Brand Pivot: Jaguar Rebrand Crashes

I occasionally write about branding — that's how I earned my pay for 3+ decades —and licked my chops to write about Tropicana's recent rebrand debacle — not that I'm into schadenfreude or anything — it's just that I find it fascinating and hilarious how big brands can so often screw this up — which Tropicana has a way of doing every generation or so because it doesn't understand how passionate its customers are about packaging.

(Wow. While I'm not into schadenfreude, apparently I am into em dashes.)

But then Jaguar launched its rebrand, swimming up from the depths of irrelevance and breaching the surface of public consciousness in smashing fashion to snatch the brass ring from Tropicana.

Jaguar's brand is utterly iconic in the automotive world. It's fallen on some business troubles as of late. While a rebrand is probably the tonic it requires to regain momentum in the marketplace – especially since its strategy is to reposition upmarket into premium-premium luxury – it wrecked on the first sharp turn of this journey and totaled its rebrand.

Let's set the stage for rebrand as it even comes with its own theme: "Copy Nothing."

(Which leads me to stroke my chin and wonder: How do you copy nothing?)

I have a hard time not laughing. It looks more like satire (Saturday Night Live?) than a serious rebrand; I don't even have to labor over the keyboard describing it for you as its visuals more than tell the story. Let's start with how they've re-imagined the logo:

Sure, the old logo could have used some refinement to bring it into the here and now. But this? No claws and attitude whatsoever.

Next, let's set the consumer tone with some futuristic visuals to get you in the mood for the new Jaguar.

Doubting I would copy any of this any time soon.

And: Notice a car anywhere? Neither did I.

What I did notice was one fender bender of a gender bender.

Of course, the branding and advertising peeps have been having a field day with it online. For my favorite take on the rebrand, let's all bow down to Kate O'Connor and her post on LinkedIn:

So what's a company to say for itself? Here's what Jaguar said in a response to CNBC when asked for comment on the rebrand:

“Our brand relaunch for Jaguar is a bold and imaginative reinvention and as expected it has attracted attention and debate.

“As proud custodians at such a remarkable point in Jaguar’s history we have preserved iconic symbols while taking a dramatic leap forward."

When they say "custodians," might they really mean janitors?

It's exceedingly tough for a heritage brand (Jaguar was founded in 1922) with such strong product associations (sports car performance) to make such a drastic change successfully – but it's not impossible. Does anyone remember the early days of Banana Republic?

I'm guessing that's not the Banana Republic most people think of today, having jumped the gigantic chasm from safari adventure travel to a mainstream-accessible, cool brand the younger generations simply call, "Banana."

So, it's not inconceivable, Jaguar, that you can pull this off. Perhaps you've got something up your sleeve? Maybe you've planned an upcoming reveal that takes the logo to a new place like this reimagining Josh Cremer posted on LinkedIn?

Or likely not. I guess we shall see, and in the meantime we'll simply acknowledge at this juncture in your quest to "Copy Nothing," indeed, you've created a true original.

Godspeed, friends – and Happy Thanksgiving to you. We'll be giving your inbox a rest this Thursday and will see you again next week.

Russ

💬 Quote of the Week

 "Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind." Walter Landor.

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