At this year’s 3.5-mile JP Morgan Chase & Co. Corporate Challenge, HedgeWorld’s managing editor, Chris Clair, and I braved 45-degree Chicago lakefront temperatures and sacrificed both knee and hamstring (from recurring ailments) to make it to that finish line to beat our 2007 times, which shall remain undisclosed.

Along the way, we managed to remain alert to our fellow racers, combing the course for potential stories. Aside from the alarming number of competitors wearing jeans and leather jackets (some of whom were actually running), there was one notable point of discussion. Despite that there were roughly 1,700 JP Morgan Chase representatives running in the race of more than 23,000, the most ubiquitous corporate logo was that of Newedge Financial—the joint venture of SocGen and Calyon Financial. It felt like we were surrounded by Newedge runners at every turn of the race. The Pulse of Finance (the firm’s tag line) was indeed felt strongly on the collective jugular of Team HedgeWorld last night.

Maybe it’s part of Newedge’s 2008 global marketing effort, or maybe it’s part of the plan to establish its brand identity. On the firm’s web site, Newedge touts a 3,000-strong staff “strategically located to serve the 24-hour-a-day business needs of their customers.” Could it be that the Corporate Challenge was part of that “strategic placement” tactic in order to make that pulse felt by all who ran? I don’t think any hedge funds or CTAs were seeking brokerage tips, but sometimes just because it doesn’t seem broke, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be fixed. . . .

It wasn’t as though we weren’t trying to find other firm representatives. Granted, it was chilly, so many firm logos were masked by layers of clothing. But maybe hiding one’s company name is not the best idea in these times of economic crisis—I’ll admit Newedge’s tactics did lead me to investigate their web site. HedgeWorld may look into having hidden cameras installed at Newedge’s training sites in anticipation of Corporate Challenge ’09, to learn more about how this omnipresence was accomplished.

“It could have just been the same two guys the whole time,” mused Chris the following day during HedgeWorld’s weekly conference call. True, as I pointed out to Chris at about Mile 2.75, HedgeWorld seemed to be in a constant battle with a stubborn Trading Technologies competitor. We assume he won out when we took a well-deserved walk break at Mile 3. . . .

But could it be, though we cleverly masked our true identities as HedgeWorld reporters under solemn black and gray tones, that Newedge already anticipated we’d be there? That they plastered our photos on the walls of their conference room like mug shots, to ensure the strategically placed employees could spot us? That they knew we would be there, unable to hide the journalistic instincts to find stories below the surface of our civilian clothing? Maybe it was the clever little piece of Newedge marketing none of us saw coming. All I know is, I might go back to their web site later today.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Odd Stuff, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.