The Velvet Rope Design: How Contest Winners Became Brand Props
Polestar's co-creation contest gave winners a plaque and a photo op—but no real power over the car that bore their names.
Polestar's Synergy concept, unveiled at IAA Mobility 2023, was marketed as a co-creation with three contest winners whose names appeared on the official plaque. In reality, winners received only a brief photo opportunity inside a non-drivable shell and a 1:5 scale model, with no decision-making involvement during the build process. The case illustrates how 'co-creation' can devolve into marketing theater, where participants become props rather than collaborators. The trophy existed; they just never got to hold it.
The Trophy You Never Touched Polestar revealed the full-scale Synergy concept at IAA Mobility 2023 and called it a co-creation with three contest winners. Their names went onto the official plaque. The glossy photos showed a car that seemed to belong to them as much as to the brand. What the winners actually got, according to their own later accounts, was a brief photo opportunity inside the non‑drivable shell—long enough for a camera, not long enough for the seat to feel like theirs. They had no decision‑making power during the build of the car that bore their names, and the tangible reward they walked away with was a 1:5 scale model. It’s not a story of exploitation—no one forced them to enter. But it is a story about how easily “you designed a real car” shrinks into a marketing prop you watch from behind a velvet rope while others’ feeds fill with the car you were barely permitted to occupy. The trophy existed; they just never got to hold it.