Tor Odland

I'm leaving Opera. But, my heart refuses to go with me. Here's the list of some of my favorite moments at Opera.

First impressions matter: When I came for my day of interviews at Opera back in November 2004, I was quickly ushered from the busy reception area into a meeting room (Arie). There was a bunch of people in the room, and I quickly realized this was the team I'd potentially be managing and that I was part of Pål Hvistendahl's leaving party (Pål was my predecessor). Jon von Tetzchner was in the room, and Rolf Assev came in. Somebody asked "who's that guy in the corner," and Rolf responded, "He's the fellow we're interviewing for Pål's job." After that, I was completely sold on Opera. A company that is so inclusive and unconcerned with regular business etiquette was my kind of place. And I was right.

Everyone talks about April Fools jokes, and we've done many. Most of them failed to draw much attention (in competition with every single IT company out there). Except Face Gestures. This one was so good that prospective employees bragged about their familiarity with our latest face recognition technology in job interviews. Neeext!

Opera's canteen. Wow. Every day is a memorable moment on the 5th floor of Opera's HQ. Keep it up!

In 2007, we urged the European Commission to investigate what we believed were Microsoft's anti-competitive bundling of IE with Windows. A while later, Microsoft was forced to add a "Choice Screen" to its Windows shipments in Europe. Along the way, Opera took a lot of heat. The criticism faded when people realized that Microsoft started making positive changes to their web standards support in IE and when the Choice Screen started to roll out. Sometimes, you gotta stay firm.

In 2005, we said "Feel Free".

Management is 75% experience and 25% professional skills. At Opera, we throw young people out in deep water, letting them sink or swim as managers. You quickly learn to swim when you need to give people messages they don't want to hear. You never learn to enjoy those moments, but you understand the importance of setting high standards and expecting world class performance.

In terms of PR success, I think our best piece of work was the "State of the Mobile Web" report. We launched it back in 2008 as a tool to help the world understand how people are using the mobile internet. In return, Opera has increased its awareness as the company behind the world's most popular mobile web browser. In our first report, we bragged about Opera Mini's massive user base (12 million in March 2008). Today, we're at more than 105 million users. (Thanks to Thomas Ford for his relentless contributions to the SMW report...)

We had a lot of fun with this one. The marketing team scored big hits with one of their contributions. We've won numerous awards for this campaign (European Excellence Award, Gullkorn, Gulltaggen, Sabre Awards).

The swim: Back in 2005, we launched Opera 8. The campaign featured the slightly infamous "Opera Man" but it also featured the legendary "Jon swims to the U.S. if we achieve 1 million downloads in four days" stunt. My favorite moment was when we got an email from a professor in Austria who was suddenly concerned that he had told his whole class to download Opera, and, now he was worried that he'd be part of killing Jon, who couldn't possibly make it across the Atlantic ...

The Product: Looking back at my six years in Opera, one product truly stands out as the one we kicked butt with: Opera Mini. We launched a limited pilot of Opera Mini in the fall of 2005, featuring Opera's first TV ads (on TV2 in Norway). That set the stage for what today is the world's most popular mobile browser.

What am I the most proud of? These guys. A slightly older pic. Thanks for the ride! And remember, there's never a boring day at Opera Software.

17 comments

No, it's not easier

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 1:10:38 PM

It's time to kill a truism related to the growth of PR in a world where the media is dying. The truism states that it will become easier for the PR industry to influence journalists, as resources are drained from the newsrooms. The assumption is that fewer journalists are asked to produce more content to maintain reader volumes - leaving the door open for paid and professional sources such as PR firms and corporate communications people.

The context is the "media crisis"- in particular with reference to the slow death of print journalism. While it's certainly true that printed newspapers and magazines will continue to decline, what's really going on is a change in media consumption behavior. To put it simply: journalism is going digital. Simultaneously, a number of other channels/platforms/avenues have emerged, such as social media. The result is a very fragmented media context. But most importantly, more people consume more media/journalistic content than ever before. The media industry is NOT dying.

