Decode Jay-Z With Bing
Issue 20 | August 2011
Agency
Droga5 New York
Creative Team
Creative Chairman: David Droga; Creative Director: Neil Heymann; Art Director: John Kubik; Copywriters: Adam Noel, Spencer Lavellee; Designer: Jon Donaghy
Other Credits
Group Account Director: Shawn Mackoff; Account Manager: Megan Collins; Assistant Account Manager: Louisa Cronin
Background
Microsoft’s search engine, Bing wanted to connect with a younger audience to make their Search and Maps technology more relevant, improving perceptions of Bing as a culturally appropriate brand.
The plan was to use the launch of Jay-Z’s autobiography ‘Decoded’ to create a deeper experience with Bing, giving millions of Jay-Z fans their first-ever reason to use Bing Search and Maps.
Idea
Because this audience does not differentiate online from offline, the campaign needed to be woven together seamlessly across existing formats and channels.
Every page of Jay-Z’s book was put into media spaces around the world. Through Bing Search and Maps they could discover each and every page and assemble the book digitally before it was officially launched.
Locations were relevant to the content of the page. Thus one page was printed onto the beize of a snooker table in a snooker hall where Jay-Z used to play.
Another was printed on the bottom of a swimming pool where Jay-Z had swum.
Thus fans around the world could actually walk Jay-Z's path, experiencing his story right where it happened.
The campaign used everything from pizza boxes, plates, burger wrappers, jigsaw puzzles, t-shirts, to name a few. Fans sought out, discovered and interacted with these unique small-scale pieces.
Results
‘Decoded’ went into the New York Times Best Seller list at #2.
Online engagement averaged over 11 minutes per visit and Jay-Z’s Facebook fans grew by one million.
Bing.com saw an 11.7% increase in visits the month of the campaign with no other media in market.
Bing.com entered the top ten most visited sites in the US, earning 1.1 billion global media impressions.
‘Intent to Use’ scores were higher than with any other Bing marketing initiative ever.
Online buzz outperformed every other Bing marketing push according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.