Tim Davie's biggest project pre-BBC was to turn Pepsi blue in the UK. The sugary health drink wanted to increase differentiation with Coca Cola, who 'owned' red.
In 1996, Tim and his team spent an estimated $5m, much of it on repainting an Air France Concorde blue in Paris, hiding it at Gatwick until Pepsico execs and hacks were assembled, and supermodels Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer arrived on motorbikes. The blue Concorde was edged in amongst swirling smoke and flashing lights.
The plane went on to visit ten countries in the following fortnight, but was only allowed 20 minutes of supersonic travel on each journey, because the blue paint wasn't sufficiently heat-resistant.
Other attention-seeking ploys from the Davie team included turning the red Daily Mirror masthead blue. Sales of Pepsi in the UK rose by 7.5% over the following year. In 2019, Coca Cola and its variants sales in the UK were put at £1,335m; the Pepsi family took £600m.
Former Pepsi VP Russ Lovelock remembers visits to Crystal Palace FC with fan Tim at this time, and has noted that the first ever BBC live broadcast of a Premier League game will be Bournemouth v Crystal Palace. He's text the DG-elect to demand that it's also up first on Match of the Day, but hasn't had a reply yet.
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