SSGA – Fearless Girl

2017 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
Most Awarded Campaign of the Year – 20 Cannes Lions
Titanium Grand Prix · Grand Prix Glass · Grand Prix Outdoor · Grand Prix PR

The Charging Bull stands 11 feet tall and weighs over 7,000 pounds of gleaming bronze—a muscular symbol of Wall Street power and dominance. For decades, it loomed over Bowling Green as a monument to masculine financial might.

Then, on the morning of March 8, 2017—International Women’s Day—everything changed.

A young girl in a simple dress appeared in front of him. Hands on hips. Chin raised. Cast in bronze. She didn’t move. But suddenly, the bull did—transformed from charging symbol to something that had just been stopped cold.

Fearless Girl instantly became a global icon. Hailed as a symbol of resilience and gender equity, she sparked conversation across Wall Street and beyond. Arriving just after the Women’s March and just before #MeToo, her timing was lightning in a bottle.

“Fearless Girl was immediately hailed as a powerful feminist symbol... a bold statement that many hoped would finally initiate a new era of diversity.” — Worth Magazine, 2019

Creative Execution Under Extreme Pressure

With just over three months until launch, and only a one-week permit from NYC DOT, most would have opted for fiberglass and bronze paint. But we knew she needed to be substantial—worthy of standing toe-to-toe with the bull.

We hired sculptor Kristen Visbal on December 5th. That gave her just four weeks to sculpt, mold, and cast the statue in solid bronze. The final piece was poured at a foundry in Baltimore in early January.

Installation began at midnight under cover of darkness. At sunrise, we had exactly one hour to capture our hero stills and edit the video before releasing to press—just in time for the morning news cycle.

Cultural Impact & Global Reach

  • Over 1 billion impressions in the first 12 hours

  • Over 4.6 billion impressions in 12 weeks

  • Nearly 250,000 unique Instagram posts in 3 months

  • Relocated to stand permanently in front of the New York Stock Exchange in 2018

Fearless Girl isn’t just a statue. She’s a statement. One that stood her ground…and still does.

September 2020 - In tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, on the day of her passing, we wrapped a lace collar on Fearless Girl similar to the iconic lace collars that RBG wore…this full page ad ran in the Sunday New York Times with the line…

“Here’s to the original.”