Date:
Jun 1, 2022
Author:
James Johenning
01
The Problem
Billboard and its brand partners sit on enormous music-fan attention, but that attention is rented — it lives on other platforms and evaporates after each moment. They needed a way to convert cultural relevance into owned, measurable engagement and new revenue, without the friction of apps, wallets or crypto jargon.
02
The Listen
Fans don’t want ‘an NFT.’ They want to participate in the music they love and be recognized for it. Brands, meanwhile, don’t want a one-off stunt — they want ownable, measurable engagement they can run again and again. That tension became the brief.
03
The Activation
We built Playback, Billboard’s web3 brand, and a gamified pass platform around it — trivia, fan-vote and trend modules, collectible drops, and a five-minute ‘Create a Pass’ flow with no app required. Then we proved it at the highest level by designing and shipping the Pepsi Mic Drop.
04
The Outcome
The Pepsi Mic Drop became the largest NFT release of all time — 500K+ redemptions. The platform went on to be trusted by 1,000+ creators and brands, driving 3–7× more engagement than conventional social. The pass system is modular by design: the same mechanics redeploy across any artist, brand or market, with a roadmap toward AI-driven trend modules and geolocation-based trends.
