Fidelity has a commercial that ends with an account executive bragging about Fidelity's wireless trading capabilities. I'm not impressed. She is being hounded by a big-headed obnoxious CEO and somehow during the evening she manages to buy and sell shares in the CEO's company. The best part is when she states proudly that she does her own research. That's not research, that is data.
Research takes days, weeks or even months.
Developing an understanding of a company's competitive advantages, business units and opportunities is simply not possible between flights or drinks. Besides, the batteries would never last. And the ad agencies may be starving for clients now that dot-com dollars are no longer driving growth, but Marketing 101 should have taught these guys that there is such a thing as bad press. Brand power is more than name recognition, it is built on trust. Wireless trading will not build the trust these firms want.