In 2006, after 50 years from the first Cinquino, we decided to relive the dream and propose the new 500 with a massive challenge: it will be designed by ordinary people.
To make all this possible, the 500 wants you project was born on 3 May 2006, exactly 500 days before the international launch.
500 wants you is a participatory platform that knows no bounds.
Somewhere you can express your desires, expectations, and offer advice and suggestions on the new car. And see projects previewed one after another.
Spontaneous contributions from everyone were valued in developing the new model.
All the information was stored in a huge database, then analysed and used to create the new 500, thus making 500 wants you a genuine interactive marketing platform.
500 wants you has become an international multimedia phenomenon.
In more than 3 years of being active, its numbers have been really extraordinary: 28 online activities published in 10 different releases and almost 30 versions localised in as many languages.
Today, 500 wants you is not just a platform, it's a new way of looking at the company, a real product philosophy: the 500 C, just like the new 500, is based on the "open source" concept, a contribution from new functions which enhance an existing and highly successful product. And it is based on this value that 500 wants you continues to exist.
If the first virtual creative lab which saw engineers, stylists, designers, writers and ordinary people work together on one big idea, today constitutes the 500 wants you album, the spirit and concept instead remain alive.
Owing to this, we are already thinking about involving all the different groups that worked on creating the new 500 in very different areas - from building expectation to designing the car, from communication of the product to entertainment and social networks - in the development of other 500 models.
Stay tuned!
