Arm & Hammer Baking Soda has a long history. According to their website, they’ve been around for more than 165 years. 165 years ago it was 1850! Cement, invented in 1849, was a hot, new thing. Cement. Times have changed a lot since then. But baking soda hasn’t had to. It’s still the same exact little canister of goodness that belongs in every pantry.
So we decided to #TBTto1850 to point out the differences between our times and the old times. And the one thing has remained constant: Arm & Hammer Baking Soda.
Starting with print:
Our print drives people to our microsite. There, users can log in with social media for an 1850’s takeover.
Microsite
Logging in with Facebook means some old-school, sepia-toned photos and some old fashioned “scrolling.” A handful of other things are different, too. Instead of “liking” things, you “fancy” them. “Groups” are “guilds,” and other language has been altered to be more of the 1850’s fashion. These little changes are sprinkled all throughout the 1850’s facebook.
The language of posts also changes with text replacement. Here is a before and after of a comment:
When users type, there’s a popup window that lets you throw your language back to the 1850’s. Much like image filter services, it automatically adds our hashtag, #TBTto1850.
On Twitter, we make topical jokes about the differences between current times and the past, and invite users to join in.
And lastly, as a stunt, Arm & Hammer Baking Soda would replace a regularly scheduled bus route with a horse and buggy to real-world TBT to when public transport was a horse and carriage.
AD: Carla Prato
CW: Jill DeBiase
CW: Rachel Block
