Brand News: Jaguar's Bold Rebranding - Innovation or Identity Crisis?

Jaguar has taken a daring leap, but have they risked losing their identity in the process? Join us on Digital Horizons as we dissect Jaguar's bold rebranding effort that has both stunned enthusiasts and sparked a wave of reactions on social media. Unveiling a reimagined logo at Miami Fashion Week, Jaguar is steering towards a younger, eco-conscious crowd, but at what cost? Even Elon Musk joined the fray, questioning whether Jaguar still makes cars. We unravel whether this move is a strategic masterstroke or a controversial misstep that might leave its loyal supporters feeling forgotten.

Amidst falling sales figures, is a radical makeover the lifeline Jaguar needs, or does it risk alienating the very fans that once revered it? We draw parallels with the brand's iconic 2015 Rendezvous Campaign and ponder if it's possible to embrace the future without sacrificing heritage. As we explore this branding enigma, we also consider the impact of Jaguar's deviation from traditional automotive elements—an absence keenly felt in their fashion-centric campaign. Tune in for an engaging conversation on the fine line between innovation and tradition as Jag attempts to carve out its place in the rapidly evolving automotive landscape.

The Digital Horizons Podcast is hosted by:

James Walker - Managing Director WHD
Brian Hastings - Managing Director Nous

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome back to Digital Horizons. This is our brand new segment and we've got some big brand news for this week James.

Speaker 2: 0:16

Yeah, anyone who hasn't heard yet or seen on their social media which I feel like is probably pretty likely is that Jaguar did a rebrand, which I feel like is probably pretty likely, is that Jaguar did a rebrand.

Speaker 1: 0:25

Yes, did they ever? I think there's still a few people out there hoping that the rebrand is a bit of a troll and that they're going to come out with the real rebrand, but I think, as time goes on, it's becoming more apparent it isn't, and this rebrand is, in fact, where they've shifted to. So what do we mean by a rebrand is, in fact, where they've shifted to. So what do we mean by a rebrand? The logo has changed and they've released a sort of teaser video of the new brand direction. So there's still more to come. It was released at Miami Fashion Week, I believe, and they keep saying, oh, it's all in the execution. Just wait, you'll see.

Speaker 2: 1:02

Yeah, I saw there was a tweet from Elon Musk asking Jaguar to their page if they make cars. Yes, and their response was we have something coming.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Pay attention. So I don't think that's happened yet. Whatever they gave a date or something, I don't think that's actually happened. So I mean, it's definitely got the world talking, hasn't it? Yes, and I think that's what everyone was hoping for that.

Speaker 1: 1:22

this is, you know, even the logo shift. That that was a joke, because it is arguably not very good. It's blending a capital letter of the G with lowercase letters. For the rest of the Jaguar it's scrapped the Jaguar icon or graphic. There's a lot of elements of the heritage of Jaguar that has just been forgotten or ignored and I think in their brief, which is to align the brand to a future-focused electric vehicle manufacturer that is environmentally friendly and appeals to new, younger audiences, I think they've potentially overcooked it Lost who they were, yeah lost who they were and are attempting to be someone completely different, and it's not feeling legitimate, it's not feeling believable.

Speaker 1: 2:10

So it's really got a lot of the people who, like the brand, are being sort of left behind. Almost there's just, I guess, not enough of what this new brand is going to be out there yet, but from what we have seen, the logo shift is scrapping the heritage and the fashion forward style. Runway video snippet has not one car in it whatsoever, just a lot of different fashion models walking down, up and down a runway, being very artsy.

Speaker 2: 2:38

And that is concerning for car people, for car guys and people who love the Jaguar brand, like I can't remember the last time I even thought of Jaguar as a brand prior to this coming up. So I guess I don't know where their market position was or anything, but potentially they needed to make this shift to make it continue to work, because it's not like from well, I guess, my level of awareness of the cars that are coming into my sphere. It's not one that's coming up very often.

Speaker 1: 3:05

Well, you're absolutely right. They needed to do something because their sales over the last seven years, focusing on the US and it's the same here in Australia have been declining significantly.

Speaker 2: 3:17

It's been on a path to nothing basically, so maybe it's like, fuck it, let's just go for a whole different market. Let's like maybe no one that are going to be our future customers give a shit about the old logo or the brand and they're trying to go for a new audience.

Speaker 1: 3:32

Yeah, I see an element of that. I think the marketing team could argue well, it was heading in this direction. Anyway, Where's our old audience when we need them? They weren't buying our cars.

Speaker 1: 3:43

Now they're going to complain about it changing, but I still think there was a way to shift the towards being future focused, without alienating your existing audience, but leveraging the best of what the brand had to offer. I thought about this new campaign launch and I thought I remember the last ad I saw for Jaguar was spectacular. It was called the Rendezvous Campaign. It was back in 2015 and it was to align with one of the James Bond movies. It was back in 2015, and it was to align with one of the James Bond movies Spectre, where the Jaguar brand is always used by the villains in Bond movies. So it was a Bond villain, effectively, or a villain campaign, and it had Tom Middleton. Oh sorry, how do you say it? Tom Middleton, Loki.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Okay, that guy from.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Marvel and it had Ben Kingsley, mark Strong, nicholas Holt. It had all these British villains and they're explaining to the camera why do you think villains are always British? And they're describing all these things like we're always one step ahead, we've always got the best suits and we're obsessed with power. And it was effectively describing the new Jaguar F-Type, which is an awesome sports car V8. That campaign worked really, really well for them. Around that time that they launched the Jaguar F-Type, sales in the US increased by 41%. So they can do branding well.

Speaker 1: 5:07

I just think they've been out of market. Their product has been waning in the past. So it's not just this lack of a campaign, it's lack of product. But coming back with this product, it just feels so tone deaf and so you know they're saying copy nothing, but it feels like they're copying everyone by doing this shift to all inclusive and ignoring every part of their history. I think, from what we've seen so far, it's a massive miss and they could have leveraged more of their heritage, not done the same as all of those other de-branding fashion logos like Saint Laurent, burberry, balenciaga. Their beautiful branding has shifted to just static, boring lettering in recent years, and Jaguar has done the same. So thumbs down from me so far, but hopefully We'll see what they pull together with this.

Speaker 2: 5:58

Yeah, hopefully we'll turn it around so there'll be more to come to it, right? Yeah, definitely, hopefully.

Speaker 1: 6:01

If not, then we'll just, we'll just Report back in a year and see what those sales dollars look like. Goodbye, jaguar. That's Digital Horizons for this week. Thanks for tuning in, thanks.