ABOUT

The Problem
The narrative around the US Presidential inauguration had become even hotter than previous years.

It was threatening to throw what was meant to be a momentous occasion into the shadows: Kamala Harris was about to become the first woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to hold the United States’ second-highest office. We thought that fact deserved some attention.

It’s a moment that’s historic in any year, but it felt particularly important in 2021, given we were emerging from a period of sexist and racist rhetoric emanating from the White House, and a commensurate rise in racist attacks. And just weeks before the glass breaking of the inauguration, we’d seen a far scarier form of glass breaking, when an armed mob stormed the Capitol.

The Zag
Commemorate a glass-breaking moment with a portrait made of… broken glass.

The Solution
We joined forces with Chief (a private network focused on connecting and supporting women leaders) and The National Women’s History Museum to immortalise the ultimate glass ceiling breaker in a massive sheet of broken glass.

Simon Berger is the only artist in the world who makes them and does this by delicately hammering a sheet of glass to form a face.

When the portrait was ready, we set it up on a podium in the exact spot that Martin Luther King gave his ‘I have a dream’ speech, as a message to future generations. That message? In Kamala Harris’s words: “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last.” A truly interactive installation, it came with its very own AR that people could access through a custom QR code (designed to look like Kamala) and find out more about her historical journey.

The piece was also accompanied by a teaser film that told the story of glass ceiling breakers past and present.

To future history makers everywhere: we hope this inspires you to keep on smashing those glass ceilings.

The Results
The Vice President herself visited
6.26bn online readership
90+ broadcast news mentions (from both left and right-wing media)
The Second Gentleman called it ‘incredible’
26k in-person AR filter interactions in just 3 days
112m social impressions
Awarded Gold for Craft and Idea at the International Andys