Amstel Ultra
Mexico, North America
Pavegen and Tribal Planet worked to create a deeper engagement with Cisco’s brand and enhance its reputation in a fun and memorable way at its headline annual event.
We helped engage Cisco’s audience of IT specialists with its Social Impact programme in a lasting and engaging way.
Via Tribal Planet’s Citizen Earth app and screens, attendees could track their steps and see how much energy they were personally creating, simply by walking over the tiles. Daily winners would be announced via the app leaderboard and screens on-site.
Cisco’s goal was 1 million steps. The installation really caught the imagination of Cisco LIVE audiences,
The team doubled that target, capturing the energy of over 2 million footsteps.
Turning a Sporting Boom into a Brand Moment
When LePub - part of the Publicis network - came to Pavegen with the idea for The Cooling Court, the ambition was clear: put Amstel Ultra at the centre of Mexican culture in a way people would actually talk about.
The answer was already obvious to anyone paying attention. With With over 30 million players worldwide, padel had gone from niche pastime to global obsession with courts booked out weeks in advance and new clubs opening across the country.
For Amstel Ultra, a brand built entirely around togetherness and shared energy, it was the perfect stage. Not to sponsor it from a distance, but to become part of the experience itself.
The question was how.
How a Beer Brand Electrified Mexico's Padel Obsession
The Challenge: Show Up Differently
Padel courts are loud, fast and competitive. Banners get ignored. Logos fade into the background. Players are there to play, not to notice branding — and any activation that interrupts that is instantly resented.
LePub knew that for Amstel Ultra to make a genuine impact in Mexico, a conventional sponsorship wouldn't cut it. The brief wasn't just about visibility. It was about creating an activation that felt like part of the game, not an interruption of it. Something players would experience without being sold to, talk about without being prompted, and remember long after they were off the court.
The Solution: A Court that came alive
In November 2025, Pavegen installed its kinetic energy tiles on the court at Marbella Club de Pádel in Mexico City - one of the country’s most prestigious venues.
Every sprint, step and lunge generated real kinetic energy beneath the players’ feet.
And here’s where the idea became brilliant:
The energy from the court powered a refrigerator stocked with ice‑cold Amstel Ultra beers.
Players powered the court. The court powered the fridge. The fridge powered the celebration.
It was a perfect loop; simple, playful, and instantly shareable.
This wasn’t a sponsorship. It was a story unfolding in real time, one players could see, feel and literally contribute to with every movement.
Why this worked
Activations live or die by one question: did people talk about it?
This one did. Because Amstel Ultra didn't show up as a sponsor, they showed up as the reason the experience existed. The energy players generated on the court powered the reward. That's not a metaphor you explain on a banner. It's something you feel, film, and send to your friends.
For LePub and Amstel Ultra, that was the whole point. In a market crowded with local beer brands and conventional sports sponsorships, The Cooling Court created a shareable, story-driven moment that travelled well beyond the court itself. The kind of content that earns coverage rather than buying it.
They showed up differently. They showed up meaningfully. And they left people with a story worth telling.
Would you have expected beer and padel to end up in the same case study? That’s what Pavegen does. We connect worlds that don’t usually meet, and turn movement into something brands can build real experiences around.
Campaign by LePub. Powered by Pavegen. Chilled by Amstel. Played by everyone.
GAMIFYING
SIEMENS PURPOSE
Pavegen is based in King’s Cross, in the heart of London’s tech revolution. We’re just a few minutes’ walk from King’s Cross and St. Pancras International Stations. Our research and development centre operates in Cambridge, the innovation hub of the country.
Why it Matters: People Powered smart Cities
Smart cities aren’t defined by sensors, networks, or dashboards, they’re defined by the people who move through them every day. When buildings can capture and respond to human behaviour, they stop being passive structures and start becoming active participants in the urban ecosystem.
At Citi Tower, every footstep becomes a data point, a clean‑energy contribution, and a moment of engagement. This shift from observation to interaction is what makes human‑powered smart cities so compelling. They create a feedback loop where citizens can see the impact of their actions instantly, building trust, awareness, and a deeper connection to sustainability.
By turning movement into measurable value, Citi Tower demonstrates how the future of urban innovation will be shaped not just by technology, but by the people who bring that technology to life.
