A focal point of the Fiat stand in Bologna will be the installation of two large spheres which illustrate the deep bond between the eagerly anticipated New 500 and the original model of the Sixties. One of the two will project period films that focus on the values of the first Fiat 500, while the other contains the Concept-Lab, the virtual laboratory of the New Fiat 500 which has already received thousands of configurations, and ideas for accessories and customisation from the many enthusiasts who have flocked to the www.fiat500.com site (the new multimedia interactive platform created specifically in anticipation of the new model).

It is a captivating setting, perfectly in tune with the philosophy of the new model: ‘a car created by the people, from the ideas of the people’. On December 15 there will be nine months to go to the launch of the new 500, the heir to a true motoring icon. The debut of the new car is a very important event, for which a special communications project has been prepared, known as ‘500 wants you’, an interactive multimedia platform created and developed in close collaboration with the Leo Burnett and Arc advertising agencies.

It is a revolutionary project that uses the Web and extends to other means of communication, with the sole objective of involving the public in the design of what will be the evolution of Italy’s most popular runabout. ‘500 wants you’ is a huge online laboratory, where users can discover the stylistic concept of the new car for themselves, expressing their preferences, proposing ideas and contributing to its creation, in a combined, active manner, for the first time ever. The www.fiat500.com site will collect the suggestions and expectations of the public, who will thus contribute directly to the development of the product.

The ‘500 wants you’ website also contains the ‘500ology’, the largest online encyclopaedia of stories and pictures dedicated to the Fiat 500, which are written jointly with the users, and the Concept Lab, a virtual room where you can play at modelling the Fiat concept car, and register your ideas. But, as so often happens on the Internet, the ‘www.fiat500.com’ site is a constantly evolving project, which will continue to incorporate new contents, activities and initiatives.
 

All this is as part of a programme that envisages numerous updates during the days leading up to the launch of the new car, which will gradually be implemented over the coming months. We must underline that the www.fiat500.com site continues to be an unprecedented success with the public, with over 13,000,000 pages seen to date. What is more, over 159,000 ideas for configurations, accessories and customisation for the new model have been collected through the Concept Lab. And over 17 proposals for the homepage have been submitted, as well as 370 ‘Faces for the 500’, a game inviting people to associate a facial expression with a chosen part of the 500.

Previous initiatives (the ‘Designboom’, ‘500 take you’ and ‘500 wants a mascot’ competitions) have recently left the stage to other new, entertaining initiatives. One of these is ‘Speak 500’, a multimedia archive containing over 50 audio files of how the word “500” is pronounced in as many languages and regional dialects around the world. The site will also grow exponentially, thanks to contributions from users who can take part by sending in their submissions together with the flag of the country or region they come from, and the graphical transcription of the term ‘500’.

The second initiative is ‘Jingle Box’, a music player that makes everyone into a musician, trying their hand at composing their own soundtrack for the homepage. Users can access a proper DJ’s console where they can select and mix different musical bases, sound effects and over 70 vocal claims (in Italian and English). They will be able to hear the jingles created immediately, record them in the site archive, and even download them onto their computers as MP3 files (so that it will also be possible for people to transfer their own creations onto their mobile phones or MP3 players). And finally, ‘500 Screenmate’ is now available, a program for people to download onto their computers, which warns them with a pop-up every time an event starts or a news item related to the world of the New 500 is released.