BTS: Cheil X Redefines Urban Driving For MG Comet EV

Cheil X has launched a new campaign for MG Comet, showcasing it as a street-smart car that adapts to the urban mobility needs of modern cities getting smarter day by day.

MG Comet is the new launch from the JSW MG Motor stable. Positioned as a street smart car, it adapts to the urban mobility needs with modern cities getting smarter day by day. Cheil X has launched a campaign for the same, which consists of three slice-of-life films, set within the hustle and bustle of the urban city life.

Talking to Everything Experiential about the making of the films, the team of Cheil X brought out the nuances that went behind putting the film together.

Strategy & Creative

MG Comet offers practicality, sustainability and style in a futuristic design. The car has differentiated looks, it is small outside with big space inside and it is an EV – a great combination for city driving.

Neeraj Bassi, Chief Growth Officer, Cheil X outlined what was kept in mind while putting together the strategy behind the three films, “With a car that packs in so much, it became a problem of plenty for communication – what do we focus on? In order to arrive at this answer, we spoke to a lot of consumers. By lot, I mean, really a lot – buyers, considerers, rejectors and even those who hadn’t heard much about the car. We found that no matter where the customer was in the purchase journey, in any town class, they saw MG Comet as a smart solution to the growing problems of congestion and pollution faced by several cities across India. As we are moving towards smart cities, we also need smart commuting solutions to navigate the city. And thus was born the idea of the Street Smart Car.”

Each film depicts a scenario where the city presents an obstacle, but the Comet remains undeterred, expertly navigating each challenge. The first film humorously showcases the 'easy to park' feature, while the other two emphasize the spaciousness, advanced technology, and ease of manoeuvring on busy city streets. Together, these films highlight that the MG Comet EV's blend of design, technology, smart space, and features make it the ideal street-smart car.

Discussing the creative brief, Amit Nandwani, National Creative Director, Cheil X points out that the Comet EV is built to conquer the city. “Be it zipping through traffic with ease or navigating potholes, Comet EV handles it all in style.  Hence, the brief was to create a campaign that positions Comet EV as the perfect city car.”

“We felt that Comet EV, with its easy manoeuvrability, tech features, spacious inside and compact outside design, is a perfect fit for new-age city folks who are always looking at ways to deal with the curveballs of everyday driving and that led to the birth of ‘The Street Smart Car’,” he adds, explaining the creative thought behind the three films.

Research & Execution

Cheil X started the process with a huge amount of consumer research. Consumer conversations were just one part of it, and the agency deep-dived into the category examining the competitive spaces that have already been taken and it looked at international best cases. The agency also did a lot of social listening and trend analysis to arrive at the creative brief. 

“And then came the master stroke – personal experience! Everyone in the team – account management, strategic planning, and creative drove the MG Comet at different points of the day for different errands or leisure drives. I particularly remember one trip of mine to a conference at a five-star hotel, where I had a good conversation with the valet who took the car for parking. We collected a lot of everyday usage insights through these drives, which were converted into several scripts that we presented to the client. And then, after a lot of debate and deliberation, we selected the best three films that highlighted a slice of city life made better by the MG Comet, for production,” spelled out Bassi with regard to the step-by-step formulation of the films.

The objective behind the campaign was to position Comet EV as ‘the street smart car.’ “So we had to integrate its smart features seamlessly into the plots in such a way that it became the key problem solver.

The humour in the films was kept more realistic and not over-the-top to stay relatable. The aspect of the city and how the Comet is perfect in city environs was brought to life through a careful selection of locations in Delhi-NCR,” mentioned Nandwani, detailing the nuances that were kept in mind while executing the creative.

Behind-the-scenes

Talking about the BTS while creating the campaign, the memorable experiences and challenges and all that the team went through to create these films, Nandwani underscored that the campaign required a lot of planning and we went through many rounds before finalising what we felt was the right blend of humour and product relevance. 

“The films involved shooting in traffic-heavy, busy areas of Connaught Place which was a challenge as we had driving shots and actual crowds moving about in the same area. We overcame this by using some clever camera rigging and precision timing the shots to avoid crowds in the scene.

Another challenge was moving from one location to another. We had three locations spread out in three different zones of Delhi-NCR and reaching from one to another was a constant race against time. Fortunately, we were able to pull it off smoothly without compromising on the creative output,” he says.

While MG Comet targets Gen Z/ millennials, it has found great resonance with older customers too. “We met a number of older buyers who bought the MG Comet for its great combination of practicality and youthful energy. But coming to the digital experience, at Cheil X, we map out a detailed customer journey for each campaign and the digital experience is an integral part of the journey, especially for a car purchase. The consumer would do a lot of research online, see the reviews, check what experts are saying, what has been the experience of actual buyers etc. And in the specific case of MG Comet, there are aspects about EV – charging time, range, infrastructure that they would ‘Google’ (or ChatGPT these days!),” elaborated Bassi, about targeting the cohort as well as making it a digital experience to create a relevant connect.

He concludes, “It is a highly involved purchase and the brand needs to figure a way to participate in all these conversations, beyond the films. So, we have a detailed content map basis the customer journey to help Gen Z/ Millennials digitally experience the MG Comet.”

Neha Kalra

BW Reporters She is the Senior Editorial Lead at Businessworld and majorly covers pieces on advertising, marketing, branding and experiential marketing. She writes closely for BW Marketing World and Everything Experiential.