A case study for the ages was made possible by Bing, Droga5, and Jay-Z.  Bing, created by Microsoft, was launched as a search engine to compete with Google and Yahoo, but got off to a slow start.  In 2010, Droga5 was notified that Bing needed to increase their search totals in “Maps” and increase their relevance with younger audiences.  The results that occurred shocked the world.

The research done by Droga5 as they planned this world wide campaign needed to be extensive and flawless.  Attracting a younger demographic was a priority.  At a time when Hip-Hop music ruled the music industry, Jay-Z, one of the largest Hip-Hop moguls in the world, was the man for the job.  Through the use of surveys, Droga5 created focus groups and identified the target audience.

This campaign was going to be a worldwide event with clear goals being set.  Bing needed to generate enough hype to make internet users think that they could compete or surpass other major search engines.  The content in ‘Decoded’ would be a huge factor used to attract the target audience throughout the duration of the campaign. ‘Decoded’, an autobiography written by Jay-Z contained lyrics from his 11 studio albums, anecdotes, and untold stories from his childhood and teen years.  The content of this book would be used to attract the demographic of the 18-24 year olds.  Through the use of old school billboards, new school media, and mobile apps to reach everyone interested.

The campaign was time consuming, complex, and seemingly impossible to pull off but the results were worth it.  ‘Decode Jay-Z powered by Bing’ was the name of the campaign.  Droga5 started by taking all 320 pages of Jay-Z’s ‘Decoded’ and blowing them up to various sizes and placing them in 13 different places all over the world, one month prior to the release.  The use of the “maps’ feature allowed fans to go to the exact location of the pages and assemble them a digitally a month before the official release.  These pages popped up in some expected places also such as the Marcy Projects, Jay-Z’s birthplace. A bronze plaque of pages 2 and 3 was installed on the outside of a building describing his childhood.  Jay-Z went into detail and explained how housing projects could seem like labyrinths to outsiders, but living there you had to find your way around in order to survive.If reading the book for free wasn’t enough initiative for fans every time a page was unlocked online or in person, whoever unlocked it was entered into an enticing raffle.  The raffle included a chance to win that specific page signed by Jay-Z or a chance to win tickets to a Jay-Z and Coldplay New Year’s Eve concert.  Then Bing and Droga5 dropped a bomb and announced that one person who decoded all the clues using Bing Maps could win The Lifetime Jay-Z Concert Pass, useable at any Jay-Z concert, anywhere in the world, for the rest of their life.

The effects this brought to Bing and Jay-Z’s ‘Decoded’ made the whole process worthwhile.  ‘Decode Jay-Z’ launched Bing into the top ten most visited sites for the first time since they launched in 2009.  The average engagement time per player on Bings website was 11 minutes.  After the campaign was done the total amount of global impressions on the site was over 1.1 billion and the 11.7% increase they saw marked it as Bings most successful campaign to date.  Even their mapping software gained millions of users.  ‘Decoded’ and Jay-Z also saw a huge boost in success due to this campaign.  Jay-Z’s Facebook following grew by 1 million people and ‘Decoded’ stayed atop the best sellers list for nineteen straight weeks.  Not only Bing and Jay-Z saw an increase of publicity, but Droga5 was awarded many awards in the advertising industry.  They even won the ‘Outdoor Grand Prix’ a globally recognized advertising award for their work on ‘Decode Jay-Z’.

After coming into this case study not knowing what to expect, we can surely say we are amazed at the campaign that Bing, Jay-Z, and Droga5 put together.  In an attempt to sell an autobiography, two birds were killed with one stone as Bing was launched into the limelight after years of struggle.  This campaign had a lasting effect on Bing as it is now one of the most recognized search engines.  As we read through numerous facts and watched countless videos of the reactions of Jay-Z fans, it is easy to see why this campaign was so successful.  The demographic of 18-29 was easily reached as Droga5 included these aspects into their campaign: Bing, Jay-Z, and a case study for the ages.