Adobe Systems

Company: Adobe Systems, Inc.
Company Division/Group: Marketing
Company Description: Founded in 1982, Adobe today is one of the world's largest software companies, generating annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion. Approximately 3,500 employees across the world share Adobe's commitment to helping people communicate better. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Adobe is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ADBE.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Marketing Executive

Nomination Title: Melissa Dyrdahl, Adobe Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in 2003 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

How do you reinvent a legendary software brand without alienating your traditional
customer base? Melissa Dyrdahl, senior vice president of marketing and
communications of Adobe Systems, together with her extended marketing team,
has transformed the company - helping Adobe break new ground in the enterprise
market and reinvent the company's branding approach to the creative professional and consumer markets. In 2003, Dyrdahl's marketing leadership helped Adobe achieve record revenues despite an increasingly competitive marketplace and slack
economy.

Dyrdahl leads a large crew of marketing communications professionals including
branding, direct marketing, advertising, public relations, Web communications and
several agency teams. Under her leadership, Adobe merged multiple fragmented
marketing programs and organized a cohesive effort. By strategically articulating
Adobe's mission -- to help people and businesses communicate more effectively -
Dyrdahl and her team elevated the Adobe brand above individual product brands,
attracting the right kind of market attention.

While Dyrdahl and team were refreshing the Adobe brand with its traditional
customers, they helped push into new market territory: large corporate environments. Adobe is now targeting enterprise customers with its Intelligent Document platform and solution set, helping enterprises better communicate with customers, constituents and employees. This has been a major transition for Adobe requiring an entirely new marketing strategy. Dyrdahl has led the charge in helping to define and establish Adobe's brand in the eyes of this new audience. To date, Adobe has expanded its customer set to include government and enterprise companies as well as built momentum with industry analysts and media about its enterprise strategy and milestones. Dyrdahl and her team not only developed new ways to communicate, but found ways to do so more viscerally and memorably, capturing the passions of Adobe's traditional audience. Instead of the traditional 1-2 page advertisement, Dyrdahl and her staff boldly opted for a 12-page insert in publications such as Communication Arts, Wallpaper and Surface. With images like a boardroom labeled as "Torture Chamber" and a trash can filled with crumpled sketches labeled "Heartache," the insert became more than a product plug; it embodied the emotions of the creative professional.

Dyrdahl and the marketing communications team also oversaw the product box
redesigns that had long been associated with its products, notably Botticelli's
Venus for Adobe Illustrator. Old symbols were discarded in order to unify the products with clean, white boxes and the natural imagery of multicolored leaves, feathers and butterflies. In addition to the brand overhaul in the past year, Dyrdrahl continues to help launch careers for women in the high-tech sector. Frank and open, Dyrdahl mentors capable women, passing along the insight and guidance she gained throughout her career.

With her help, Adobe is setting a progressive corporate example by promoting
women to top ranks. At Adobe, there are three women (out of nine) on the executive committee and two women on the board of directors. Dyrdahl has proven that breaking tradition, taking risks and remembering the people who have helped along the way, can reinvent much more than brands.

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/
200312/122903Fortune2003.html

Other supporting materials for this nomination were submitted offline

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

As senior vice president of corporate marketing and communications, Melissa
Dyrdahl drives the development and communication of Adobe's corporate positioning, branding and identity, and integrated communication strategies worldwide. In this role, Dyrdahl leads public relations, advertising, market research, marketing communications, customer and partner marketing, user education and training, and Adobe's community relations efforts. Dyrdahl joined Adobe in 1994 as a founding member of the Home and Office Products Division. Dyrdahl oversaw worldwide marketing for Adobe's consumer and small and medium business products, managing product direction and strategy, before joining the company's executive staff in 2000. Most recently, she spearheaded Adobe's first-ever television advertising campaign and drove the largest integrated marketing effort in the company's history for Adobe Creative Suite.

Prior to joining Adobe, Dyrdahl was director of worldwide sales operations at Claris Corp., the software subsidiary of Apple Computer Inc., and before that held several marketing management positions at Hewlett-Packard Company.

Dyrdahl is a recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women in Industry award, an active
mentor for WOMEN Unlimited and a member of Women in Technology
International. She currently sits on the board of directors for the San Jose Museum of Art, the advisory board for the CMO Council, an elite organization for technology marketing leaders, and the western region advisory board for Catalyst, a research and advisory organization working to advance women in business. Dyrdahl attended San Jose State University where she majored in advertising.