In November 1983, one year after "Thriller" was released, Jackson (with his brothers) and PepsiCo struck a $5 million partnership that would shatter the record for a celebrity endorsement deal, link the two entities for a decade and set the bar for every integrated marketing campaign that would follow.
Jackson's managers approached Jay Coleman, founder/CEO of Entertainment Marketing & Communications International, who would eventually broker all three Jackson-Pepsi deals, with the idea of partnering Jackson with a major brand at a firm asking price. Coleman, who had already orchestrated Jovan fragrances' landmark sponsorship of the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You tour, first proposed the idea to Coca-Cola.
"They gave it serious consideration yet couldn't make that leap of faith," Coleman says. "They saw anything they would do with Michael as a more targeted, ethnic campaign."
Coca-Cola offered a $1 million deal that was rejected, and the Jacksons moved on to PepsiCo, where then-CEO Roger Enrico was looking for a big idea to launch his youth-targeted "New Generation" campaign for the brand. "The goal was to make Pepsi look young and Coke look old, and Michael Jackson was in fact the choice of that generation -- he was already the King of Pop, even though he hadn't declared it," Coleman says.
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