GIS General Mills Inc

Roger Enrico, the former PepsiCo Inc. chief executive who nearly toppled Coke's supremacy during the 1980s cola wars, died Wednesday at age 71.

The son of an iron-ore plant worker, Mr. Enrico grew up in Minnesota mining country and dreamed of being an actor or politician but instead climbed the corporate ranks before becoming a longtime chairman at the film studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.

But 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. 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.

Born in the small town of Chisholm to Italian immigrants, Mr. Enrico won a scholarship to Babson College in Massachusetts, studying business administration, before enlisting in the Navy. He served in Vietnam, whereas a lowly ensign he said he convinced an admiral to build a fuel pipeline instead of flying in supplies, only for the pipeline to be repeatedly blown up.

After a stint as assistant brand manager for Wheaties at General Mills Inc., Mr. Enrico joined chips-and-soda giant PepsiCo in 1971, initially helping market Funyans, an onion-flavored snack. He quickly was promoted to brand manager for Cheetos and then Fritos, before heading the company's operations in Japan and then South America.

He made a bigger splash after becoming chief executive of Pepsi-Cola USA in 1983 at the age of 38. The same year he struck a multimillion-dollar marketing deal with pop sensation Mr. Jackson to become the face of the brand—and headline news in 1984 when the singer's hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi TV commercial.

Pepsi kept the pressure on cola leader Coke by signing marketing deals with other celebrities including singer Lionel Richie and a "Choice of a New Generation" campaign casting its rival as old and stodgy. In one ad, a spaceship hovered over Pepsi and Coke vending machines before lifting the Pepsi machine. In another, archaeologists in the future find a Coke bottle and don't recognize it.

By 1985, Pepsi-Cola's share of the U.S. cola market was approaching 30% and threatening to unseat its decades-old rival. An unsettled Coke replaced its flagship cola with New Coke, using comedian Bill Cosby as a pitchman.

"After 87 years of going at it eyeball to eyeball, the other guy just blinked," PepsiCo crowed in a full-page ad splashed across U.S. newspapers and penned by Mr. Enrico, who told Pepsi employees to take a long weekend to celebrate.

Coke quickly backtracked after longtime drinkers revolted and brought back the original recipe, renaming it "Classic Coca-Cola."

Mr. Enrico, emboldened by Pepsi's rising popularity, agreed to a memoir that was published in 1986 and entitled, "The Other Guy Blinked—How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars."

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. Two launches for which Mr. Enrico had high hopes—Pepsi One to challenge Diet Coke and Slice to go after Sprite and 7-Up—meanwhile fizzled.

Mr. Enrico would go on to run beverages globally and world-wide food operations, before becoming CEO and chairman of PepsiCo in 1996. Under his leadership, the Purchase, N.Y.-based company spun off the Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurant chains in 1997 and acquired the Tropicana juice brand for $3.3 billion from Seagram Co. the following year. In 2000, he sealed a $13.4 billion deal to buy Quaker Oats Co., including the Gatorade sports drink brand.

He stepped down from PepsiCo in 2001 at the age of 56, retiring in Dallas. He was soon recruited by DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg to become chairman of the movie production company. Mr. Enrico held that position from 2004 to 2012, when it released animated films including Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Puss In Boots.

Although Mr. Enrico earned millions of dollars in bonuses at PepsiCo, he received a base annual salary of $1 in each of his final four years at the company. At his request, the remainder of his $900,000 salary was redirected to scholarships for the children of employees earning less than $60,000.

He also was known for seeking out opinions from PepsiCo plant workers, a practice inspired by his father, who complained bosses never took him up on his offers of free advice.

"Nobody has a monopoly on good ideas, especially the guy with the initials CEO," Tod MacKenzie, a former PepsiCo corporate affairs manager, recalls Mr. Enrico telling him.

Mr. Enrico is survived by his wife, Rosemary, who he began dating in high school, and their son Aaron and three grandchildren.

Write to Mike Esterl at mike.esterl@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2016 12:15 ET (16:15 GMT)

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