Combining Jay Z and Bing was a large task back in 2012 and droga5 took on that task. Using Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, Droga5 was able to take advantage of their software and use it to benefit Jay-Z’s new autobiography. Droga5 used hundreds of pages from his autobiography and pasted them all over the country. His work appeared in bus shelters, Manhattan billboards, Miami pools, Burger wrappers, and even Gucci clothing items. This was brilliant! It sparked a whole media sensation, especially on twitter, every one of Jay-Z’s fans was scrolling all around trying to find the next clue. People could even read the entire book for free if dedicated enough. This was mostly because the scavenger hunt took place on Bing’s Maps using their API. Users were able to navigate around all of the clues using Bing maps’ aerial and street view coverage. Despite seeming like a bigger ploy for Jay Z and his book, the campaign was mostly focused on getting Bing out there as a serious search engine. During the event, Jay Z also offered free tickets to upcoming concerts and even a golden ticket for fans to be able to go to his concerts for life as an incentive to continue their search. Overall, their tactics paid off, resulting in a brand-new approach to advertising. Not to mention, they effectively depicted Jay-Z’s life story.

This Idea really paid off for both Bing and Jay Z. Jay Z managed to get an upwards of 50,000 copies of his book sold in just two months of the campaign.  This resulted in Jay-Z’s book, selling over 3 million copies and being a New York Times bestseller. It was great for Bing, due to the fact that it brought up their searches by 12%. In fact, during the entire campaign, Bing had over 1.2 million additional people visiting their website. Therefore, Bing got all sorts of new trafficking on their website.  In addition to all this, Jay Z became a popular topic all across social media, and amongst different celebrities from Kanye to Snoop dog himself. Not only did it surge online, but even a few news outlets caught on including The Rolling Stone, MTV, The Huffington Post, and NBC News. Overall, they popularized this new form of advertising using a simple yet complex scavenger hunt.

This scavenger hunt also attracted a relatively young audience for both companies. Due to the fact that young people, in general, are more inclined to like Jay-Z, it was great for Microsoft to be able to tap into some of his audience, and vice versa. Judging by the numbers, their work had paid off, “Decoded” was a success and Bing Increased its user count. This shows other advertisers and people who wish to get out a message, that creativity is important when trying to reach millions of consumers. It set a new standard for those trying to tap into the millennial generation and allowed advertising companies a glimpse into the future of their business sector. Cheers to you Droga5.