Lay’s tasked production house Slash Dynamic and ZyynLabs with an innovative and unique challenge–one that required scientific minds: generating as much electricity from a simple potato as possible. Solving the world’s energy crisis, it will not; however, with enough potatoes (a truckload’s worth in fact), powering a recording studio was mathematically plausible. Several months of experimentation resulted in discovering a groundbreaking methodology, increasing the energy output 15-fold while simultaneously reducing wastage by 65%. With the combination of 8,580 Lay’s potatoes, the dedication of the ZyynLabs and Slash team members, plus one-homemade potato gantry hoist, a successful collection of 11.43 watts of electricity, and 67.76 watt-hours of power was harvested; enough to charge the recording equipment and capture Grammy-nominated pop sensation Anitta performing her hit song “Envolver,” directed by Chris Cottam.
To certify the legitimacy of the experiment, Guinness World Records painstakingly reviewed the evidence, declaring a World Record had officially been set for the Highest Wattage Generated from a Potato Battery.
This Cottam-directed spot encapsulates the experiment–and the creative power of the potato.
“Trying to pull off an event that’s never been done before was both daunting and exhilarating. Managing 20,000 potatoes was also a first for us. Expect the unexpected was never more true than on this project. The passion and commitment of the entire team made this happen, and a whole lot of science (and potatoes.) And we also learned that getting into the Guinness Book of World Records is really, really, really hard,” said Tanya Cohen, managing director of Slash Dynamic.
ZyynLabs founder, Zach Umperovitch, added, “Lay’s certainly challenged our team’s ingenuity by wanting this experiment to be done completely legitimate. I couldn’t be more proud and impressed by the dedication and effort every single member of production devoted towards making this project such an incredible success."
