Last week we offered guidelines and suggestions forwriting a great website timeline. This week, CorporateHistory.net looks at the
timeline on the website of Pepsico, a corporation that has plentiful resources
and more than a century of company history. Sadly, Pepsico’s timeline isn’t
spectacular.
Pepsi’s
timeline is a single series of dates and events, with the most recent date
at the top. A tab option at the top allows readers to skip from decade to
decade.
Kudos to Pepsi’s designer for the layout, which is simple
and elegant. The font for the years is easy to read, and a vertical line
indicates the direction of the time flow. More kudos for the well-chosen and
plentiful images. Of the 70 or so entries, 28 have illustrations.
Unfortunately, the text of the entries is subpar. We have no
clue which of the 70-odd events are most important in Pepsi’s corporate history.
For example, the inauguration of the first Pepsi-Cola operation in China (1982)
is immediately followed by Frito-Lay’s introduction of Tostitos (1981). Given
this mix of topics, we don’t even know whether the timeline is aimed at
consumers or potential investors.
But much worse comes (or doesn’t) at the end of the
timeline. Pepsi was founded in the 1890s, but the company history from then
until 1966 is summarized in one very
short paragraph. Most of that paragraph consists of names of CEOs, rather than
storytelling. There’s not a single image. What a waste of a great history! If
people have been loving your product for over a century, why not flaunt that
fact with vintage ads, logos, and photos?
Next week, we’ll see how another major corporation handled
its website timeline. (Hint: much better!)
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