2 Wall Street titans set up Fearless Girl

A statue titled "Fearless Girl" faces the Wall Street bull, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in New York.
A statue titled "Fearless Girl" faces the Wall Street bull, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, in New York.

NEW YORK -- A bronze statue of a little girl defiantly facing Wall Street's Charging Bull didn't appear suddenly or spontaneously in the middle of the night in Manhattan's financial district.

It took months of intricate planning by two corporate giants to install Fearless Girl under the veil of darkness in time for Wednesday's International Women's Day. Within hours, she became the talk of the town and the world, a sculpted celebrity drawing crowds as a symbol of a woman's right to move into power positions.

Behind the scenes, State Street Global Advisors, a $2.5 trillion asset managing firm, created the Fearless Girl project with McCann New York, one of the world's top ad agencies whose client is State Street. The financial giant wanted to spread a serious message: that more women should be appointed to the boards of the Russell 3000, a broad index of U.S. companies.

Only 16 percent of board seats in Russell 3000 companies are held by women, according to ISS Analytics, a business research firm. Also on State Street's radar are about 500 other firms in Great Britain and Australia.

The aim of the Fearless Girl was to build what ad experts call a "brand experience" of a product or message, using some kind of creative, unique vehicle -- in this case, a sculpture, created by artist Kristen Visbal.

Business on 03/10/2017

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