A fundraising event launching in New York claims to be the largest public deployment of Bluetooth-enabled beacons, giving participants in a citywide egg hunt a way to access clues, rewards and other information.

The Big Egg Hunt is being sponsored by Faberge and will benefit two nonprofits: Studio in a School and Elephant Family. For the event, more than 200 egg sculptures, each created by a leading artist, designer or creative, have been placed around New York, with consumers encouraged to find and check-in at the eggs as well as bid on them via a mobile application.

“Because beacons are so new to the market, retailers are still trying to identify best practices and use cases,” said Wesley Barrow, founder and chief revenue officer of Nomi, New York.

“The Elephant Family leveraged Nomi’s beacons in an intuitive way to bring the tradition of an egg hunt into the modern age, allowing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers to participate simultaneously,” he said.

“The mobile app is a core part of The Big Egg Hunt. This mobile-first experience delivers a scalable, interactive way to entertain participants with real-time rewards and clues.”

Nomi is the proximity marketing partner for the campaign, with the company’s Bluetooth beacons installed in the 275 egg sculptures.

Unlocking clues
The eggs have been hidden in public places across all five boroughs of New York.

To participate in the egg hunt, consumers are encouraged to download Faberge’s The Big Egg Hunt mobile app to unlock clues as they hunt for the eggs.

Using the app, consumers will be able to check in when they find an egg.

The location of a specific egg will remain a secret until 10 people have checked in for that egg. After that, the egg’s location will appear on a public interactive map.

The winners of the egg hunt will receive Faberge jewelry valued in excess of $30,000.

The eggs will be gathered together for a free exhibit at Rockefeller Center from April 18 to April 25.

Mobile fundraising
The event is being held in partnership with Sotheby’s, who will auction off the eggs at the end of the event on April 22, with the egg hunt ending on April 26. All of the profits will go directly to supporting Studio in a School and Elephant Family.

The eggs were created by Diane von Furstenberg, Ronnie Wood, Marc Quinn and Bruce Weber, among others.

A range of merchandise created exclusively for the egg hunt includes mini-replica eggs and a children’s book about the hunt that will be sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, pop-up locations around the city and online.

The Big Egg Hunt has previously been held in cities such as London, Glasgow and Dublin.

“When they discover an egg, participants unlock information about the artist and can even bid on the egg directly through the app,” Mr. Barrow said.

“Because participants can bid directly through the app, it increases the number of potential bidders exponentially – bidding is powered by Paddle8,” he said. “Additionally, the mobile-first experience enables much more content to be created and shared to further promote the fundraising effort.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York