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THE CHALLENGE

Heineken® wanted to leverage the launch of its Greener Bar — fully sustainable event bar that was 100% recyclable — to develop new technologies that helped to address environmental challenges within the mobile bar space. One of the main issues faced is in mobile refrigeration — with most solutions requiring substantial generators to power and chill beers at large scale events.

Digging into the challenges that come with mobile refrigeration, we identified that if we leveraged the ancient physical principles of kinetic energy, we would be able to develop a machine that would chill a beer but in a fun and efficient way.

THE STRATEGY

Building on the strategy set within the Greener Bar — to create a space that generated zero waste and sustainable by design — the Chill Station needed to deliver this while also showing how it could get bar guests to chill their own beer — and maybe even breaking a sweat doing so?

The audience for this campaign was sporting attendees, particularly those with an affinity to Formula E and Formula One, who regularly engage with the hospitality and mobile entertainment zones set up at these sporting events.

THE EXECUTION

The Chill Station was a structure in which users engaged with hand-crank levers, converting kinetic energy to cool their drinks. Plexitubes filled with chilled water created a whirlpool effect, reducing temperatures by 15-20 °C in 3-4 minutes.

This immersive experience not only delighted users but also resulted in a remarkable 30% energy saving. The Chill Station embraces the future of cooling, where creativity meets purpose, epitomizing innovation, sustainability, and memorable brand engagement.

The Outcome

We have found that people are more than willing to donate kinetic energy to chilling their beer, especially if that means some reduction of the bar’s carbon footprint.

So far event attendees have donated over 5 KwH in kinetic energy which could power 8 beer fridges at an event. Cooling end enjoying 600 beers!

This version (and the prototype) of The Chill Station have been proof-of-concepts, and more focused on changing user behaviour at this stage. We hope to further develop the concept and integrate gamification methods such as top lists and rewards and thereby encourage greater engagement.