Fidelity's Move to Hard-Sell Advertising Lowers Peter
Wall Street Journal (11/03/00) Vol. 13, No. 7 p.C1; Hechinger, John
For its new advertising campaign, Fidelity Investments
is downsizing the role of pitchman Peter Lynch and instead is
pursuing a harder sell of individual funds. The multi-million
dollar campaign marks the end of Lynch's one-year run as a seller
of individual funds, a fact that sits well with the respected
stock-picker. Lynch reportedly had difficulty with being a
hard-seller of individual funds and preferred the more
educational ads. Fidelity decided to launch a new campaign after
its share of net sales slipped from 14 percent to 3 percent.
Fund analysts attribute the flat sales to the lackluster
performance of Fidelity's funds this year. Fidelity is confident
that the campaign can make up some the ground the company has
lost.