Last week Jaguar unveiled their new branding with a 30-second announcement video. The reactions have been … mixed. Plenty of people like it, plenty more people absolutely hate it.
From a design perspective, we don’t mind the new look. Aside from some rogue capitalisation the font and brand colours look clean and modern. If you didn’t have any prior knowledge of Jaguar, I think the new look fits well alongside other brands in the electric car space.
While the brand design isn’t setting the world alight, I think the marketing strategy Jaguar have employed here, no matter how intentional, is genius. Here’s three reasons why.
Creating a new core audience
I think the most impressive thing that Jaguar have accomplished in their launch last week was to radically change a 90-year-old brand’s positioning in the space of 24 hours.
Plenty of people are questioning why Jaguar ditched their familiar brand, including the jaguar icon, in favour of a minimalist typeface. But this aligns with many of the commercial decisions the brand has made recently.
If you’re reading this then you probably already know about Jaguar’s commitment to becoming an all-electric brand by 2025. They’re not trying to appeal to your dad anymore; they’re building a new core audience of environmentally conscious, tech-savvy drivers who see value in sleek, modern design. Whether that’s a good move or not still waits to be seen, but considering Jaguar only sold 64,241 units worldwide in 2023 out of JLR’s total of 431,733, something needed to change. A pivot to a younger, possibly international audience makes sense.
No such thing as bad publicity
It’s such a cliché, but it genuinely rings true here. When was the last time a car brand dominated the news cycle on LinkedIn for two whole weeks?
The stats agree, with Jaguar doubling their reach and mentions on social media in the space of a week. Reaching over 70 million users through a single video campaign definitely isn’t bad. The best part of the campaign is the fact that it’s sparked debate. when we work on social campaigns for clients, encouraging comments and reshares are one of the first things we recommend. We’re not trying to cause arguments (most of the time), but repeated engagement with a post keeps it in people’s feeds for a lot longer. That’s exactly what Jaguar have done here, with the YouTube announcement already having over 25,000 comments.
Every hot take, meme, or critique means more visibility for the brand. In the crowded automotive market, getting people to talk about you, even if it’s polarising, is a win. Controversy isn’t hurting Jaguar here; it’s generating attention for their big reveal in December.
Building engagement for the actual launch
The best part about the brand launch is that it’s not even the actual launch. We’ve got to wait until Monday to even see the new electric vehicle. But the attention they’ve received in the past two weeks will mean a lot more people tuning in for that announcement.
By creating a storm of discussion now, Jaguar ensures that their future product launches will have a highly engaged audience. Every new model, every update to their platforms, will be met with heightened anticipation, whether that’s from people who want to buy a car, or those who want to write another LinkedIn post about how terrible it is.
We can argue about whether or not they should’ve ditched the big cat icon (which is apparently called a growler???), or why they’ve capitalised the G in the logo, but ultimately, they’ve nailed their long-term strategy. Jaguar have grabbed our attention and laid the groundwork for sustained interest as they fully transition into the electric car space.
We’ll watch this space and see if the commercials back up the campaign, but for now I wouldn’t write off Jaguar just yet.
Let me know what you think of the rebrand. Do you love it, do you hate it? How many lives has this cat got left? (sorry)