SAPO has chosen the summer festival season as the stage to introduce its new visual identity to the public. At Rock in Rio 2026, the brand is unveiling an activation developed by NERVO, which was responsible for the creative concept, production and implementation of an immersive experience that places SAPO’s renewed iconic mascot centre stage.
Recently redesigned by WYcreative, the new SAPO is presented under the concept “See for Yourself”, reinforcing the platform’s positioning as a source of trusted and personalised information. To bring this concept to life, NERVO developed a two-storey experience space crowned by a giant version of SAPO’s iconic character, designed to capture visitors’ attention and encourage engagement with the brand’s new identity.
The activation’s main attraction is “The Green Room”, an interactive green tunnel experience that transports festival-goers to some of the venue’s most exclusive locations. Inside, participants can choose the festival scenario they would most like to experience — from the front row of the Main Stage to backstage access or even an artist’s dressing room — and receive a personalised photograph in real time that recreates that moment.
The experience was designed to encourage social media sharing while driving downloads of SAPO’s new app, the activation’s primary conversion objective. The space also features an official merchandise store, where visitors can purchase a range of branded products, including SAPO’s iconic plush toys, a familiar sight at Portuguese summer festivals.
“The idea of taking people inside SAPO through The Green Room was our way of bringing to life the brand’s promise of a curated and attentive perspective, where content is tailored to each user. The creative challenge was to communicate a rebrand within an entertainment environment, where audiences are not always willing to absorb large amounts of information. Our solution was to place participants at the centre of the experience, allowing them to create a fun and unique piece of content that they could take away with them, while simultaneously introducing them to SAPO’s new look and attitude,” says Miguel Pires, Creative Partner at NERVO.
From a production perspective, creating a visually convincing and seamless experience was one of the team’s main priorities.
“Beyond the impressive SAPO head crowning the top of the stand, our biggest focus was the scenic and technical execution of the central activation. Ensuring that The Green Room delivers photographic results that feel as authentic as physically being in each of the Rock in Rio scenarios was our top priority. In a festival environment, where lighting conditions change throughout the day and visitor flow is constant, every aspect of the technical infrastructure and capture systems had to be designed to guarantee a flawless experience for every participant,” explains Tiago Tarracha, Managing Partner at NERVO.
With this activation, NERVO transforms the SAPO rebrand into a participatory and memorable experience, bringing the brand closer to consumers through a creative, technology-driven and highly shareable approach.
