For our case study, we learned about a campaign that was launched in 2010 entitled: “Decode Jay Z.” Through our research, we found out that massive ad campaigns like this one can have an enormous effect on consumers, businesses, and every party involved in the process.

In 2009, Bing.com was created by Microsoft to compete with the most popular search engines on the web such as Google and Yahoo. Most users preferred Google over any alternative search engine, and in order for competition to become more intense, Bing had to be promoted through a large scale campaign. Droga5, Bing’s advertising agency, needed a unique way to prove to consumers that Bing was a superior option. While searching for a partnership, Droga5 found opportunity in one of the biggest hip hop artists in the world: Jay Z. At the time, Jay Z was in the process of releasing his memoir entitled “Decoded.” In order to promote their new client, Droga5 combined the newly developed Bing with Jay Z’s upcoming book release to launch a worldwide campaign.

Jay Z was the perfect icon to be represented in this campaign because of two main reasons: His celebrity status and musical popularity. With already established success, Jay Z appealed to a broad demographic and a younger generation of consumers. “Decoded” was more than just a simple autobiography for Jay Z; it was a chance for him to explain the truth of his transition from poverty into building a multi-million dollar empire. From a time span of a couple of months, all before Decoded’s release, different pages from from Jay Z’s memoir were displayed in a variety of locations. The content that was displayed on the pages were directly coincided with the location Jay Z was referring to in his book. For example, if Jay Z was talking about growing up in the projects, specific pages from that chapter were displayed in the Marcy Projects, where he grew up. Bing released a page a day for a month on various objects. Some of these included billboards, plates, pizza boxes, pool tables, cars, and swimming pools. After a few months, Bing tied all of the pages together in a online game. Clues to the locations of each page were given on facebook, twitter, and the radio to attract a widespread population.

Planning this process was not an easy task for Droga5. By trying to kill two birds with one stone, they faced the challenge of trying to advertise a book as well as promoting the usage of ing. Bing’s map feature was the central grounding point element in the marketing campaign, and as people discovered new content on the streets, they could then take their information to the site. The target audience for this campaign was an 18-24 year old demographic, also known as the ‘Y’ generation. The overall goal of the campaign was to create buzz about Jay Z’s book, while at the same time increasing Bing’s applicability.

The result of this campaign was a massive success, exceeding expectations for all parties involved in the process. Bing received over 1.1 billion global impressions and saw an 11.7% increase in site visits. This effect still marks as Bing’s most successful marketing campaign to date. They became a top ten most visited site for the first time since their initial launch, and gained millions of users for their mapping software. In Jay Z’s case, he gained millions of followers on Facebook, and Decoded stayed on the best seller’s list for nineteen straight weeks. Additionally, Droga5 was highly praised for their campaign and were rewarded with multiple advertising industry awards. As we got further into our research, we discovered that Bing is a client of the ad agency Droga5, and how most of the campaigning was directed to expose the use of its search engine. By targeting a specific audience, Bing was able to use their unique idea to engage people in new technologies of our greater generation. This campaign proves that advertising, in general, can have a large impact on not only a consumer, but also on a business’s’ future. “Decode Jay Z” catapulted Bing into worldwide prominence, and temporarily solidified their status as a leading search engine.

One of the biggest things that incoming freshman fear when beginning college is having to do their own laundry. No more just having your mom do it. Most teenagers don’t take part in helping their parents doing laundry, so college is a whole new experience. I started doing my own laundry mid-way threw my junior year of high school so I could have some clue what to do when it came time for college. I’m glad my mom pushed for this as I’m now very comfortable with doing it. This however, doesn’t mean I like doing it. As most freshen typically do, we put off doing laundry as long as possible. I have already done laundry twice while on campus for summer session, but I started to get lazy. My mountain of dirty laundry has been growing and growing in my hamper for quite a few weeks. Eventually, after multiple attempts to smush it down to make more room, it has overflowed. I decided that meant it was a good time to do laundry. With my arms so full of dirty clothes that I couldn’t see where I was walking, I headed down to the basement to do laundry. Little did I know Sunday night is the most popular time to laundry. I have never seen so many people crowded into the small laundry room. Luckily I got there just in time. I took the last 4 washers available. They filled up an entire side of the room! I filled all of the washers with detergent and started them. As I was leaving people were getting down to the basement and turning around upset that there were no washers left. I’m quite lucky I got there when I did!

