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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (2389)	8/14/2002 2:09:03 PM
From: Jeffrey D	Respond to of 25522

Technology CEOs shill for NASDAQ....Captain Morgan included. From USA Today, today. Jeff << CEOs pitch in to rally downtrodden Nasdaq in series of commercials By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY Sights of CEOs in handcuffs on the nightly news did not sway Nasdaq from lining up chief executives of companies listed on the high-tech stock market to star in its new ad campaign. On Thursday, Nasdaq opens the estimated $20 million ad campaign designed to rebuild its tarnished image and rally investment interest in the nearly 4,000 companies that trade on the market, which is down 35% overall this year. Eight chief executives will make the (unpaid) pitch: Craig Barrett of Intel, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Michael Dell of Dell Computers, Jim Sinegal of Costco, Jim Morgan of Applied Materials, John Chambers of Cisco, Tom Stemberg of Staples and Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. The executives are from companies in the Nasdaq 100 index, the 100 largest non-financial companies. That index is down 42% this year. "We certainly discussed the role (having CEOs) would play in this kind of climate," says Denise Benou Stires, Nasdaq's executive vice president, global marketing and investor services. "We (decided) there's no better time to show this kind of leadership, accomplishments and vision for the future." Nasdaq's own vision and future has changed dramatically since the dot-com fallout. The tech-heavy stock market company rode high in the Internet boom, but with its composite index now at 1997 levels, Nasdaq's own earnings are being hammered. For the second quarter, the stock market's net income was down 55%. Though the tech sector accounts for about 30% of the market capitalization of its listed companies, one goal of the ads is to show that Nasdaq also lists a range of non-tech companies. "The media oversimplifies the composition of Nasdaq," says Benou Stires. "Nasdaq is a market of category-defining companies in many different industries, and this campaign is seeking to tell the full story." Beyond the diversity of companies, the campaign by McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C., also seeks to portray the CEOs of Nasdaq companies as more entrepreneurial and more hands-on — directly involved in their companies' vision and performance. But it was a challenge to send that message at a time when public perception of CEOs might be one of distrust. Nasdaq's answer is to present them as real people. In the unscripted ads, they were asked to recall the challenges of starting their companies. Dell acknowledges his parents were disappointed that he dropped out of college — but says they got over it. Ballmer says his mother had asked him why anyone would need a computer. One brand expert likes the approach. "The story here is that Nasdaq helps build great companies," says Erich Joachimsthaler, head of Vivaldi Brand Leadership, a strategy consulting firm in New York. "The personality of the executives in this case is intricately related to the success of the company. They are not CEOs who came on board to save a company. That's very important here. It may just work." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------