good corporate citizen. For 1988, it notes that full health benefits were offered to eligible full- and part-time employees.
What's cool: Nostalgia galore, including images of the first vehicle Ford Motor Co. sold in 1903, a Model A, to Dr. E. Pfennig of Chicago for $850; another from 1913 of the world's first moving automotive assembly line at Highland Park Plant, Michigan; and Ford 's Notice of Listing on the NYSE from 1956.
NBC's "Today"
facebook.com/today
What's cool: Watch first host Dave Garroway anchor the first 13 minutes of "Today" live from Radio City in 1952.
New York Times
facebook.com/nytimes
What's cool: The front page from the day Lincoln was assassinated. Just a one-column headline decrying the "Awful event." It's a timeline of the brand and also a timeline of American history.
Captain Morgan
facebook.com/CaptainMorganUSA
What's cool: Who says a timeline can't be fictional? An 1890 update from Madrid shows a picture of a lavish dinner at a miserly baron's home; Captain Morgan says, "The Baron's monthly dinner became an unexpectedly awesome event soon after I cracked open a special bottle of my Private Stock."
Old Spice
facebook.com/OldSpice
What's cool: Old Spice, founded in 1938, adds some creation myth: "Captain William Lightfoot Schultz invents Old Spice on a ship with his shipmate Rogue Stallion -- a one-eyed Australian ninja leopard -- when they accidentally mix space rocks, tank weaponry, a race-car spoiler, cool sunglasses and a vampire fang."
Subway
facebook.com/subway
What's cool: The first "Pete's Super Submarines" opens in Bridgeport, Conn., in 1965. They sell 312 sandwiches the first day.
Macy's
facebook.com/macys
What's cool: Born in 1822, Rowland Hussey Macy opened his first "fancy dry goods" store on Sixth Avenue and 14th Street.
Advertising Age
facebook.com/adage
What's cool: The first issue on Jan. 11, 1930, hails the new "five-day week" for engravers and printers and a big newsflash: "Federal Expert Tells Food Advertisers to Get a Housewife's View."
