What is Jaguar thinking?
It’s already decided to go all-electric beginning in 2025, but some of its recent rebranding marketing decisions are creating a huge controversy.
It has decided to do away with the word JAGUAR. Now it will be the word JaGUar, and a badge that has a brown circle broken in half at the top and the bottom and with the letter J and an upside down J (or lower case r) over a tan background. The iconic leaping cat ornament on the hood that was a signature of the brand but eventually stopped will now have a blind leaping cat caged in a barcode.
Yes, a car commercial without a car!
But that’s not all. The actors/actresses in the commercial are androgynous models, including a man wearing a dress. There are catch phrases throughout the ad including delete ordinary, copy nothing, create exuberant, live vivid and break moulds.
The commercial has more than 160 million YouTube views and more than 100,000 comments, so it has achieved its purpose of reaction, but most of it has been negative.
Jaguar Land Rover new Managing Director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times the ad wasn’t designed to spread a message of woke acceptance, but more so to divert from traditional automotive stereotypes to sell more cars.
Glover was appointed to his current position in February 2023. On his LinkedIn account, it says he has “an outstanding track record of enhancing global brands, revenues and capabilities” and “executing commercially focused, cohesive transformations to sales, customer service, IT, supply chain, partnerships, networks and marketing.”
Clearly, Glover wasn’t intending to do the same old, same old with the 102-year-old company. Either he and/or the higher-ups at Jaguar wanted to shake things up to go along with its decision to stop producing gas-powered cars in 2024 and go all electric starting in 2025.
But why it would go with a campaign without a prominent actor or actress as is the case with many car manufacturers is bizarre? Think of Matthew McConaughey starring in the commercials to promote the 2018 Lincoln Continental. Kelsey Asbille, one of the stars of Yellowstone, in an ad for Mercedes-Benz’s Trinity-E. There is actually a video of the making of the video. Jon Hamm’s voice with Mercedes-Benz AMG. And Academy Award-winning actress Brie Larson in Nissan Commercials.
These well-known personalities were paid a lot of money, and that is nothing to say of the production costs, all designed to create emotion. Some of the commercials are unveiled during the Super Bowl, in which the cost of a 30-second spot is hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maybe Jaguar has that in its future plans, but all it has done with its brand change is create a negative buzz. In some ways, that is the type of thing to generate discussion – you know the expression of any publicity is good even if it’s bad – but this may have pushed that idea too far.
The campaign has been hammered by critics, including Elon Musk, who posted on X: “Do you sell cars?”
Look, Musk has received tons of negative criticism as a car manufacturer with Tesla, most recently with the Cybertruck, but nothing compared to what Jaguar is getting with its campaign.
To Musk’s post, Jaguar responded: “Yes, we’d love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2nd December. Warmest regards.”
Musk replied: “I look forward to seeing your new vehicle lineup.”
Jaguar unveiled a Type 00 electric concept car, one “Miami pink”, the other “London blue,” at Miami Art Week. Jaguar’s Chief Exterior Designer, Constantino Segui Gilabert, is quoted on the website L’OFFICIEL, as saying: “The Type 00 commands attention like all the best Jaguars before it. It celebrates art and embodies the essence of British creativity.” JLR CEO Adrian Mardell said “We started from scratch to design this unique architecture. It is the cornerstone of our future.”
When another person posted on X, “Forgive them this advert…because they made the E-type.”
Musk replied: “One of the most beautiful cars ever designed.”
Jaguar has, according to company verbiage, decided to return to its DNA of audacity, art and intense emotions.
But what it has done with this odd marketing campaign has been compared to what Bud Light did with its commercial featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The company lost more than $27 billion in value, and $1.4 billion in U.S. beer sales. Bud Light was trying to promote diversion, equity and inclusion with Mulvaney. It clearly did not work.
Jaguar had ads for the F-Type in the 2014 Super Bowl that included actors Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong. It was safe and conservative.
Jaguar is clearly not trying to do that now.
Because the cars unveiled in Miami are concepts, they are subject to change but expect the vehicles to go into production and be ready for sale in two to three years. By then, all the hubbub about the controversial commercial for the 00 will have died down and consumers will have to decide if they like the car and its subsequent iterations. Sedans are not exactly in vogue with the world, certainly in North America, transitioning to light duty trucks. And EVs aren’t in heavy demand, either, again with respect to North America.
The 2025 Jaguar XJ EV was launched with a traditional video that spoke to the specifics of the car, highlighting its ability to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds, its top-end speed and range capacity. It will cost north of $100,000. Clearly this is an elitist sedan marketed to a certain audience. Price is relative if you can afford it.
Maybe when the 00 is launched, Jaguar will hire some prominent actors or actresses to market the cars.
Perry Lefko is the Content Manager of The Car Magazine. He can be reached at [email protected]. Feel free to forward any story suggestions or comments.
