Job Title: Brand Manager
Location: Tarrytown, NY
Submitted on: 15-Sep-04
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Kraft's culture changed enormously during the 3.5 years I was there, due
to their IPO to get out of the shadow of Philip Morris/Altria. Now that
Kraft's finances are reported to Wall St. alone, without the generous
margins of Big Tobacco to cover their sins, the climate has become a
sheer grind. Work hours are regularly until 8 at night, often until 11
for marketers. The tolerance for risk has gone from medium-low to rock
bottom, making new product development in particular the Path to Nowhere
(if you are on the mommy track this is where they put you). There is a
forced bell curve for yearly reviews, where a certain percent of people
MUST be scored "poor" in order for the company to save money on bonus
payouts (poor scorers get zero bonus). A huge round of layoffs in
early '04 brought morale down further, as the huge workload is now done
by fewer people. Company fortunes have not yet turned the corner, so
more layoffs are predicted. Also, like most big companies, it's
extremely political. Marketers are rewarded for an aggressive, command-
and-control style of management despite much lip service being given to
the concept of "team." Much lip service is also given to the "work/life
balance" however the deadlines are the deadlines so it's nothing but
talk. There is a great deal of reformatting of the same information to
present to ever-higher levels of management, resulting in a lot of late
nights being spent on busywork instead of driving the businesses. All
that being said, I would recommend it as a blue chip brand name on the
resume, and a good (if stultifying) training ground for freshly minted
MBAs. Those seeking creativity and entrepreneurial ownership of
projects (i.e. most folks who got into brand management in the first
place) won't stay here for the duration of their careers. Most of the
people at Kraft are top-tier in their field, very intelligent, and would
be genuinely nice if it weren't for the political climate they are
forced to navigate.
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