Company: Opera Software ASA
Company Description: Opera Software ASA develops Web browser technology for the desktop, smartphone, PDA, iTV and vertical markets. Partners includes IBM, Nokia, Sony, Motorola, Macromedia, Adobe, Symbian, Sony Ericsson, Kyocera, Sharp, Motorola Metroworks, MontaVista Software, and AMD. The Opera browser has received international recognition from users, industry experts and media for being better than other browsers.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Marketer

Nomination Title: Pal A. Hvistendahl, Director Marketing Communications, Opera Software ASA

Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in the past year (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:

BACKGROUND
For years the mobile Internet has been hampered by the limited screensizes on
mobile phones. In 2002 the small Norwegian browser developer Opera Software
overcame this challenge with the introduction of its Small-Screen Rendering (SSR)
technology, allowing for reformatted Web pages to fit any small screen. Users
could finally surf the whole Web familiar from their desktops on their mobiles,
instead of just the stripped-down WAP versions previously available in Europe or
the specially adapted Web pages available in the US. Opera, a small company
with few resources at its disposal, located in far-away Norway, now needed to convince the handset manufacturers that they should include Opera's browser with SSR technology on their mobile phones.

RESEARCH
Research revealed that the real handset manufacturers customers in the mobile
market were the many operators. The operators are the ones requesting handsets
from manufacturers, and then subsidize them to entice their subscribers. The
most important manufacturers were located in Europe. Research also revealed that it was difficult for people to understand the greatness of SSR, except when seeing a
live demonstration. For SSR, seeing was really believing.

OBJECTIVES
- Get operators to request Opera from the handset manufacturers

PROGRAM
- Launch Day
Launch day was crucial, the world's tech and telecom media needed to get
excited about this new technology. Hvistendahl arranged for an all-out attack. Associated Press (AP) was contacted beforehand to write a story, and Opera's CEO was flown to San Francisco to meet with the world's leading tech news site: CNET's News.com. On Launch Day the press release went out, the story from AP went on the wire, and News.com posted a video interview on their site. The story caught fire all over the Web.
- Short Term
Having the full attention of management, Hvistendahl sent out Opera's CEO and
CTO to meet with key media in the US and UK, resulting in stories in top publications like Fortune, The Economist, Salon.com, The Guardian, etc. English-language news sites act as reference points for media and executives all over the world, and stories in these publications therefore spread far beyond their country of origin.Top industry analysts were also contacted and briefed, their enthusiasm building more credibility for journalist's articles.
- Long Term
Hvistendahl went local to hammer the message to operators on their own home
turf. Saving on costs, he went by car around Europe to give journalists all over the continent a chance to see and write about Opera's new SSR technology. Getting in a major newspaper in the local country was a sure way for the big operators and handset manufacturers to read about SSR. To his surprise he learnt that this was a novel approach in many European countries. Outside of professional PR markets like the UK and Germany, journalists were very excited and eager to meet him. Some important journalists had never been approached in this way before.

EVALUATION
Opera's SSR technology has spawned hundreds of media stories, both in print and
on TV, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Opera has signed with many handset manufacturers, including Sony Ericsson,
Kyocera, and Motorola. The big prize came in October 2003, when the world's
largest handset manufacturer, Nokia, unveiled the new Nokia 6600, with a
fully-branded Opera included. Nokia insisted on including Opera's logo on the
phone, as it represented to millions of users what was possible to do with the
mobile Internet.

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

Opera's SSR technology has spawned hundreds of news stories. Links to online
news stories can be found here:
http://www.opera.com/press/articles/

Some of the TV coverage can be found here:
http://www.opera.com/press/tvclips/

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

Pal Hvistendahl (29) has a Bachelor in Public Communication from American
University in Washington, DC.

After a brief stint working for Fleishman-Hillard in NYC, he went home to his native Oslo home, starting to work for Opera Software in 2000 as European PR Manager.
By establishing Opera as the third largest browser on the Web, he quickly rose
through the ranks, and is now Opera's Director for Marketing and Communications.

Pal A. Hvistendahl still lives in Oslo, Norway, with his great love Emina Tufekcic
providing support and tolerance for his obsession to take Opera to ever greater heights.