This an exciting example in a still pretty flat landscape like the one in which most italian large companies are still moving, if you look at them from the perspective of their customers and their ability to be involved in the design of new products and services.

This is even more remarkable in a field that seems to be very far from the network and viral effects typical on the web 2.0 or even on the traditional web.

Fiat is promoting its new ‘Bravo‘ car model (internal name 198) engaging a transparent and sincere discussion with its potential customers through a blog Quelli che Bravo.

The name is not so innovative, mimicking a well known italian soccer related TV program, but the approach is indeed quite new: presenting the ideas, the actual phases of design, drafts, materials, reflections and several considerations about the challenges involved in a 6 week process (for a car this is an extremely fast cycle).

Comments are moderated but visitors can still make their points to get answers (and Fiat employees are effectively giving answers) and the blog is well integrated with videos on YouTube and photos from Flickr.

The idea is to show the real people that are often hidden behind a product, their faces and their work. Not only strategic analysts or branding managers but also men that assemble the pieces a car is made of.

The bottom line: open the doors and listen to your customers, accept their critics and provide an honest two-way discussion. Involve them into your products. Create hype, suspense and let them feel the energy, the passion, the pride that you are investing into the company and its evolution.

For a brand not usually associated to innovation, good design and quality this could be a disrupting practice, a revolutionary signal.

Hats off to Fiat.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.