FritoLay Blog features in Asia Times Story

The Asia Times story on Corporate Blogging talks about Indian firms entering the blogosphere.

M Raja says, "Software giant Infosys (US$4 billion in revenues in the current fiscal year) operates a blog, "Think Flat", with postings from its top brass including from Nandan Nilekani, the chief executive officer and managing director; Aditya Jha, the head of global brand and communications; Stephen Pratt, the CEO and managing director of Infosys Consulting; and Richa Govil, the group manager of its corporate marketing section. While the Infosys blog is heavier with shop talk, snacks major Fritolay started a blog this month offering a more informal report of office outings such as a river-rafting expedition on the Ganges River and events in the company factory. Abhijit Bhaduri, who runs the Fritolay blog, said it is getting popular with employees. "Corporate blogs will grow as we realize the ability to impact on opinions," Bhaduri told ATol. "Today people use networking sites for information about prospective companies even before they have joined work, like networking groups of all MBAs [masters of business administration] or engineers. The corporate blogs help you join the conversation."

Other corporate head honchos such as Rajeev Karwal have begun to publish personal blogs. Karwal's blog says it's intended to "express gratitude to people, organizations, stories and situations which have taught me some important lessons in professional and personal life".

What we discover is that there are many avid bloggers from Frito who we keep bumping into in the blogosphere who blog about corporate life/ life in Frito and their points of view about how the world needs to be run and all that. Here's power to bloggers.

Read the story here http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ID25Df01.html

A New Train of Thought

The Indian Railways (started on 16 April 1853) have always evoked a feeling of nostalgia among its travellers. Whether it is the steam engine chugging through the countryside or the hullaballoo and chaos at the Railways station, train journeys are an integral part of everyone's holiday memories.

This year, when you plan a summer vacation down south, you may get a chance to get a ride on the Kurkure “Masti” Express. In yet another first, Kurkure became the first brand in the country to have a branded train. In a path breaking initiative, Kurkure has tied up with the South Western Railways to brand 3 summer special trains emanating out of Bangalore (Bangalore-Chennai, Bangalore-Hubli, Bangalore-Nagercoil). These Summer special trains would be branded by Kurkure and would be called the “Kurkure Masti Express”. Kurkure has always aimed at creating “mast” family moments, and the Summer Special trains are going to leverage the season when families go for vacations, thereby giving us yet another opportunity to create fun-filled moments for the entire family.

A brand that has always “delightfully surprised” families through its innovative offerings, this is yet another example of the same. Kurkure has always provided lifetime experiences like a “Tea party on a plane”, and this initiative is going to be yet another initiative to further Kurkure’s promise to provide lifetime experiences.

According to newsreports South Western Railway had called for bids for a unique initiative called Brand Train, under which a brand name would feature along with the train's name in all announcements, on reserved tickets, on reservation charts, on destination boards of the train, coach indication slips and during all information dissemination about the train.

So if you have tried out a Kurkure Train experience write to us here and tell us all about it.

That's a Raft Idea

White water rafting in India is almost exclusively confined to the northern rivers which flow southwards from the Himalayas, gushing between densely forested mountains and through steep gorges. Rivers such as the Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Indus, Zanskar and Teesta offer `raft-worthy’ rapids, and a trip down a river can be a great way to see the countryside.

At Frito we believe in keeping the adrelin going. When the gang got tired they decided to fight the elements... and sure enough some had to come up with a RAFT idea!! :)


Going rafting is just one way we increase our fun quotient outside the office. What you see here are the adventurous Marketing folks standing there posing before they start. There were a few who were apprehensive about trying on the version of a "leisure sport".

"If you don't try it out how would you know whether you like it or not", said someone who had taken the plunge (literally).


The team that took the challenge and plunged right in!!!

Watch this place to learn about what other groups have been up to.

For those of you who love rafting, what has been your fave rafting destination? Someone sent us this link

FritoLays Day celebrated at Channo Factory

The factory of FritoLay India located at Channo is in the heartland of Punjab. They celebrated the Annual Day on 25th December 2006. The place is a quiet little hamlet surrounded by green fields as you drive in towards the factory.

I just love the verdant surroundings. There is something endearing about the land and people of Punjab that comes through in each interaction.

I found a map of District Sangrur that tells you the towns that surround Channo.
The FritoLays day celebration is a family affair. So you could see the kids trying out all the games of chance and skill while the adults preferred to sun themselves in the winter sun.

The day ended with a hearty round of Bhangra - the folk dance of Punjab that cuts across international boundaries because of its simplicity and appeal. Bhangra has been mixed with Disco, Techno, Reggae and of course with Hip Hop by the well known rapper Jay-Z (pronounced Jay Zee) who sang Mundiyan To Bach Ke (translation - Beware of the Boys). But what we had that day was the desi version and performed with gusto by the Frito crowd.

So here's to a great year ahead for you and your loved ones. Don't forget to try out a Bhangra move the next time you go dancing.

Bring A Friend to Work - Watch the Video

Krishna Kumar - who heads Human Resources for the Sales team of FritoLay in South and East India has experienced tremendous success in hiring people through an internal referral process. The campaign dubbed as BRING A FRIEND TO WORK (sounds really cute) seems to be really working for our Sales team. So Krishna turned this into a 30 second commercial - by himself. yes - he loves learning new software. Here's what he writes in to say

"Employee referral is the best way to build talent. Out of 39 recruits, 43% are from South & East. It clearly reflects our employee satisfaction. Have developed a small communication to reinforce the same.

Brief:

Have linked the success of “Bring a friend to work” scheme with our brands. Each one of our brand refers other brands and thus building total commitment across. This 30 sec video gives a sense of “togetherness” and ends up with a note on Employee Satisfaction where all the brands are represented as a family.
This has been worked on 3D Max contains 1000 frames. Animating each brand was the challenge. It was similar to developing a Cartoon movie. Now we are going beyond stereotypical AV…"

Great job Krishna. That was an impressive effort. Congrats!!

If you wish to download the video here's the link just copy and paste this into your browser and reach the Youtube.com site

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynfg27tErNU

PO1 R&D Centre Inaugurated

Inauguration of the new Power of One R&D Lab
Gurgaon: 3rd October 2006


It is finally here. The combined R&D Lab will cater to the Snacks as well as Beverages Division of Pepsico International.

The swank new set up was put together in record time. Here's to more innovations and exciting products from the Lab.



Left to Right: Rajiv Bakshi, Vijay Sukumaran, Manu Anand and Doc TSR Murali.

My friends and family often ask me what is it like to work for FritoLay India? It is a young and vibrant place, run by very young people. The atmosphere at work is best described as collegial, a tad crazy at times. A very high affinity driven culture where colleagues are also best of friends. Let's ask the people what they have to say.

Find out the answer to the question of the week....

"Who is the inspiration for the smiley that you see in the FritoLay logo?