How to move your brand forward without losing your sense of self.
Some thoughts on the Jaguar rebrand.
Hey folks,
So, how about Jaguar’s new rebrand?
In case you haven’t seen, the luxury car company has completely overhauled their branding as they move into a new digital future.
The rebrand is causing quite a stir, largely thanks to this announcement video:
I’ll admit, my first reaction to this ad was a bit similar (though a bit milder) than the experience Mark Ritson described in Marketing Week:
The company has a new visual campaign which, in lieu of any cars, features an array of fearfully creative looking people doing their best Blue Steel. I was looking forward to my first glimpse of this new Jaguar future. I own a Land Rover and have always fancied a Jag. But when the ad started, I confess that I laughed out loud. Not from joy or appreciation for the boldness of the new vision. But from the sheer fucking lunacy of the whole thing. When the 30-second film ended, I sat there for the longest time trying to get my head around what I’d just seen.
To me, watching this ad felt a bit like waking up on Zenon with a head injury. It was a welcome respite from the current state of global affairs, but also mystifying.
However, after sitting, thinking, and reflecting on it, I’ve decided I actually like this campaign… just not for Jaguar. I see what they’re trying to do here — but they’ve fumbled the execution a bit.
What they do well.
This rebrand does a few things beautifully. I think the new visual style is gorgeous and does a good job of maintaining some of the character of the old brand while feeling modern and interesting. I can’t explain why (because I’m not a designer)… but it still feels connected to the old brand somehow.
The design doesn’t fall into the trap that many luxury brands have tumbled into where they’ve taken a distinctive logotype and made it… a san serif font that looks like a carbon copy of the next store over.
I also think that conceptually, this video and brand is interesting. I like the idea of a futuristic brand that has lots of colors and an otherworldly presence…
… I just don’t think it makes sense for a legacy luxury brand that has nearly 100 years of brand capital built into it.
Where this brand strategy suffers.
Here’s the thing: Jaguar is an old man car now, but it wasn’t always an old man car. For a long time it was a sleek performance vehicle that reportedly had Enzo Ferrari calling it, “the most beautiful car ever made.”
^That identity has been with them for decades. Even now, most people would regard Jaguar as a brand that was once beautiful and well-respected, but which has kind of aged with its target market.
I understand what Jaguar is trying to do here. I really do. They’re trying to reposition as a forward-facing brand for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. They want to hold onto luxury, but don’t want to come off as stuffy. I get it.
But my big question is this: why are they trying to do that under the Jaguar brand name? Why not sunset the brand altogether and come up with something new?
I think that this ^ is the crux of why this rebrand is so baffling. Jaguar has an established brand identity that might be a little stuffy, but it’s definitely strong. The company has a history and a heritage — so throwing it all away and chasing a “cool” new vibe kind of gives off this energy:
Plus, it’s fucking expensive. Do you know how hard it is to change people’s minds? Look at Twitter X’s rebrand. It a gigantic waste of money.
What Jaguar could have done differently.
I’m certainly acting as an armchair expert here. The truth is that I’m a nobody on the Internet who doesn’t actually know what Jaguar is up to. Maybe they’re masterminding something big, and we just don’t know about it.
BUT I’m here to entertain. And in my opinion, there’s two ways Jaguar could have handled this branding/messaging that would have left people more excited:
Slowly modernized the brand over time (see what Porsche has done)
Sunset the brand altogether and come out with a new company
Option one would have allowed them to slowly modernize the brand and bring it into the 21st century, while still taking advantage of the capital they’ve built up over the past decades. They could message around their brand heritage and how they’re bringing everything that’s delightful (or even a little playfully dangerous) about driving to electric vehicles.
Option 2 would give the company a completely blank slate — one that wouldn’t piss off 80% of their current market (Jaguar apparently only expects 10-15% of their current buyers to move over to the new market with them!).
What B2B marketers can learn from Jaguar.
I work with small startups to help define their brand strategy and message. While the Jaguar brand is obviously a completely different scale in comparison, I think there’s a few things we can learn from this spectacle and apply to our own brands.
1. If you have a heritage, think carefully before you abandon it.
Brand heritage is something many startups would kill to have. It shows expertise and experience that a rinky dink brand that’s two years old simply can’t compete with. If you’ve got it, it’s an asset — your messaging around it just might need a modern twist.
2. If you’re going to burn everything down, commit to it.
Sometimes burning down your business is the right strategic decision — but if you’re going to do it, make sure you stick the landing.
Jaguar clearly feels they need to burn everything down, but their mistake is keeping a brand name that’s already well-established. It makes the effort feel half-assed, and risks confusing people and alienating an audience that loves you for who you are.
Obviously people will get over it and start to see Jaguar in this new modern light in a few years… but it might have been an easier transition if they’d rebranded the business name, too.
3. Make your message clear.
The biggest bone I have to pick with the Jaguar rebrand is in the copy and messaging. They’re leading with the slogan of “Copy nothing,” which is okay. But they’re doing that in the midst of a rebrand that feels a lot like every other legacy rebrand. They’re literally getting rid of everything that made them unique and starting fresh with a more modern style. They may not be “copying” anything… except for maybe a tech company.
The other bone to pick is that the copy doesn’t really say anything. It kind of reads like bad tech copy back in 2018: melodramatic, aspirational, and vague.
Again, I get where they’re going. But it feels like a missed opportunity to say something of substance. They’re using abstract language like “bold” to tell us they’re doing something instead of concrete language that shows us what they mean.
4. Be ready with a great product.
Look, only time is going to tell if this rebrand was a good idea or a flop. Personally, I think people are going to get used to the new brand and move on with their lives. I know I will.
But, that will only happen if Jaguar can back up this brand with a truly masterful product. If the cars look stupid (see example A), the public will just see this as a desperate attempt to revitalize a brand that’s long past its prime.
However, if the cars are great? It’ll be a different story. In 10 years’ time we’ll be calling this a genius brand move. It might get taught as a case study.
We’ll have our first insights next week when the car actually comes out. Until then though, we can only speculate.
Stuff I’m digging from other people this week.
Josh Garolofo had a great post about how copywriters and PMMs have more in common than you might think.
Chelsea Castle wrote about how using paid actors to represent your brand hurts your authenticity.
Stuff I’ve been writing this week.
I’m getting back into the groove of things.
I’ve made a Bluesky account. Come say hi and watch my poor early attempts at video content before it ever makes it to LinkedIn.
What I learned from one of my biggest professional failures.
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I'm not a fan of their rebrand or the people who drive their cars in Atlanta traffic. They're horrible drivers.