The other guy blinked : how Pepsi won the cola wars by Enrico Roger;Kornbluth Jesse & Kornbluth Jesse

Author:Enrico, Roger;Kornbluth, Jesse & Kornbluth, Jesse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pepsi-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Company, Soft drink industry
Publisher: Tononto ; New York : Bantam
Published: 1986-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

THE OTHER GUY BLINKED

The Victory tour needs a dry run. An incognito dress rehearsal where all of the lighting and sound and stage setup people can get coordinated with each other—and where the Jacksons, who haven't performed as brothers for years, can get their voices and their moves back together again. They secretly pick Birmingham, Alabama.

The secret doesn't remain secret for long.

In Birmingham resides one of our smartest, most colorful bottlers. His name is Jimmy Lee, and he's a legend in the soft drink business. Not only because his shrewdness and determination have built Pepsi in Alabama from a distant also-ran to a head-to-head position with Coke. But because he tells it like it is. A few years ago, when he launched the Pepsi Challenge in Birmingham, Jimmy said he did it for two reasons: One, he was convinced it would build his Pepsi business, and two, because it "drives the bastards up the wall!"

Like many Pepsi bottlers, Jimmy Lee's is a family operation, and so his daughter is his vice president of marketing. And with the Jacksons in town, it's Peyton Lee who becomes the point-person for the local press—as if the Jacksons work for her.

The media assault is overwhelming. Everyone knows that the secret dress rehearsal of the Victory tour is in Birmingham— everyone, that is, except us and Peyton Lee.

The Jacksons' PR people hold on to the myth of secrecy and ignore the press. The press ignore the Jacksons' PR people and barrage Peyton. The Jacksons may not care about the Birmingham press, but this is her hometown—she's got to tell them something.

When is the dress rehearsal? Will it be open to the public? Which hotel are the Jacksons staying at? Will Michael appear at his hotel window if the crowd on the street is big enough?

Peyton has nothing to tell them. They run their stories, anyway— constantly. Not an hour goes by on radio, not a newspaper edition gets printed, not a television news program airs without the latest on the Jacksons in Birmingham. Peyton Lee—telling the press nothing—is quoted a lot.

Frank Dileo calls.

Frank is Michael's new manager, which is to say Michael now has a manager. He's not actually had a manager for several months now— just lawyers.

I met Frank just before he signed on with Michael. A straightforward, get-it-done sort of guy who had been with CBS's Epic Records, and who—more than anyone on the promotion side of things—was responsible for the unprecedented success of Michael's "Thriller"

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.