Roger Enrico, Who Took Pepsi To The Blink Of Victory, 71

Roger Enrico, the former Pepsi marketing chief, chairman and CEO who famously — and accurately — claimed in a newspaper ad and subsequent book that he’d made Coca-Cola blink after 87 years of warfare — died while snorkeling off Grand Cayman Wednesday. He was 71.

“He was best known for turning Pepsi-Cola into a pop-culture leader through groundbreaking sponsorship deals with Michael Jackson, Madonna and Michael J. Fox,” writes Mike Esterl for the Wall Street Journal. “The advertising blitz and Pepsi Challenge taste test helped trigger one of the biggest blunders in marketing history in 1985, when a worried Coca-Cola Co. launched New Coke but quickly reversed itself after Coke drinkers rebelled.”

Enrico retired as PepsiCo CEO in 2001 and as chairman in 2003. He then served as chairman of Dreamworks Animation from 2004 to 2012. He also was on the board of A.H. Belo, the Dallas-based media company, from 1995 through 2007.

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The son of a factory worker in Chisolm, Minn., Enrico won a full scholarship to Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. After graduating, he went to work for General Mills back in Minnesota before joining the Navy and serving in Vietnam at the height of the war. He joined Frito Lay as a brand manager for its Funyuns onion snack in 1971.

“Several years and a few international assignments later, Enrico was put in charge of Pepsi-Cola marketing and dubbed the ‘Cola King,’” according to a remembrance on PepsiCo Live. “His marketing prowess could not be denied. In 1983, Enrico was the architect behind the ‘Choice for a New Generation Campaign’ with Michael Jackson.”

Indeed, “he personally conducted negotiations with Michael Jackson,” Allen Rosenshine, the former chairman and CEO of BBDO, tells the New York Times’ Danielle Ivory. 

“The celebrity-laden, youth-oriented 'Pepsi Generation' advertising blitz was paired with the Pepsi Challenge, which featured people doing a blind taste test of Pepsi and Coke — and usually choosing Pepsi as tastier. Together, the campaigns helped bolster the company’s market share,” Ivory continues.

That development “led its chief rival to develop the infamous New Coke, and Enrico later wrote a book about the experience called The Other Guy Blinked: How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars,” writes Patrick Coffee for Adweek. “He was promoted to CEO of PepsiCo Beverages in 1987 and held that position until 1991 before moving into food, becoming CEO of Frito-Lay and leading Pepsi's restaurant division — which at the time included Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC.”

But, as the WSJ’s Esterl reminds us, “the book title proved premature. Pepsi-Cola failed to supplant Coke, which regained market share in the following years, and today Pepsi remains a distant No. 2.”

“Enrico's accomplishments include leading the company through a restructuring that emphasized snacks and beverages. In 1997 he spun off PepsiCo's restaurant division as an independent public company, creating what is now Yum Brands. Under his leadership the company acquired Tropicana in 1998 and The Quaker Oats Co., including Gatorade, in 2000,” writesAd Age’s E.J. Schultz.

“We have lost one of the true legends of our company and our industry,” PepsiCo chairwoman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi said in a statement. “Roger Enrico was, quite simply, one of the most creative marketers of his or any generation.”

“Roger was not only an innovative marketer and inspirational leader but a true friend who challenged us all to compete harder and think bigger,” said Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent in a statement.

After retiring as Pepsi CEO, Enrico moved to Dallas where he was a “civic leader,” “powerful advocate for corporate diversity,” and “the quietest, biggest philanthropist,” according to sources cited in Joe Simnacher’s obituary for the Dallas Morning News.

Enrico also served on the boards of the United Negro College Fund, the Dallas Symphony Association, the National Geographic Society, the Environmental Defense Fund and the American Film Institute.

Enrico “was a regular visitor to the Cayman Islands and used to own a home at Cayman Kai,” reports James Whittaker in the Cayman Compass. He apparently encountered difficulties while snorkeling close to the Stingray City Sandbar in the North Sound. He received CPR from people on a private boat who call 911 about 2 p.m. Wednesday but was pronounced dead at the Cayman Islands Hospital just after 3 p.m.

His wife, Rosemary, son Aaron, and three grandchildren survive Enrico. Services are pending.

1 comment about "Roger Enrico, Who Took Pepsi To The Blink Of Victory, 71".
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  1. Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, June 3, 2016 at 1:04 p.m.

    There's no doubt that Pepsi's deemphasis of traditional soft drink advertising in favor of glitzy, youth-oriented promotional efforts and Coke's decision to follow suit represented a major turnaround for both companies. And, to a point, it worked, especially on the image shaping end.

    The trade-off was that your regular consumer, who was once barraged with Pepsi and Coke ads on TV and elsewhere, now saw these only when big events were promoted, which meant only once in a while for some and virtually not at all for others. As a result other beverage marketers---iced teas, Iced coffees, all sorts of fruit drinks, etc. were able to promote their products, mainly on every day TV, while Pepsi and Coke simply weren't there anymore. Result: the average consumer now drinks many fewer bottles/cans of colas and much more of the alternatives.

    I see that this seems to have been belatedly noted by Pepsi and Coke as I am, for the first time in decades, seeing regular branding commercials on everyday TV for these brands and hearing their commercials on radio. It will be interesting to see whether this is too little and too late---or whether the cola category will rebound user- and volume-wise as a result. The moral of my story is that the best approach in most cases is a complimentary use of promotional/image shaping and straight branding/product use campaigns, not one or the other.

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