Here's why we need to kill the truism:
1) Companies hire additional PR people to better navigate a very fragmented and complex media environment. They hire these people because it's harder, not easier to communicate effectively across all the channels and media properties out there. Companies don't hire PR people because they have an evil agenda (OK, some companies do - tobacco firms, for example) but because they have a desire to proactively position themselves in a positive way and improve their ability to respond to criticism.
2) If an online and/or printed publication reduces their editorial staff from 10 to 2 journalists, it is harder, not easier for PR people to get editorial attention. Let me give you an example: While a major U.S. business magazine previously had a large number of people covering technology stories, they now have a tiny handful. As a result, the only companies who easily get their attention is Google, Apple and some other IT giants. As a smaller vendor, we have to work even harder to "get ink" in that publication.
3) Most people (read: media consumers) get the difference between a professional source with some level of credibility and a high school blogger. There's a reason people would rather retweet or blog about a story from NYT than from a random blogger. Consumers simply have a justified belief that a paid, professional journalist can tell a more credible story. I'm not suggesting that journalists are always right (far from it), but that a journalist should be trusted to be right more often than a random guy on twitter. Again, the media is not dying.
4) Journalists are smarter, better educated and better equipped than ever before. Most journalists we work with at Opera are extremely adept at finding, analyzing and presenting information. Often, they know more about our industry than we do. We never, ever assume that it is easy to suggest a story to a journalist.

The bottom line is that we trust journalists to do their job well. At the heart of the truism is a belief that editors/journalists are so stressed out (or lazy) that they risk their editorial principles/dignity to get a story out. If you believe that, I can guarantee that you'll fail as a PR professional.

No comments

30 lessons in global PR (make that 22)

Sunday, October 11, 2009 8:18:38 PM

Starting today, I'll start sharing a daily lesson in how to run global PR operations. I'll share a total of 30 lessons - some small and tactical, others more strategic and some are things I've learned the hard way...

Follow me at @torotime to get the daily update.

30 LESSONS IN GLOBAL PR
1. Give local team members global responsibilities/projects. It makes them part of the global machine.
2. Use embargoes, not exclusives in global tech PR. Use one universal time slot for all geographies.
3. Start treating journalists like analysts. Ask them questions back. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll learn.
4. Social media is a natural part of every global PR campaign. But it requires people with language skills and local knowledge.
5. Carefully design your global analyst relations program. You can't brief every analyst on planet earth consistently.
6. Measure all global team members using the same KPI system. It’s the only way to truly compare performance on a global scale.
7. Hire local people who have experience with reporting to a foreign HQ.
8. Make global media results visible at HQ, even though they're in Japanese or Russian.
9. The major global newswires are still deadly effective in taking your message far and wide.
10. Use one, global media training platform for all spokespeople to enable streamlined global messages.
11. Regional team members need even more praise and recognition than your team members at HQ.
12. Never, ever assume that regional team members have the same data and understanding you possess at HQ.
13. Create one united and global vision for all team members. Repeat it whenever you get a chance.
14. Never lie to a journalist – or to anyone for that matter. There’s no difference which country you operate in: lying is the end of your career.
15. In today’s digital PR context, the quality of your relationships is even more important than before. Quality trumps quantity.
16. As head of a global PR team, you need to know the individual fabric of your team members. But you don't need to be anyone's shrink.
17. If you have two options on your hands, choose external execution, not another internal meeting.
18. Printed news still carries a lot of weight, both internally and externally. A front page story is a great brand builder.
19. Plan a strategy of instant gratification for media people. Quick answers equal media exposure. (This tip via @paalu)
20. Bring regional team members to HQ and have them run a big project for a few weeks. They'll realize that it's tough to work at HQ, too.
21. PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It's about your customers interacting with your company on the Web. (This tip via @tmn84)
22. Only one company can get away with the "all PR is good PR" platitude, on a global scale: RyanAir. My message to all other companies: think twice...

Update (March 24, 2010): The original 30 lessons ended at 22. No further explanations are offered.

No comments

From the mini series "Tor talks about things he has no clue about." This time: Ukraine

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 7:58:54 PM

One of the countries in serious trouble under the global financial crisis is Ukraine. Unemployment is up, GDP is (massively) down and the general mood is not particularly jolly. My colleague Katrin Jaakson and I spent a couple of days in Kiev to interview candidates for our Communications Manager position.

