On the night of April 22, 1985, somewhere near Purchase, NY, Roger Enrico, president of Pepsi-Cola USA, was smiling. And who could blame him? He was about to declare victory in the longest running war in cola history - a knock-down, dragout affair between two companies the likes of which the world had never seen before. Little did Enrico know that what was starting out as a victory over big red rival Coca-Cola was about to snowball into a summer-long soap opera epic. He probably had butterflies in his stomach much the same as Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta and president Don Keough but for very different reasons.
When morning dawned on April 23rd, it was an average Tuesday in every way possible. But the world was about to learn that the fate of their favorite cola, with the most well-known trademark on Earth, was destined for the most drastic change in its nearly 100 year history. And no one was ready.
For several years prior, Pepsi-Cola had been slowly closing the marketshare gap between the two cola giants and as the Pepsi Taste Challenge had indicated, people seemingly wanted a slightly sweeter cola with less bite than Coke had. No matter how much The Coca-Cola Co. spent on advertising, no matter what they did... the gap with their biggest rival was closing fast - something drastic had to be done.
Read Full Article »