THE GENOMUSIC PROJECT

TitleTHE GENOMUSIC PROJECT
BrandBAY BEAT COLLECTIVE
Product / ServiceBAY BEAT COLLECTIVE
CategoryB03. Corporate Reputation
EntrantJWT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company JWT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA
Advertising Agency JWT INDIA Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Amol Kulkarni A10 Art Director
Nilesh Mhatre Runtime Solutions Project Manager
Arjun Chatterjee Runtime Solutions Ceo
Abhishek Chandra Joker Films Producer
Himanshu Sharma Joker Films Director
Shvetank Naik Jwt India Account Planning
Aalap Desai Jwt India Copywriter
Mayur Mengle Jwt India Art Director
Sachin Kamble Jwt India Senior Creative Director/Art Director
Prajato Guha Thakurta Jwt India Senior Creative Director/Copywriter
Senthil Kumar Jwt India National Creative Director
Swati Bhattacharya Jwt India National Creative Director
Tista Sen Jwt India National Creative Director

The Campaign

Bay Beat Collective, a popular bass music group, came to us looking for an idea that would help them connect with their fans outside of their gigs. Since our target audience included the band's existing fan base as well as fans of electronic music in general, our strategy was to leverage the one thing that binds bands and their fans - music. Our challenge: To find a unique way of doing this. We created The Genomusic Project, a unique collaboration between the band and their fans that would combine science and art to produce the world’s first music album created from fans’ DNA. The idea was for Bay Beat Collective to take DNA samples from eight of their fans and convert them into eight tracks for this album. We launched the project with an app on the band’s Facebook page that carried a month-long contest to pick the eight fans, each of whom was then sent a DNA collection kit. All they had to do was rub the sterilized cotton swab along the inside of their cheek, put it in the collection tube and mail it back using the pre-addressed envelope. The samples were then sent to a lab specializing in genetics to establish individual DNA profiles, which were then converted by a specially designed software into MIDI samples. These samples were then used by Bay Beat Collective to create the final tracks. And since no two people have the same DNA profile, each track sounded completely different from the other.

The Brief

The primary objective of the campaign was to create an engagement platform that would help Bay Beat Collective connect with their fans outside of their gigs. But instead of restricting our target audience to only existing fans of the band, we decided to reach out to fans of electronic music in general. To understand our target audience better, we conducted a research among them to understand their relationship with their favourite bands so that we could determine the nature of the engagement platform.

Results

The Genomusic Project saw 5,84,212 unique visitors to the app, 2,59,053 contest submissions and thousands of Facebook and Twitter impressions. It was featured in newspapers, magazines, websites and blogs, earning media impressions worth $1.2 million. Within three weeks of its launch, the album sold more than 12,000 copies, making it Bay Beat Collective's best-selling album. Band bookings went up by 83%. And Bay Beat Collective was voted the "Number 1 Drum-n-Bass DJ" by MyFavDJ.in, India's largest artist awards poll - a true testament to the band’s loyal fan base.

Execution

We launched the project on the band’s Facebook page with an app that carried a contest to pick the eight fans. A multimedia campaign was simultaneously launched to promote the project and encourage people to participate in the contest. Once the month-long contest came to a close and Bay Beat Collective picked the 8 winners, each of them was sent a DNA collection kit. All they had to do was rub the sterilized cotton swab along the inside of their cheek, put it in the collection tube and mail it back using the pre-addressed envelope. The samples were then sent to a lab specializing in genetics to establish individual DNA profiles, which were then converted by a specially designed software into MIDI samples. These samples were then used by Bay Beat Collective to create the final tracks. The campaign ran according to the original plan.

The Situation

Mumbai-based Bay Beat Collective, comprising Sohail Arora and Kris Correya, is a popular bass music group. But even though their unique sound guaranteed packed houses at every gig, they realised that their interaction with their fans was limited only to these concerts, as a result of which they were slowly but surely losing traction with their fan base. Thus the need for a PR campaign that would change the way Bay Beat Collective's fans looked at the band.

The Strategy

While it was clear, considering our target audience, that our idea would revolve around music, the research threw up the insight that the strongest band-fans engagement platforms are built on the foundation of collaboration. Our strategy was simple. Bay Beat Collective would produce a music album in collaboration with their fans. But it would be a collaboration like no other. One that would combine science and art to create an engagement platform that would make music history. Presenting The Genomusic Project, the world’s first album created from fans’ DNA. The idea was for Bay Beat Collective to take DNA samples from eight of their fans and convert them into eight tracks for the album. And since no two people have the same DNA profile, each track would sound completely different from the other.