While opening a plant in Atlanta, Steele remarked Coca-Cola was not Pepsi's biggest competitor - tea and coffee were. As a result, Pepsi-Cola became Coca-Cola's primary competitor. Under his leadership, the company launched massive advertising campaigns and sales promotions during the '50s, resulting in an 11-fold increase in net earnings. Steele defined his strategy as “Beat Coke”. In a five-year span, Steele helped steer profits up 112% compared to Coca-Cola which had only climbed 28%. In 1950, he became CEO, appointing Herbert L. In 1949, Steele took over as vice president of Pepsi-Cola, and as president later that year. While at Coca-Cola, he earned the nickname "Pally" as he often remarked, "Let's try this out, Pally". Later, Steele became vice president of marketing for The Coca-Cola Company on June 14, 1945. The company's sales increased 80% within nine months. 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 apartment was paid for by Pepsi as a loan with 6% interest the loan was repaid in 1958.Īlfred Steele began as a geologist, and went on to work for the Chicago Tribune, Standard Oil of Indiana, and D'arcy Advertising Company. The apartment was decorated by Crawford’s close friend, interior designer William Haines, totaling an extra $80,000.00 USD ($840,000.00 USD adjusted for inflation in 2023). Construction took a year and cost $387,011.65 USD ($4.06 million USD adjusted for inflation in 2023 ). Broadway columnists dubbed it "Taj Joan." While work was being completed, they stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. In 1956, the couple moved to New York, purchasing and merging two top-floor apartments at 2 East 70th Street into a spacious eight-room family penthouse with views of Central Park. I’ll always treasure our brief time together.” "And I did - for a little while - with Alfred. “I thought I could be different, that I could have it all," said Joan Crawford after Steele passed away. Crawford would remain on the Pepsi-Cola board of directors until 1973. In her later career, product placement for Pepsi was included in several films including Strait-Jacket (1964) and Berserk! (1967). Barnet, Steele's handpicked successor as chairman and CEO, appointed Crawford to the board of directors. Joan Crawford with their adopted twins Cathy and Cynthia "Cindy"įollowing Steele's death, Herbert L. The twins grew closer to Steele he was listed as Cathy Crawford's father in her 2020 obituary. The family would be seen at events throughout the marriage and go on vacations together. Steele took on the father role for Crawford's four adopted children - Christina, Christopher, and twins Cathy and Cynthia ("Cindy"). They married spontaneously on May 10, 1955, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. Steele’s third wife was American film actress Joan Crawford he was her fourth husband. His son would go on to marry a woman named Madeline Spence Haldeman in Montana. Īlfred Steele would later remarry Lillian Nelson in 1946 and they had a son named Alfred Nelson Steele in 1949. Comer on November 29, 1955, at the MacArthur Chapel in Tokyo, Japan. She attended the Spence School and the University of Colorado. They had one child named Sally Ostin Steele but divorced in 1945. His first marriage was to Marjorie Mabel Garvey on December 17, 1924, in Cook County, Illinois. Steele graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive after college. His middle name "Nu" was an homage to his father's fraternity " Sigma Nu". He was the son of Edgar Alfred Steele, a teacher, and his wife Fannie Bartrem. Alfred Nu Steele (Ap– April 19, 1959) was an American soft drink businessman most known for being the president and later chairman of the board of Pepsi-Cola Company from 1950 until his sudden death in 1959.Īlfred Nu Steele was born on April 25, 1901, in Nashville, Tennessee.
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