1000 words
Fearless Girl
By Stephen Tisdalle, Chief Marketing Officer, State Street Global Advisors
!mage 1.6 Fearless Girl was part of an integrated marketing campaign
Photo: Sculpture by Kristen Visbaf; commissioned by State Street Global Advisors.
To say that the tremendous success of the Fearless
Girl campaign was unexpected to us at State Street
Global Advisors would be an understatement. After
all it’s not often that a B2B financial services brand
is involved in a big viral marketing campaign. In fact,
we originally applied for a permit to keep the Fearless
Girl statue installed in New York for just seven days.
While we knew this had the potential to be an impact
ful campaign, we didn’t fully anticipate the scale of
the viral spread or that, more than a year after launch,
her impact and influence would still be expanding.
The story of Fearless Girl begins with a simple truth:
research shows that companies with women in leader
ship outperform those without.i Yet, women continue
to be under-represented in senior leadership roles. In
2017, one in four Russell 3000 Index companies did
not have a single woman on their board.ii
Taking a bold stand for change
As the world’s third largest asset manager, respon
sible for investing approximately $2.5 trillion’ii on
behalf of our clients across the globe, State Street
Global Advisors pays close attention to these statis
tics. For us, encouraging companies in our investment
portfolio to adopt good governance practices –
including increasing board diversity – is a means to
drive long-term value of clients’ investments.
After launching a gender diversity index and
exchange-traded fund (ETF) in 2016, offering the
ability to invest in companies with a strong track
record of promoting women to senior leadership
positions, in 2017 our leaders decided to take
the bold step of calling on portfolio companies to
increase the number of women on their boards. As
Fearless Girl campaign
Rejoy Rubans
Nawal Mohammad
Sivapriya Avinashi
Aswin Gopakumar
Gokul Chulliat
Public Relations and Experiential Marketing
(Fill and Turnbull, 2019 and Google Images, 2017)
Advertising – Print and Digital News Coverage
(Fill and Turnbull, 2019 and MarketWatch, 2020)
Broadcast Advertising
(Fill and Turnbull, 2019 and Mosmans, 1995)
Social Media Advertising (Timke, 2017 and Fill and Turnbull, 2019 )
Understanding the Difference
Product, price, Place and Promotion, Physical Evidence, People and Process
How was the Fearless Girl Positioned?
Organizations can’t brand these projects too heavily, if she was heavily branded it would have killed her. People would be like, ‘I don’t want to pose with something that is so clearly an ad.’
So, the organization had to analyze a light touch for her that will tie her to State Street, without overwhelming passers by, with the commercial nature of this statue.
‘Know the power of women in leadership/SHE makes a difference’, followed by the State Street logo. “It gave people something to Google basically,” said Gumbiner.
Product
The campaign was launched with a Bronze statue that stooped Wall Street’s charging bull in its tracks.
Difference from other organization’s campaigns
It made its appearance on a Women’s Day 2017, which was in relation to their campaign.
The campaign aimed to pressure corporates into adding more women to their boards.
Conveyed a social message through the statue.
Price
The organization spent very less for media but gained a profit of $7.4 through their free marketing.
The Organization was able to gain $315 million in assets through the SHE fund as of May 22 and was up 8% from early March.
Difference from other organization’s campaign’s
Cost – efficient marketing
Viral marketing, does not require an extensive capital
Using only few communication modes would be enough, upon a clear message.
Place
The statue was placed in Wall Street, New York initially, facing the famous Wall Street Bull.
It was an effective campaign because in 2017, it promoted gender- balanced work-force (Women were only 7% in the managerial positions), where research showed that the GDP would increase by 26% by 2025 in the United States of America, if women came to managerial positions.
Difference from other organization’s campaign’s
Addressed a prevalent issue in the place of inception.
It was an additional to an already famous figure in Wall Street.
Promotion
The organization went light on paid media, and carried most of their marketing through owned, shared and earned media to promote the campaign.
The promotional techniques used were – Experiential, Broadcast, Print and Social Media Marketing, along with their emphasis on Public Relations.
Difference from other organization’s campaign’s
They spent less on promotion but used more effective techniques.
Used technological advancements to their advantage.
Physical Evidence
After the sculpture had been finalized and created by female artists, Gumbiner – the copywriter – had the unenviable task of writing the plaque positioned at Fearless Girl’s feet.
Difference from other organization’s campaign’s
It was a physical aspect the audience could relate to as part of the campaign.
It gave a better understanding of what the company stands for the customer.
Process
Fearless Girl’s appearance was timed to coincide with International Women’s Day, a day that marks the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
The Fearless Girl statue aimed to promote the anniversary of SSGA’s SHE Fund, which invests only in companies that have women in top leadership positions.
After three months, the campaign had a reach of more than 4.6 billion impressions worldwide, lifting State Street’s share of voice within the finance market from 7.8 percent to 37.4 percent.
The campaign reportedly had a huge impact on the company’s SHE Fund, with daily trading volume growing by 384 percent in the three days after the statue debuted and 170 percent over the following 20 business days.
Difference from other organization’s campaign’s
When companies use advertising to put deeper meaning into their agendas, it resonates.
People
McCann World group Global Creative Chairman Rob Reilly was “relentless” on the importance of naming the statue because if it was nameless, the public would end up deciding what she would be called.
McCann Leader Harris Diamond created a Twitter page for Fearless Girl.
A blog post was written by one of the female leaders of State Street, to show how the company encourages female leadership.
A separate team worked on the newspaper release for the next day immediately after installation.
Reinforce
Reinforce the message send to your customers.
