The last few decades have witnessed an astonishing change in the automotive industry the world over. In an environment that’s more connected than ever, cars with features fueled by the latest technology promise a thrilling driving experience. MG Motor India’s Hector, India’s First internet car that offers more than 50 connected features, is a perfect example.
A wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, MG Motor is an iconic British brand founded in 1924 that has evolved into a modern, futuristic, and innovative brand over the last 95 years. The brand’s ethos revolves around enabling new and innovative experiences for consumers, and its strategy for the highly competitive Indian market was on the same path.
In 2017, MG Motor started its India operations. In 2019, the company entered the saturated, legacy-brand dominated Indian automotive industry with the launch of one of India’s First internet cars, MG Hector. The company’s digital First approach was designed to create disruption from the very start: along with never-seen-before futuristic technology in a car, the automaker wanted an experience-led engagement with customers rather than the traditional product-led engagement approach of many car brands. With digital at the front and center of its marketing strategy, MG Motor India aimed to engage customers with online experiences that were personalized, relevant and compelling, starting with the pre-launch phase.
Finding End to end solutions
One of the foremost challenges MG Motor India had to address was brand awareness. As a digital-first brand, it wanted a platform that would allow customers to have an immersive brand experience online. Another key objective was to offer an unbroken brand narrative across various consumer touchpoints through consistency of content, messaging, and look and feel. Scalability was yet another goal.
“Customer experience is paramount for MG Motor, and that means going beyond just marketing great ads. Adobe’s understanding of content innovation, superior experience delivery and data prowess has enabled us to drive richer customer experiences across our digital and other platforms.” says Udit Malhotra, Head of Digital Marketing and Content Strategy, MG Motor India.
When it came to the technology that would drive MG Motor India’s vision, there were some key pre-requisites—a single platform that could seamlessly integrate with existing applications, provide fast response to the market, and create efficient and scalable work‑flows.
“Adobe emerged a clear winner as Adobe Experience Cloud seamlessly integrates with our other applications like SAS and DMS,” says Manish Patel, CIO, MG Motor India. “The entire stack provides end-to-end solutions to meet all our requirements
The power of one
MG Motor leveraged the power of Adobe Experience Cloud, becoming the first OEM in the automotive space in India to use Adobe Experience Cloud in its entirety to create end-to-end solutions.
The First step was to consolidate all its digital properties, including its brand website, dealer websites, and digital screens on a common platform. MG Motor achieved this using Adobe Experience Manager. It was also crucial that when customers interacted with the brand on any of its digital properties, they had a consistent, uniform experience. The company used Adobe Experience Manager to facilitate the flow of content across different devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and desktops, thereby eliminating the need to redesign and recreate content to suit different formats and screens.
Adobe Experience Manager also helped MG Motor create live replicas and customize all dealer websites. In a span of just 10 days, more than 50 dealer websites went live. Digital screens at local dealerships are another important point of interaction for consumers. Adobe Experience Manager Screens once implemented will help MG Motor publish dynamic, interactive, and consistent experiences to these screens.
The digital interactions between the brand and customers across these various channels are captured by Adobe Analytics. The insights gathered from these interactions are then leveraged to further deliver personalized customer experiences using Adobe Target. By using data generated by Adobe Audience Manager, second-party data collected from dealers and dealer websites, and third-party data, MG Motor will aim to increase segment size and reach.
Maneuvering through heavy traffic
Following the various announcements and events by MG Motor, the company expected traffic on the digital platform to spike. In April, MG Motor held a tech event, and on the day of the event, traffic on the website, which averaged 400,000 hits, skyrocketed to 14 million. Despite the heavy traffic, the website functioned without any lags.
“Had it not been Adobe, I’d have to worry about my peak hit rate and how I would need to scale up my infrastructure so that it could cater to a particular number of people visiting my website,” says Patel.
Acquire, convert, retain
MG Motor expects online customer interaction to increase following the unveiling of MG Hector in May 2019. MG Motor will use Adobe Campaign to manage the customer lifecycle across three stages. First, MG Motor will integrate Adobe Campaign with Adobe Analytics, for interacting with consumers online and nurturing leads. Next, it will be used to reach out to customers with offers and to convert offers to sales. Finally, the company will use Adobe Campaign to support its consumer retention efforts.
The road ahead
By 2022, MG Motor India plans to have 300 local dealerships set up nationwide. This rapid expansion hinges on MG Motor India’s ability to tailor digital content for each dealership to connect with local consumers.
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