Jaguar brand renewal - where is the car?

A still from Jaguar’s new advertisement. Photograph: Jaguar

January 28, 2025

When Jaguar changed its brand recently it was criticized but also raised a huge amount if interest. Instead of a typical car ads it launched ones without no car. What?

"“If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand,” (Jaguar’s managing director, Rawdon Glover)

This statement sounds good. Why do it like all the others? There isn't much difference among car ads. But the brand and ad without the product?

Not only did the ads have no cars. The colors are pink, red, yellow and orange. In a car brand? Yes. Changing colors totally is not a bad thing by itself. But here, yes.

Like ignoring the present target group it announced "intentions to reach younger, richer people that it idealises as “cash-rich, time-poor”."

So they launched a brand that is totally different. Ads without cars. A video that raised a lot of negative feedback. No agency was used. This was all done in-house. The ad is very confusing.

Sales went more down. They closed the production for at least year.

Old target group gets too old?

Make it stand out

They said that their customers and target group are too old and just getting older (are they worried about aging population??)

This change wasn't anything that would also please the current target group, the "Jaguar club" that have had the privilege to have one and to show it out. Now they won't feel that the company treats them like premium group buying premium product and all branding targeted on them. Make them feel themselves as THE Jaguar owners.

They really wanted to switch the target group probably without any real knowledge of the size of young people who would be so rich nor their willingness to buy a Jaguar. Forgetting loyal, current customers is hardly ever a good idea.

Comeback

Jaguar plans to make a comeback with an electric, twice as expensive car as the ones before. Targeting younger audience this would mean that they'd have to find young people (men?) that are very rich at that age and willing to spend a fortune on a Jaguar. Which will never be the same Jaguar anymore.

What went wrong?

A total rebranding at the point of where Jaguar had come to, is highly risky. Jaguar is known by all, meaning a real premium car, that has a rich, usually senior male owner (not many are very rich when they are young), who wants to use money on a good car but usually also wants to show that he can afford a Jaguar. Usually when you see a younger driving one you think (and know) he is borrowing his father's car and showing it around.

Actually, the idea of a brand change itself with professionals was not bad. In this case, to sharpen the brand and make small but noticeable changes.This. would not have turned around the whole look and feel of one of the most well known and valuable brand of the world. Once you have managed to establish something like that you need to be very careful of what you do with it.

"Slashed their own tires"

Mark Dolan at CBN- like many other media representatives - nailed down the whole brand and ads which actually don't feature one single car, their product at all. Or even a jaguar animal, which represented everything the product is: powerful, fearless and fast. He said in his show: "They slashed their own tires". He also pointed out that they have actually made a lot of negative statements about their previous target group. The successful, well-earned bisnes man in his 60's and not taking even the rich women instead (from whom many love Jaguars).

In the end

They got the whole world watching for the new Jaguar and everyone talking about it. At the moment 3,8 million people have seen the ad.

#jaguarbrandrenewal

Sources

Jaguar Boss ATTACKS Nigel Farage Over Backlash to Woke 'Car Crash' Ad Campaign

https://youtu.be/2FOMAJfMLfM?si=DyKOyzVgtdA7X6Uf

Jaguar ad

https://youtu.be/rLtFIrqhfng?si=FXigzcR8BVJGEQTL

Articles

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/22/jaguar-new-branding-cars-donald-trump

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/creatives-weigh-in-on-jaguars-rebrand/