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.

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 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. And the band 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.