A pedal-powered tug-of-war activation for your next branded event

Today we're looking at a variant of the head-to-head race: the tug-of-war battle! In this activation, two bikes are positioned in front of a large screen, facing away from each other (and with a fake rope between them for good measure).

Players take their seats and wait in anticipation of the countdown. When the starting gun fires, it's time to pedal like crazy to try "pull" your opponent across the line. Whoever can cycle the hardest for the longest wins! Sounds easy, but who will have the legs after 2 minutes of relentless pedaling?

This is a great activation for sporting events or other competitive environments and can be used for brands and companies running any sort of healthy living campaigns. Also, as you can use any size bike so it's kid-friendly. Introduce some fun character selection into the mix and you've got a family-friendly activation perfect for all ages.

• Easy to operate. Everyone knows how to cycle so there's little learning curve!
• Fast. Most games last less then 2 minutes so nobody is left waiting around.
• Healthy. Great for any campaign that is promoting healthy living.
• Competitive. Guaranteed to fuel some friendly feuds.
• Brandable. At a sporting event? Use team players as characters and have people race as their hero.
• Versatile. Can be used in many different spaces in a variety of events.

How does it work?

Like our other bike-based activations, this activation is versatile and cheap to set up, so it can be used at multiple events or taken on the road.

Two regular bikes sit on cycling “exercise trainers”. These prop up the back wheels so that players can cycle in-place. They also let you set a resistance, making it easier or harder to pedal.

A custom speedometer is attached to the wheel of each bike and then connected to the laptop running the activation via USB. The laptop activation runs a custom piece of software that listens to the speedometers and moves the characters on screen accordingly.

The faster a player cycles, the more the game shifts in their favour and the further to the left or right their character moves, just like a tug of war. Once they cycle hard enough to move the rope across the line, they win and the game is over.

Where can we pitch it?

Due to the competitive element of this activation, it works great at sporting events or corporate events like conferences or large company gatherings. Here you can pit friends and colleagues against each other while having the crowd cheer them on.

That said, due to the healthy nature of cycling, it can also be pitched to companies and brands who like to promote healthy living, like medical and health insurance companies, health-aware food and beverage brands or even non-profit and charities looking to promote green campaigns.