Jaguar’s unapologetic reimagining has received buzz on social media, from TikTok to Twitter – but is it actually Jaguar’s desire?
Jaguar is trying to reinvent itself with a new logo, design philosophy and electrification ethos – but does it have to alienate existing customers?
Electrification
The new Jaguar brand campaign has been all the rage but not for the right reasons. Androgynous female models are posed in pastel-colored clothing, and there’s a call to “create exuberant,” “drop ordinary,” and “break molds” but no car itself – something that has ranged from disorientation to outright anger on the part of audiences.
Jaguar is trying something daring by reinventing themselves as a proven quality car that can beat Maybachs, Rolls or Porsches. But a lot have balked at what feels like a deception from a name that’s been trusted. This move could create a splash but it would also alienate its existing customer base that established Jaguar as a name in the first place. They never learned you cannot please everybody and Jaguar’s job is to make big fat brutes that – it does just that beautifully.
Sustainability
Jaguar’s rebranding despite the outcry is a demonstration that you can make a switch to an electric car without alienating your core customer base. That means more than switching logos or introducing electric cars: it means adjusting values and setting a future vision.
The recent rebranding and electric car transition at Jaguar is part of a more general strategy to appeal to younger generations and reposition the brand in the luxury space. They want to reinvent themselves as innovators and technology leaders and reflect a rising tide of sustainable consumers.
Jaguar have done something rather strange, changing its signature cat image to show an electric charge but preserving its modern wordmark. It will be a while before it is a win, but Jaguar hopefully have done enough to re-invent luxury and also prove that companies can survive as leaders in the electric car industry.
Performance
Jaguar is attempting to remake itself in EV space, but that could leave its customers at the door. Their new, minimalist ad campaign that shows no cars has confused people and led to questions and criticism (from Tesla X owner Elon Musk’s “Do you sell cars?”).
Jaguar responded to criticism on Twitter by saying: “We get that all people have opinions and we take that seriously. The one we have is that we mean what we’ve done and are doing. But it seems that they haven’t quite satisfied the customers; Jaguar needs to look at the whole picture again so that it doesn’t alienate loyal customers into the future – then it can start to see its rebranding efforts begin to pay off; with the new brand Jaguar will still offer luxury and innovation that customers can trust.
Design
Jaguar is looking to appeal to a more youthful, well-heeled audience who are attracted to luxury and personality. They have the mantras of “cut the boring” and “break the molds” which reinforces this goal as it gets you to make bold and exciting, unorthodox decisions.
But their most recent campaign is getting a lot of negative online attention because they didn’t feature cars and said something vague. One clip was uploaded to X (nee Twitter) and there were models dressed up in cool outfits and makeup but no car appeared anywhere – they wrote slogans like “live vivid” and “delete ordinary”.
Jaguar got over 62,000 responses, most critical, on X to its advertising for reinvention. Yet even in the face of criticism, the brand isn’t stopping on its self-rebranding mission; their logo is now a sleek version of their iconic leaping cat logo, aligned with company sustainability objectives. Now, with new electric vehicles about to be introduced, they can once again show they can retool but still be unique.