How can one picture paint a thousand words?

So, to celebrate our uniqueness, we launched an initiative asking our employees to show their support for diversity in a more unusual way. The idea behind the project was to let each employee describe on video what it means to “be yourself” at AXA. Their statements were then be used to inspire the creation of an enormous work of art.

We called the project “Let’s Put Some Colour in Diversity!”

Videos flooded in from every corner of the planet from employees wanting to get involved: disabled employees asserting their ability to be independent and productive in their work; gay employees who were comfortable sharing personal stories with their managers; women enjoying rewarding and demanding careers; French, German, Indian, Ivorian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Senegalese all taking pride in their identity…so many stories highlighting the freedom to be yourself.

One Giant Canvas

Then we selected a young artist by the name of Florent Manelli to rise to the challenge of conveying these statements in a painting. He partnered with the JeanClodes, a trio of French illustrators to help with the project. And to oversee this wonderful adventure AXA also called on Victor and Guillaume, the founders of ‘Happiness Watchers’, who have set themselves the goal of fulfilling the dreams of their fellow citizens. Watch how it all came together on Happiness Watchers' YouTube channel.

The final result: a huge, brightly coloured and extremely beautiful canvas that symbolises the incredible diversity in the background, culture and lifestyle of the men and women of AXA.
Why not just do a simple painting, you ask? Well, because if you decide you’re going to do something a little crazy, you might as well make sure that everyone can see it.