Other happenings in week #5 are like explained in my previous blog, my grandparents came to visit me on Saturday. They live in Dallastown, PA which is roughly two hours away from State College. They got to campus around noon and we met at McLanahan’s. We went to Ye Olde College Diner for breakfast/brunch. Then we went to a few shops downtown. They then wanted to see the Hub. They were amazed by how big it was. I showed them my dorm room. All they could say was how organized I was and how impressed they were. They could only last about 15 minutes as the temperature in my dorm room is close to 90 degrees haha. Then we stopped at the Creamery. They love the ice cream and took some home for friends. Lastly, we went to eat dinner at the Corner room downtown. They told me stories about how they remember Joe Pa eating there all the time. They said they saw him at the bookstore when my dad was starting his summer session and how my dad was so afraid of going up to him and asking for an autograph. I wish I had the chance to do that but unfortunately things ended up the way they did. I did get to meet Jay Paterno this past May though!  Here is to another great week in Happy Valley!

We have officially passed the halfway mark of the summer session and time is flying by. I am getting caught up on my school work and am even working ahead. It is important to get ahead on my studies because I have a really busy week coming up and then my parents are coming to visit. I recently completed my interview of color with Neel Thakur, a rising junior studying mechanical engineering. For this project, we have to interview a upperclassmen who is a different race from us. I got to understand what his life has been like moving to the states from India and getting used to a new country. To read more about my chat with Neel, check out my block within the next week. Also, I have now written two essays for English 15. One was on a rhetorical description of my high school basketball gym and the other was analyzing the Jim Valvano ESPY speech in 1993. That speech is one of the greatest speeches I have ever listened to. It still gives me chills every time I watch it!

I also found out my housing assignment for my freshman year. I will be living in Shulze Hall, which is in Pollock. I am pretty happy about getting Pollock. The room will not be as good as the dorm I’m in right now, because I’m in an honors college dorm right now. Pollock is better than East halls because the rooms are slightly bigger and it is in the center of campus. This will allow me to get to class in a lot less time than if I was staying in East.

I have also been going to the Intramural gym a lot recently. It is a little bit of a hike, but walking helps me burn off the calories from all of the good food I have been eating up here. I try to go every day or every other day to play basketball because I love the sport and it will keep me in shape. Unfortunately, I missed the sign-ups for intramural basketball, but I still go up and play in pick-up games. It is still a lot of fun and I have made a bunch of friends from the gym.

My grandparents are coming up to visit me on Saturday for the day. I’m looking forward to seeing them because I haven’t seen them since my high school graduation. Also my two cousins are coming up to visit next Wednesday for the day. This is making me work ahead so I can be done and not have to work when they are here. Lastly, my parents and brother are coming up next weekend. So, my last few weeks are going to fly by because I have family coming up a bunch of times. I’m looking forward to showing them around my new home!

On Tuesday, I went in to have my real time chat with Professor Nichols. I wasn’t really sure what to expect beforehand, I only knew that it had to be 10-15 minutes long. The second I walked in I felt it easy to talk and open up. First she asked how I was getting adjusted to campus. I talked about how my dad graduated from Penn State in 1988 and how it wasn’t really in question that I was going to choose to attend Penn State. Then we talked about my career choice/intended major. I stated that I was in the DUS program and was undecided. I told her that I took microeconomics and Sports marketing in high school, so I believed that I want to pursue a marketing major. I also explained to her that I have some interest in mathematics and history as well. I explained that I am not too sure about those two and that I am really open to exploring anything and everything. When I told her that I have an interest in marketing she talked to me about getting involved in a business fraternity and or an internship. I told her that I took part in an internship in high school with the Reading Fightin Phillies. They are the minor league (AA) team for the Philadelphia Phillies. I explained how I would love to continue on with my experience by trying to get in an internship with the State College Spikes. She said that she loves going to the Spikes games but gets bored and often takes other things to do during the game. She loves watching Nook (mascot) dance around every time that the Spikes score a run.

We talked about what it is like living with somebody for the first time and how it is much more difficult at times for girls than guys to get adjusted. I explained how nice it is living in Simmons Hall and how I’m not looking forward to “downgrading” to Pollock because the rooms are smaller in Pollock.

Lastly, we talked about my schedule in the fall. I explained how I’m taking French 001 because I struggled with Spanish throughout high school and just wanted to shake this up and try something new. I told her my other classes I’m taking in the fall are Microeconomics, Business Calculus, American History, and Astronomy. I told her that I don’t start classes until noon because I’m not an early riser. This got a chuckle and grin out of her and she even called me lazy haha. It’s true, I really do struggle waking up early. I enjoyed sitting down and talking for about 15 minutes. It is definitely helpful to sit down with teachers/professors to get to know them on a better level. Just being in class doesn’t really count. I look forward to my remainder of time in this class and in summer semester!