Leading up to the 2018 holiday season, StubHub needed to create a campaign that would

inspire shoppers to use StubHub to give the gift of a live experience. The challenge was that receiving tickets to a live event is an amazing gift, but the way those tickets are delivered (with an email or a print out) can be a little underwhelming.

According to a recent survey, we learned that 86% of people have received a bad gift in their lifetimeAccording to the same survey, most of those people also think they are a better gift giver than those they have received gifts from.

Leading up to the 2018 holiday season, StubHub needed to create a campaign that would

inspire shoppers to use StubHub to give the gift of a live experience.

Getting tickets to a live event for someone is an incredibly thoughtful gift: a gift that shows you really know someone. As a part of this campaign we were targeting a group of “thoughtful givers”: those who will buy a birthday gift 6 months early because it was just the perfect thing.

The challenge was that receiving tickets to a live event is an amazing gift, but the way those tickets are delivered (with an email or a print out) can be a little underwhelming. To fix that, we combined the power of hip hop and artificial intelligence to create a new way to gift wrap tickets: with a personalized rap.

Getting tickets to a live event for someone is an incredibly thoughtful gift: a gift that shows you

really know someone. As a part of this campaign we were targeting a group of “thoughtful

givers”: those who will buy a birthday gift 6 months early because it was just the perfect thing.

They value spending time with their friends and family more than anything else. They are their

tribe leaders. They rally the troops, book the dinner reservations or get the concerts tickets for

everyone. They value experiences over things.

For these gifters, the idea of printing out a ticket or sending an email doesn’t live up to their

standards. It isn’t personal. It isn’t meaningful. It’s transactional. That’s what we set out to

change. To give these gifters a tool to delight their family/friends and make the act of receiving a

gift as special as the gift itself.

As users were checking out on StubHub, we asked if they wanted their tickets wrapped, leading

them to the Gift Rapper website. On the website, we asked a series of seemingly simple

questions and, but behind the scenes, an AI was assembling a dynamically-generated rap.

AI creates a personalized 60-second song, with verses by Murs tweaked for your specific circumstances. The accompanying video--rendered in endearing low-res scenes to look like the stitches of a holiday sweater--also change. In all, Rapper Murs voices lyrics for 10,000 different outcomes- there are 10,000 different combinations available, each resulting in a different video .

o promote the idea, we also enlisted Rev Run of Run DMC to surprise unsuspecting

customers at the StubHub store in New York by gift rapping their tickets live. The stunt was

captured with hidden cameras and shared out across social media.

The end result is a “bit-gift”—a sweater-clad animated rapper who sounds off holiday cheer depending on what kind of ticket is being gifted. It’s whimsical. It’s fun. It’s nostalgic. And, best of all, it gifts friends and family what they really,want.Countless ticket buyers gifted their loved ones memorable experiences in a fun, animated way and shared the results across the Internet. And for those lucky enough to get a custom rap-ticket, it would be a holiday they would never forget.

The Gift Rapper was used around the world, with raps created in 140 countries. It caught

the attention of the hero gifter, generating millions of media impressions, and was also

featured at FWA as the Site of the Day.