This innovative method solved the problem of how we were going to manufacture a song that could go extinct.

The technology wasn’t created, but used in an innovative way for this specific project.

The campaign idea, to manufacture a song capable of going extinct,

was created first. Once we had that idea, we had to set about researching what kind of technology, old or new, and in what way we could use that technology, would make the campaign idea come to life.

This is an adaptation of an existing platform. The innovation was not in the technology itself, but in the way we used a dated technology in a counterintuitive way, for a fresh and unexpected purpose that manifests the campaign's core concept: the first song manufactured to go extinct.

The complexity of the technology relies more on the method of production. The records were made in a small shop in New Zealand that uses special machinery to etch a song into a lathe-cut record made of polycarbonate plastic. It’s the polycarbonate plastic that leads to the degradation of the record after a certain amount of plays.

We’re not working with software. This was an analog innovation. Quit being so narrow-minded about how innovation and technology is defined, guys.

The expected outcome is for the endangered song to spread enough that the fact that the Sumatran tigers are critically endangered becomes common knowledge and inspires support for the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s efforts.

The innovative thought will show music companies that there are still many exciting and unexpected ways to use existing technology.

Within the first 5 minutes of the campaign, one version of the song was digitized. Within the first 5 hours, more than 30 different influencers had uploaded their version on Soundcloud, accounting for more than 25,000 plays on that site alone. The hashtags #EndangeredSong and #SumatranTiger were used over a million times total (and counting) across social media platforms. And there were over 500 online press release posts including articles from major publications such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, Yahoo, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. The comments on all posts were

overwhelmingly positive. The Making Of video received over 30,000 views (and counting) in two days without any media buys.