Decode Jay-Z

Objective

Launch Jay-Z's autobiography "Decoded" to a global audience while simultaneously introducing Microsoft's Bing search engine as a viable alternative to competitors. The campaign needed to overcome limited marketing budget from the publisher by leveraging partnership with Microsoft, who co-funded the initiative to drive trial and adoption of Bing Maps.

Solution

A global interactive scavenger hunt where over 300 pages from Jay-Z's autobiography were physically placed across cities worldwide using unconventional surfaces (billboards, walls, playing plates, pool tables, swimming pools) tied thematically to content—for example, a Run-DMC excerpt printed on a vintage Cadillac parked near a Run-DMC mural in Queens. Players used Bing Maps to locate and collect physical pages over four weeks leading to the book's launch. Each day one new page was revealed, encouraging participants to follow the narrative and ultimately read the complete memoir.

Results

The book reached #3 on the New York Times bestseller list and remained there for more than 19 weeks. Bing Maps traffic increased 11.7% to the homepage within one month, and the campaign generated 1.1 million media impressions. Jay-Z's Facebook page gained one million new followers, helping Bing enter the top 10 most-visited websites for the first time.