IntrCity SmartBus Unveils Brand Film - "It's not a bus, It is a SmartBus"

The perception of intercity buses all these years has been an inferior mode of travel, marked by lack of standardization, on-time performance, and safety concerns. IntrCity SmartBus, India's largest inter-city mobility brand, was founded to address these issues and make bus travel a comfortable/preferable choice. The brand has announced the first ever marketing campaign “It’s not a bus, it is a SmartBus” to highlight the unmatched comfort and best in class features provided by a SmartBus to the inter-city travelers.

The campaign's strategic aim is to reiterate IntrCity SmartBus as a customer-centric brand. The company pioneered the concept of washrooms in buses and was the first brand to provide washrooms onboard. The brand chose disruption and innovation as the path for delivering a superior value proposition to inter-city travelers. Currently, the brand operates 200+ buses in 16 states, covering 630+ routes across J & K (Kashmir) to Kanyakumari (Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu), serving more than 1 lakh passengers a month.

The campaign It’s not a bus, it is a SmartBus, will see a multimedia launch leveraging social, digital, OTT and outdoor media targeting the Delhi and Bangalore markets. The brand partnered with Flying Cursor Interactive to launch the campaign to communicate the superior product which IntrCity SmartBus offers as against other buses. The campaign includes a comical film depicting a regular Indian traveler, highlighting the discomfort faced during a regular long-distance bus ride to a SmartBus journey. The promotional film opens with a traveller feeling uncomfortable with the urge to use the washroom, and he starts moving with the unusual dance moves while others look at him with surprise. Some drama, followed by denial of permission to use the restroom. In the second scene, the campaign continues with the same person coming out of the washroom on the bus, feeling relieved. Then he reads out a message that makes SmartBus different from other players; it says, “It’s not a bus, it is a SmartBus”

Speaking on the launch of the campaign, Mr. Manish Rathi, CEO and Co-founder, IntrCity SmartBus, said, "As inter-city travel has been witnessing a rapid recovery, at the outset of the pandemic, travelers' priorities have gone through a significant shift. We at IntrCity SmartBus constantly aim to offer the basic requirements of any traveller while maintaining a standard. Comfort, safety, punctuality and hygiene are of the utmost importance to any traveller today, especially a regular bus user. We are delighted to partner with Flying Cursor Interactive on this innovative campaign. With their well-thought-out quirky campaign, we plan to deliver our core message to our audience, showcasing how customers benefit when they opt for a superior product instead of what is available."

Speaking about the campaign, Shormistha Mukherjee, Co-founder and Director, Flying Cursor Interactive says, "The issue of not having a washroom on-board a bus, especially on a long-distance journey is real and also the post-pandemic era demands heavy hygiene amidst the corona virus chaos. Hence, we’ve attempted to portray the plight of a common man dealing with this problem, by giving it a dramatic and hilarious twist. The quirky and awkward dance sequence further lightens up the struggle of the situation. For the ending, the relief he showcases after using the washroom in an IntrCity SmartBus, makes for an impactful and relatable piece of communication further highlighting the key message of the brand."

IntrCity offers never-before-seen facilities that will make you think it's actually not a bus. The innovative features, such as special seat options for extra-tall passengers, pregnant ladies, or women with infants, private cabins, and extra spacious seating areas for plus-size travelers provide both safety and extra comfort. Apart from this, the brand pioneered the concept of convenient and comfortable air-conditioned SmartBus boarding lounges where travellers can wait for their bus and spend time indoors in a safe environment. Each of the lounges has a waiting area with comfortable seating space and recliners for power naps, besides free Wi-Fi capability, mobile charging points, and basic amenities like clean drinking water, coffee, and toilet. Furthermore, every SmartBus has a Bus Captain to look after passenger convenience and security. In addition to these features, the consumer app provides travellers with LIVE bus tracking updates and the Track My Boarding Points System, which notifies customers of the boarding stop or the nearest bus stop.

CREDITS
Brand: IntrCity SmartBus
Agency: Flying Cursor Interactive
Creative Team: Senior Creative Director, Gobind Sangha & (GCH) Parth Joshi.
Account management team: Group Account Head, Philann Paul Albert
Production house: Momomoto Studios
Director: Deepti Nangia