• December 11, 2000

To counter an image that companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange are old and un-hip, the exchange will launch a new media campaign to woo retail investors and promote itself as the place to be for new money. The campaign will be the costliest in the exchange's history, and seems to pit the venerable exchange against the NASDAQ and other upstart electronic exchanges.

The TV ads, done by BBDO, feature a soundtrack by Fat Boy Slim, and include quick-cutting montages and thin hipsters doing high-tech things. Critics say the new ad campaign will not neutralize threats to the NYSE, which has lost its appeal to investors lured by the faster growth potential of high-tech companies, most of which trade on the NASDAQ.-Chris Griffin