Wednesday, August 22, 2007

What Does Freedom Mean to You

14th August 2007, the eve of Independence Day ... one could see happy and excited faces in the organization. Was it because it would be a holiday the next day? Or was it because our Independence Day brought a renewed and stronger sense of freedom?

Take a look at these pictures and see for yourself how flaunting our freedom and patriotism is the ‘in thing’ in PepsiCo India – Snacks Division.


Our slogan contest – “What Does Freedom Mean to You” evoked enthusiastic participation. Here’s what the three prize winners had to say

“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” – Himanshu Bakshi

“Freedom Means…….’fearlessly exhibiting the enthusiasm in you” – Abhijit Srivastava

Freedom to me means: “Doing a little bit more always ….” – Madhu Rajesh

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Frito Blog Featured In Economic Times

Blog and Get Paid in a Knowledge Economy says Shreya Biswas in Economic Times, the business newspaper that corporate India reads. And Madhu Rajesh gets quoted in Eco Times.

Madhu loves the responses she gets on her blog posts, writing about HR initiatives, the fun things on employee outings and behind-the-scenes activities on product campaigns. It has just been a month since she moved to FritoLay’s snacks division as assistant manager on employee communication. “I really love the interesting comments I get for my posts. People lead you to so many new ideas through this,” says Madhu.

For Madhu, it’s one of her core deliverables on the job front. And there are many like Madhu who are taking to blogs in a big way.

To the various innovative options thrown up as a career in the knowledge economy every other day, add this one — blogging as a profession. Surely, social media is catching up and blogging, being among the strongest, is something companies are looking to leverage. Hence, some like GlobalLogic, Infovision and FritoLay are all planning to hire bloggers. In fact, Communicate2, a Mumbai-based search engine marketing firm, has already hired bloggers to provide content for two of its blogs, internal as well external.

“These companies want to reach out to their customers, their potential employees, trying to create that unique identity as a employer brand. Besides, it helps to get feedback on their products and services through this route,” says Abhijit Bhaduri, director HR, FritoLay.

Sample the action. IT firm GlobalLogic plans to hire bloggers on the rolls for a blog they are coming up with in the next 2-3 months. This, as the company tries to increasingly position itself as ‘a firm focused on high-tech work’. It believes the blog being an interactive medium would be the best platform to talk about the company’s initiatives.

The search for professional bloggers are on. “We are looking at journalistic profiles and techies who have a flair for writing. Anyone who understands the business and draws in readers through good posts are welcome. We are already in the process of launching a blog that will talk about company initiatives and review latest gadgets talk about industry trends. Hence, we are looking for people who could get readers interested,” says Rajul Garg, co-founder & VP, corporate development and human resources, GlobalLogic.

IT services company Infovision has similar plans. It is coming up with three blogs in the next one month and plans to hire some professional bloggers. As for the sources for hiring bloggers, it plans to tap into advertising, marketing and communication professionals. Those having a good marketing background will help the cause of the company, thinks Infovision CEO Aditya Gupta.

Employers feel that a good understanding of the business is important before getting down to writing for the blogs. Blogger hiring, though quite common in western countries and among MNCs, has yet to catch up in India in a big way. In fact, as of now there are only a handful in India which are hiring bloggers on their rolls. This is because blogging is yet to reach a stage in this country where people would be hired to manage an entire blog and provide content.

Nonetheless, some have realised the impact of the medium as a cost-effective medium. As a result, some of the smaller companies like Communicate2 are even trying this out as an option. It has hired three people a month back who are being trained to become pro-bloggers. They will be writing for the two blogs the company has, both internal and external.

Vivek Bhargava, MD, Communicate2, says; “There are regular brainstorming sessions on what could be the topic of posts. Coming up with new ideas would be a challenge for them and the frequency has to be maintained too. Besides, we are also training them on the businesses they would be writing on. This is essential.”

But to begin with, corporate blogging would require people with a good business background. Besides, bloggers need to first get a hang of the subjects they are writing on.

Friday, August 10, 2007

R Rajesh is R Correspondent in Thailand


Our Marketing guy R Rajesh was seconded to Pepsico's Asia Region Headquarter in Bangkok as Beverage Platform Director. Rajesh is an enthusiastic shutterbug and regularly delights his colleagues with unflattering mugshots of them.


He now shares these pictures of Bangkok’s famous floating market. Rajesh seems to be on the verge of discovering a new platform for sale of Lays. Hey Rajesh! Go ahead and strike a deal!!
Have a sneak view of Bangkok’s most popular floating market – Damnoen Saduak. The Thai name for Bangkok is
Krung Thep Maha Nakhon

Rajesh shares :



"The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is
located about 105 kms from Bangkok. The excellent quality of soil beside the
canal makes it suitable for growing many kinds of fruits and vegetables. The
area is famous for Malacca grape, Chinese grapefruit, mangoes, bananas, and
coconut.

Here one can see the traditional way of selling and buying fruits, vegetables, etc., from small boats. A boat-ride along the canal is a great way to see the traditional Thai houses and the way they live and conduct their daily lives by boats.

The sheer hustle and bustle in the early morning as the sellers spread their wares and buyers jostle for a good bargain and the tourists crane their necks for a good shot makes it one of the “not-to-be-missed” attractions of Thailand !!"


To see more from Rajesh's albums of pix click

http://www.pbase.com/r_rajesh1801/