Jaguar’s new era: where design, metaphor and messaging collide

Cathal Smyth, Bladonmore’s Executive Director, Strategy, picks through Jaguar’s rebrand. Has the new identity been undermined by a baffling campaign, and clunky communications?

The Jaguar rebrand has landed to a pile-on of uproar, confusion, outrage, and mockery with a sprinkling of hate.

Picking through the wreckage, it feels that the real problem lies not in the new identity itself but more in how it has been conflated with the launch campaign video and wider launch communications.

Visual identity: not terrible, actually

Let’s start with the part that has had the least attention – the rebrand itself. I’m not a designer but… it’s not terrible, it might be okay and maybe even good in parts.

The logo does the clean, modern minimalist thing. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel, just shave off the edges and smooth it down. The big cat has been mainly retired but the makers marks look good and the whole lot might look even better if seen in situ – on a handbag or maybe, heck, even on a car.

On its own, the new identity is perfectly serviceable – it’s the kind of design that could grow on people over time. But instead of discussing it on its own terms – and arguing about the cat and the capital ‘G’ – we’re distracted by everything else.

Launch video: cosplay of metaphor

Next up is the launch campaign video. This is not the rebrand itself but a colorful, high-art concept where people get to cosplay as a metaphor for whatever the brand is supposed to mean to whatever audience all this is targeting.

Metaphors in branding are tricky. When they work, they elevate the story and draw people in. When they don’t, they feel pretentious and disconnected.

This campaign lands firmly in the latter. Jaguar’s new era of copying nothing is in fact full of standard-issue, brand fare – going bold, exploring new perspectives, challenging boundaries etc. all played out in a luxury-fashion saturated colorscape.

Communications: AI meets school project

So, we have an identity that might be okay and a launch campaign that feels wide of the mark. Then there’s the way that Jaguar has talked about both of these, which is where the rebrand falls apart.

Reading through the launch press release and the dedicated microsite feels like an encounter with an AI-bot under instruction to use only phrases from the new brand-approved lexicon. Every statement feels overly polished, clinical, hollow and quickly repetitive.

What are supposed to be direct quotes from senior Jaguar personnel come across like children doing a school project where they have been told to play at being brand strategists for the day. The result is stiff, awkward, inauthentic and, again, disconnected from the genuine excitement and passion you’d expect for such a big reveal.

Car crash: Conflating the identity, launch concept and communications

The real problem here is how the identity and the launch campaign and the communications have been bundled together into a single, messy blob of words and images and video.

The visual identity is being judged through the lens of a campaign video that, at best, has left people scratching their heads. The campaign feels even more pretentious because the communication around it is so empty and robotic. Each element is dragging the others down.

Rebrands are hard. They’re risky. They demand careful thought and precise execution. It’s not enough to have a sleek new identity, and an ambitious campaign, or even a strong vision. All of these need to work together in a way that feels cohesive, authentic, and – most importantly – a bit human.

For now, Jaguar is sticking to the script, answering critical comments with semi-cryptic responses including: ‘Think of this as a declaration of intent’, ‘The story is unfolding. Stay tuned’, and ‘Consider this the first brushstroke’.

So, let’s see how it plays out. The visual identity might grow on people and the campaign might fade into the background. But unless it finds a way to connect with its audience in a real, unscripted way, the rebrand will remain overshadowed by its miscommunication.

 

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