Fearless girls is a way to raise broad awareness about the power of women in leadership and about our related investment offerings in the environmental, social and governance (ESC) space.
By year’s end the campaign had won the highest accolade at the Cannes Festival of Creativity
Inform
Inform or make people aware of your brand.
Wall Street Journal had added a photo of the statue to the exclusive Article
Earned and shared media — print, broadcast and digital news coverage, and a series of social media posts.
#FEARLESSGIRL was created and invited people to lend their voice
A major speech by our then-CEO Ron O’Hanley at a prestigious corporate governance conference
A joint event with a client where investment managers gathered to talk about how to get more women into financial services.
Persuade
Encourage your audience for further purchases. Persuade them for more positive actions.
The statue moved to a new home in front of the New York Stock Exchange, providing a permanent reminder that women in corporate leadership positions are good for business.
Fearless Girl taught us all about the power of diversity. But, as a marketer, she taught us: that with an authentic message and experience we can do so much more than promote a product. We can start a conversation. We can inspire people to action. And maybe We can even change the world.
Elements of Marketing Communications Mix
#FearlessGirl
Why did they use only these aspects to communicate?
Their advantages and disadvantages
Public Relations and Experiential Marketing
(Keller, 2009 and Google Images, 2011)
Advantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001, Fabiene, 2020 and
The Power of Influence, 2019)
Disadvantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001 and Brik, 2019)
Print and Digital News Coverage
(Keller, 2009 and
Smith, 1993)
Advantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001)
Disadvantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001)
Broadcast Advertising
(Keller, 2009 and Smith, 1993)
Advantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001 and
Endeavor Creative | Brand Strategy for Service-Based Entrepreneurs, 2020))
Disadvantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001)
Social – media Advertising
(Keller, 2009 and Akyol, 2013)
Advantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001 and
Walter and Agron, 2003)
Disadvantages
(Pickton and Broderick, 2001 and Alves, Fernandes and Raposo, 2016)
Are these Marketing Communications Relevant
#FearlessGirl
Paid – SSGA went light on advertising, used a little paid search, and sent out an email campaign to clients announcing its asset stewardship policy and the unveiling of the Fearless Girl statue.
Earned – Brockelman said his team spent a great deal of time on news coverage, working with the Wall Street Journal on an exclusive, announcing the firm’s decision to vote against companies that don’t have women on their boards, to be published in the newspaper on 7 March. In addition, the then-CEO Ronald O’Hanley announced SSGA’s asset stewardship agenda at a prestigious corporate governance event at the University of Delaware, held on the same day.
Shared – the main handles were on LinkedIn and Twitter, and Fearless Girl quickly went viral, once she’d been tweeted by influencers such as Chelsea Clinton, actors Jessica Chastain and Emma Watson, Huffpost founder Arianna Huffington and singer Ariana Grande.
Owned – CEO Ronald O’Hanley’s University of Delaware speech was posted on SSGA’s website, as was a video titled ‘Wall Street – meet Fearless Girl’, plus a blog written by a senior woman leader in SSGA’s ETF business.
(Fill and Turnbull, 2019 )
The main forces in the external environment that influenced the shape, nature and characteristics of the campaign
To use the little girl, of statue made of bronze which was placed at a public place at the financial district of New York’s prior to the International Women’s day
Advertising approaches: To launch the campaign strategies were formulated with the alliance to McCann who served as an advertising agency.
“This included articles published through web properties, social media and other advertising media. These actions made the quick speed of ideas being addressed on the fight for women powers in leadership ”
3. The appreciation of the idea addressed on gender diversity and more women were absorbed into leadership positions
Key Target Audience
References
Akyol, Ş. (2013). Social Media and Marketing: Viral Marketing. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Alves, H., Fernandes, C. and Raposo, M. (2016). Social Media Marketing: A Literature Review and Implications. Psychology & Marketing, 33(12), pp.1029-1038.
Brik, A. (2019). Misleading, Inaccurate, and Dangerous: Why The U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings Hurt Applicants and Harm the Profession. Kindle.
Endeavor Creative | Brand Strategy for Service-Based Entrepreneurs. (2020). Brand Personality Definition, Frameworks & Examples to Inspire You ~ PLUS Free Exercise + Quiz!. https://endeavorcreative.com/brand-personality/
Fill, C. and Turnbull, S. (2019). Marketing communications. New York: Pearson.
Google Images (2011). Experience Marketing. [image].
Google Images (2016). Fearless Girl Campaign. [image].
Keller, K. (2009). Building strong brands in a modern marketing communications environment. Journal of Marketing Communications, 15(2-3), pp.139-155.
MarketWatch. (2020). Fearless Girl Campaign Comes to London. https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/fearless-girl-campaign-comes-to-london-2019-03-05 .
Mosmans, A. (1995). Brand strategy: Creating concepts that drive the business. Journal of Brand Management, 3(3), pp.156-165.
Pickton, D. and Broderick, A. (2001). Integrated marketing communications. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
Smith, P. (1993). Marketing communications. London: Kogan Page.
The Power of Influence. (2019). [Blog] Tranziam Blog.
Timke, E. (2017). Social Media and Advertising. Advertising & Society Quarterly, 18(2).
Walter, C. and Agron, P. (2003). Food on the Run: Using Social Marketing and Media Advocacy for Social Change. Social Marketing Quarterly, 8(4), pp.69-70.
.MsftOfcThm_Accent1_Fill {
fill:#1CADE4;
}
.MsftOfcThm_Accent1_Stroke {
stroke:#1CADE4;
}