Jay-Z Decoded

 

This Titanium and Grand Prix winning campaign turned Jay-Z’s memoir “Decoded” into the world’s first geographic autobiography, powered by Bing. All 350 pages were conceptually placed in real-world locations tied to his story, letting fans literally walk Jay-Z’s life. Over the course of a month, fans used Bing Search and Maps to find and unlock the pages, assembling the book online before it hit stores.

 
 

+ A bronze plaque, molded with the content of the first two pages of the book, was placed adjacent to the Marcy housing projects Jay-Z grew up in. The content poetically details the scene of his childhood; the rap battles, the playgrounds, the crowded streets.

+ Jay-Z stunned his fans by revealing a black leather Gucci for ʻDecodedʼ jacket. The masterfully stitched page handcrafted by Gucci's lead creative, Frida Giannini, is custom-tailored to Jay-Z's measurements and holds song lyrics mentioning the Italian clothing icon.

+ Jay-Z shook the borough of Queens with his pages dedicated to the hip-hop legends of Hollis, Run DMC. A 1982 vintage Cadillac Seville, decked out in pages 8 & 9, was showcased as a tribute to the hip hop OGs on their very own Run DMC Way. The book content included various Run DMC and Cadillac references and covered the car from trunk to hood in recognition of the influence the hip hop foremen had on Jay-Z's music.

+ A Guitar specifically made for the campaign was wrapped in lyrics mentioning Kurt Cobain and how he influenced Jay-Z’s music.
+ At the Delano launch event, a page dedicated to the lavish lifestyle of the hip-hop artist was revealed at the bottom of the iconic pool.
+ Pages were dropped in one of Jay-Z's very own business ventures. The Spotted Pig, known for its cozy atmosphere and cool memorabilia, was used in a variety of different mediums to celebrate the book's content. Pages were found on tablecloths and m…
+ This custom pool table was designed specifically for the campaign and was placed in the 40/40 Club in New York City. The page is all about the hustle of the hip-hop world and how it translates into other parts of life, in this case, a game of pool.
+ A page about Jay-Z’s early music influences was found in a jukebox playing his parents' old records.
+ Burger wrappers with content about a meal he shared with rapper Memphis Bleek.
+ A page describing Jay-Z reaction to the Hurricane Katrina disaster was placed on an entire roof in downtown New Orleans.
+ Pages found in a famous boxing gym in Brooklyn called Gleasonʼs highlighted Jayʼs love for the sport.
+ A page mentioning Jay-Z's frustrations with music bootleggers was found in the form of a counterfeit book distributed by a street vendor near Canal Street in Manhattan.
+ Each chapter's intro was designed to look like a record. As such we designed those pages as records and placed them in record stores across the country in relevant locations. The actual records inside contained the music highlighted those specific…
+ We framed the page that describes Jay-Z's opinions on art and commerce in regards to his music in a famous Chelsea Art Gallery.
+ B.I.G Newspaper: The page about B.I.G's death and his influence on Jay-Z was placed as a newspaper rap on the streets in Brooklyn where B.I.G was from.
We stitched a page on a jersey for the page that talks about Jay-Z's concert where he raised a jersey of himself up into the rafters at MSG.
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+ A page with content about competitive sports hanged in the Prudential Center rafters among the Nets Hall of Fame banners.
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    • MEDIA IMPACT
      The campaign generated 1.1 billion global media impressions in just one month and helped Bing enter the top 10 most visited websites in the world for the first time.

    • SOCIAL SHARING & PARTICIPATION
      Jay-Z’s Facebook following grew by over 1 million fans during the campaign.

    • SITE ENGAGEMENT
      The campaign's landing page saw an exceptional average visit length of over 11 minutes.

    • SEARCH ENGINE PERFORMANCE
      Microsoft Bing experienced an 11.7% increase in traffic in only one month following the campaign's launch.

    In the Cannes Lions, the campaign was awarded the Integrated Grand Prix, the Outdoor Grand Prix and the Titanium Lion.

    In the years following, the campaign was turned into a case study at Harvard business school.