Cannes Lions

The Impact of Fearless Girl

McCANN NEW YORK, New York / STATE STREET GLOBAL ADVISORS / 2018

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Overview

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Overview

Description

On the eve of International Women’s Day, we challenged the symbol of corporate America—Wall Street's Charging Bull—with a bronze statue of a young girl, appropriately named “Fearless Girl.” Fearless Girl was designed to represent the power of women today and tomorrow. Hands on hips, chin high, she stands strong in a place the business community couldn't ignore.

Along with the statue, we created #FearlessGirl and invited people across the world to use it in joining our fight by lending their voice and sharing images of the statue. With this social media campaign, we created the opportunity for Fearless Girl to be more than a single statue, but a unifying symbol that transcended her place on Wall Street.

Execution

Nearly thirty years ago, a Charging Bull statue appeared on Wall Street in the middle of the night, as a symbol for the American economy. On the eve of International Women’s Day 2017, in the middle of the night, we placed a Fearless Girl on Wall Street to challenge him.

In creating Fearless Girl, we wanted to ensure that, despite her size, her presence came with the same power as the Bull. Chin high, hands on hips, she stands for the power of women today and tomorrow. With the statue, we built an online and social media campaign that started with a behind-the-scenes film for International Women’s Day and the launch of #FearlessGirl across social media platforms and female influencers. We wanted Fearless Girl to be more than a statue, but a rallying cry for fearless women and girls everywhere.

Outcome

Fearless Girl garnered such overwhelming support that, in April 2018, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced she would become a permanent fixture in New York City, calling the statue “a powerful symbol of the need for change at the highest levels of corporate America.”

Fearless Girl is 1 of only 6 statues in NYC dedicated to women.

Fearless Girl inspired Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney to re-introduce her Gender Diversity in Corporate Leadership Act.

Following Fearless Girl’s launch,152 major companies have added women to their boards and an additional 34 have pledged to do so.

Over 1 billion Twitter impressions within 12 hours; 5.3 billion Twitter impressions to date

745 million Instagram impressions

SSGA’s SHE Fund saw a 384% increase in average daily trading volume in the week following Fearless Girl’s launch.

SSGA’s share of voice jumped 379%

Fearless Girl reached 128 countries in the first month.

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