Pic: Katrin and Sergii (Mongoose) at the monastery Kiev Pechersk Lavra

Here's my (social science-free) take on Ukraine:

Ukraine is a potential political and economic powerhouse. It is operating and growing in the shadows of Russia. While it will never achieve Russia's political prowess, Ukraine can become a significant force with its strategic geographic location, large population (46+ million), vast resources and ties to Russia. I say "potential" because Ukraine needs to make moves to become a true market economy and fix its flawed political system (it seems too easy to influence their Constitution - e.g. on whether the Prime Minister or President is the one in real charge...).
Clearly, efficiency is needed. At the hotel we stayed at (a relatively modest, 3 star hotel with solid roots in the Soviet times), way too many people had nothing to do. Six people serving lunch to 5-10 guests is not efficient...
Kiev is a truly proud and beautiful city. If Kiev represents the soul of Ukraine, I want to come back again and again to learn more. People in Kiev take their past seriously - as made evident by the well-managed parks, historical buildings, churches and war memorials. Speaking of war memorials, I have never seen something as astonishing as their WW2 memorial. The insane sacrifices made by the Ukrainian people (16 million killed in fighting the Germans, I heard) truly deserve such a monumental park. But more important, perhaps, is our respect. It is this respect for the past and eye on the future that makes Kiev so interesting. The old Soviet regime is visible everywhere you go, but you also see globalism making an impact. Close to our hotel, there were no less than four sushi restaurants (and pretty much no other dining places). The citizens of Kiev seem to LOVE sushi. I was happy to observe that not any of those restaurants employed any people even remotely related to Asian descent. The underlying message: we're good enough to make our own sushi here in Ukraine. And I grant them two thumbs up in response.
We're humble and proud to have people such as Mongoose (also famed for operafan.net and with the real name of Sergii Prosianyk) stand in the frontlines of a large community of Opera users (millions of Ukrainians use Opera on their PCs and mobile phones). We're honored by their dedication and support in what we are trying to achieve - to make the Internet more useful to anyone in the world. Mongoose is an embodiment of the Opera personality: he's open, honest, passionate, knowledgable, creative and has an international mindset. Thank you for the Dynamo Kiev scarf, Mongoose! Hope you enjoyed the akevitt and the chocolate. Drink responsibly...

Pic: Katrin and Tor at the Museum of the Great Patriotic War

2 comments

Twitter confessions of a PR guy

Sunday, February 8, 2009 10:03:10 PM

To some, twitter is a silly invention. Others love it.

My take is somewhere in between. As the head of Communications at a mid-size company, I'm interested in twitter from a professional perspective. I don't really look at twitter as something I would be very busy using for my personal life. I guess some people find friends, dates and more on twitter. Not me.

I've been twittering for 7-8 months now and here's why I keep using it:

1. You can get close to a lot of people really fast.
While there's a barrier to finding/accepting new friends on (e.g.) Facebook, twitter is different. Following someone costs nothing and they can easily follow me. We don't have to know each other. If I see someone who looks interesting in terms of profession, geography or the comments they make, I follow them. It's that easy. Over time, you can get to know people far away pretty well, simply by following their posts.

2. I can easily monitor ongoing discussions about Opera or industry issues.
You can pick up frustrations regarding your company early and respond to them on the fly. The comments are usually unfiltered and unbiased. So what you get are real opinions (most of the time...) I sometimes reach out to them but hesitantly so. I worry about what they think when someone suddenly responds to their outburst on something Opera-related... Perhaps I shouldn't worry about it, but I do.

3. Product support
I've had a lot of people ask me questions about Opera's products. They'll ask me about features they don't understand or why Opera Mini (one of our mobile browsers) don't work in their region/geography, etc.

4. It's perfect for the mobile Web
Me - and many I know - use their Opera Mini browser to read and write twitter updates. As such, twitter is part of making more people interested in going online with their phones.

5. I can help others and others help me
People ask for help all the time on twitter. Journalists look for sources, business people want ideas for their presentations, students want internships... In return, I look for help in learning how to better use my Mac or tips on how to understand a particular issue... People reach out and help each other because it's fast and non-committal.

Final words: It's obviously easy to complain that twitter lacks basic messaging features. Scrolling through old messages takes forever and I still don't know how to easily locate a friend's twitter updates without using google or remembering their user names. But perhaps that's ok. twitter is not supposed to replace your email client and it's not Facebook.

It's twitter and that's all it is.

2 comments

Ten things I've learned so far...

