Career
Alfred Steele began as a geologist,[12] and went on to work for the Chicago Tribune, Standard Oil of Indiana, and D'arcy Advertising Company.
While working for the Union Bed & Spring Company, Steele conceived the "Sono-Meter", a device that measured the energy lost while people tossed and turned on an uncomfortable mattress. The company's sales increased 80% within nine months.[13]
Later, Steele became vice president of marketing for The Coca-Cola Company on June 14, 1945.[14][15] While at Coca-Cola, he earned the nickname "Pally" as he often remarked, "Let's try this out, Pally".[16]
In 1949, Steele took over as vice president of Pepsi-Cola, and as president later that year.[17] In 1950, he became CEO, appointing Herbert L. Barnet as the new president. In a five-year span, Steele helped steer profits up 112% compared to Coca-Cola which had only climbed 28%. Steele defined his strategy as “Beat Coke”.[18] Under his leadership, the company launched massive advertising campaigns and sales promotions during the '50s, resulting in an 11-fold increase in net earnings. Sales tripled between 1955 and 1957. As a result, Pepsi-Cola became Coca-Cola's primary competitor.[19]
While opening a plant in Atlanta, Steele remarked Coca-Cola was not Pepsi's biggest competitor - tea and coffee were. He added, "It's a tribute to the Coca-Cola Company that the number of its former employees are on the management team helping Pepsi-Cola move up."[20]
Steele is credited with helping push the change of the old Pepsi slogan "twice as much for a nickel, too" stating it was a liability to the company, reducing Pepsi to the "poor man's Coca-Cola". He pushed for a focus on quality, not quantity. Other initiatives for Pepsi were the adaptation of vending machines, global expansion for selling and producing, and for the parent company to help arrange funds with banks for bottlers to buy equipment with no down payment. In 1957, Crawford and Steele toured Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for Pepsi-Cola’s recent expansion.
Steele introduced new cost accounting methods and helped bottlers purchase new trucks and equipment. He further reduced the sugar content and unsweetened the syrup of Pepsi products, and introduced Pepsi to developing countries. Under Steele's leadership, Pepsi built a new headquarters at 500 Park Avenue in New York City.[21]
Once during a meeting, a colleague suggested that Steele should use his wife’s star power to increase sales. Steele refused, but Crawford said she was happy to assist if it would benefit her husband.[22] According to Steele, "I hate to use my wife to help me sell, but let's face it — she does. On these trips, most of our business is done through top government officials. At those levels, Crawford is fabulous."[11] Some credit this as one of the first instances of using celebrity power to sell products. To quote a 1956 New York Times article: "Together [Alfred Steele and Joan Crawford] constitute one of the most successful teams in America's public and private life."[2]
In 1957, 11-year-old Chester Arnold Jr. was given five shares of Pepsi, but after watching The Solid Gold Cadillac, the boy was compelled to write to Steele. In the letter, Arnold asked Steele if having the shares meant he was “crooked like those people in the movie.” Steele wrote back, inviting Chester and his family to New York to meet him and see the company. Steele supplied accommodations for the family at the Waldorf Astoria. For three days, the family was shown around the city and spent time with Steele and Crawford. They attended board meetings and were escorted by police to one of the most elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremonies Pepsi-Cola hosted at the time.[23]
Alfred Steele was selected as chairman of the 1959 fund campaign of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on November 6, 1958.[24] He died before the event. Joan Crawford was named chairman in his place. The fund was renamed the "Alfred N. Steele Memorial Campaign for the MS Hope Chest."[25]