Monday, November 17, 2008 2:43:47 PM

Over the next ten days I'll post a personal life lesson every day. I'm not a philosopher, so please don't judge my lessons as anything but a normal guy trying to summarize some thoughts and make them public.

Lesson #1: Life is death. I say it out loud: “I will die one day”. So will you. So have billions of people before us. It’s completely unfathomable, but it will happen. One day, you’re 6 feet under with ants in your hair. Where I learned it: by my wife, who understands that there’s more to life than the next big job and the next big house.
Lesson #2: There is only one God. Religions are merely culture and human manifestations of a greater force. At the end of the day, all of us who believe, believe in one God. Where I learned it: since Day One.
Lesson #3: They may yell but they still love you. Sometimes, parents will make their kids lives’ hell with their yelling and insane requirements. But they truly love you. Where I learned it: in the car with my father, on our way home from basketball practice (yes, believe it or not, I actually played basketball back in the day). He had yelled far and wide about something and then suddenly uttered some words I’ll never forget: We may be angry at you but you need to know that we will always love you. Without condition.
Lesson #4: Good leaders know when to leave. The responsibility is always yours, no matter who screwed up in your organization. If the error was serious enough, you should leave with the culprit. Where I learned it: During my military service, a young soldier was killed during night training, by a passing civilian car. His sergeant had failed to put the necessary light signals in place as they walked down a road. Our battalion commander in chief first handled the crisis, and then stepped down a few weeks later in respect of the family and the system.
Lesson #5: Listen to the wind. Sometimes, you have so many (or so few) options that it’s impossible to make a decision. In those situations, let the wind take you. Just let whatever happens happen. Where I learned it: In the USA, where choices are so abundant. Not just in the supermarket aisles, but in every aspect of life.
Lesson #6: Just you and two suitcases. At least once in your life, you need to touch down on a completely foreign airport with two suitcases and not a single clue about how life will treat you in your new country. Where I learned it: When I moved to the USA in 1996 to attend college.
Lesson #7: Know your people. A good manager takes the time to understand the deeper motivations and background of the people who report to him/her. Not too deep, but deep enough to understand what truly motivates an individual to perform beyond expectations. Where I learned it: by my brilliant manager at the London-based PR firm I worked at prior to joining Opera.
Lesson #8: Standing still is also movement. Being a fighter is as much about patience as about agility and action. Where I learned it: in the military, where we spent hours standing still with full combat gear. The commander said: “The ability to stand still is as important as the ability to engage in combat.”
Lesson #9: You can spin but you can’t lie. You can select your facts to create a compelling story, but you can never lie. Where I learned it: I once lied to a journalist (in 2005) and it has tainted our relationship ever since. As a PR pro, it’s better to say no comment.
Lesson #10: You make two important decisions in life: Your partner and your career. Everything else is irrelevant. Where I learned it: In elementary school in the early 80s, by a female teacher who also urged us to rather have dessert after a meal than have a cigarette. Better fat than dead, she said. At that point, we were too young to smoke, but it was a clear message anyway.

2 comments

White is not a color

Monday, October 6, 2008 4:03:22 PM

Find out why in my latest photo album. See how beautiful fall colors suddenly disappeared when winter marched in.

1 comment

The Pulpit Rock

Sunday, July 13, 2008 11:52:28 AM

One of the most spectacular rock formations in Norway is the Pulpit Rock - or Preikestolen in Norwegian. Here are pics from my recent trip there with Manju the Mountaineer.

Of course, just as we closed in on the destination itself, after a two hour trek, our digital camera broke down. So we had to resort to whatever quality pics Manju's Sony Ericsson phone could give us. Worst of all, it didn't store the pics of Manju sitting on the edge of the Pulpit...

See the pictures...

1 comment

How to fall with grace when sledding

Monday, March 24, 2008 10:20:03 PM

Two short lessons in how to fall with grace when sledding.

Footage from Røldal, Norway. Easter 2008.

Jumping a cliff:

A hard stop:

No comments

How to beat girls in sledding competitions

Monday, March 24, 2008 3:23:46 PM

It took hard work (and some unconventional methods) to beat my friend Inga at a sledding competition.

(The competition took place at the mountain farm in Røldal, Norway. The first to pass the fence wins.)

(Inga in gray, me in black. Commentary by Manju)

No comments

1 2 3 4 5 ... 8 Next »