Stay in Your Lane: What We Can Learn From the Jaguar Dumpster Fire

Jaguar recently rebranded. It did not go so well.

If you’ve seen the latest Jaguar rebranding campaign, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was an ad for a Zoolander sequel. Filled with late-90s model-culture schlock, the spot seems like something from the mind of a college art major who just discovered Warhol.

All the cliches are present:

Models decked out in garb that only exists on fashion runways and isn’t designed to be worn? Check.

Far-off, vacant stares? Check.

Odd placement of old people interspersed with young people? Check.

Surprise - No Cars!

Nary a car is to be found, and instead, we’re treated to thumping bass and cheesy choreography that’s so on the nose that it hurts.

The new tagline, “Copy Nothing,” seems especially ironic considering the retreaded content. And of course, this is stylized as “copy nothing.” Jaguar is too cool for capitalization.

The outfits, makeup, robotic movements - It all adds up to a bad trip while stuck in Fashion Week hell with a double-header Devo\Joy Division cover band.

We’ve seen this before. In fact, this level of cheesiness has become so parodied over the past 30 years that no one takes it seriously.

But apparently, the in-house team at Jaguar did. And they somehow convinced Jaguar execs to go along for a ride in the clown car.

For reference, we’ve linked the ad below:

And you might think, “Well, everyone is talking about the ad, so it’s effective.” No. You’re wrong. It’s effective at getting attention, but serial killers also get attention.

Despite what psychoanalysts tell you about “Negative attention is still attention” and marketers saying “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”, people are canceling orders.

Read that again - Customers are canceling orders

That is precisely the opposite of what an ad is supposed to do. Like, the total antithesis of a good ad. Yes, there is such as thing as negative attention. Ask Bud Light. Perhaps “copy nothing” was the wrong messaging.

Who Signed Off on This?

Perhaps what’s more troubling is a point we touched on above: Jaguar execs signed off on this. It didn’t happen in a vacuum, although the development of the ad likely happened in a bubble.

When a company like Jaguar decides on a major rebranding, they don’t just hire an ad agency and say, “Have at it. Do what you want. Best of luck. We look forward to seeing what you come up with when it airs on TV.”

Everyone is informed - (Seemingly) no one stepped in

Instead, they have departments full of people who need to preview each step of the process. Marketing, legal, C-suite, product development, customer relations - All of these departments are involved throughout.

Everybody Overhauls Everything

The entire company receives emails about the rebrand, training is involved to ensure everyone aligns with the new way of thinking. Art departments have to create new everything, logos have to be standardized, and catalogs and showroom collateral need to be updated.

PR reps have to have extensive meetings about how to position the brand to the public. Oh, and plenty of research would have been (supposedly) done beforehand and reports compiled and passed around.

No, this type of thing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Plenty of people were aware of what was going on. And no one stepped in to put a stop to the trainwreck.

As much as it would seem Bud Light taught marketers a message, Jaguar missed the memo.

Hold My Bud Light

Not too long ago, Bud Light made similar headlines and experienced backlash for its involvement with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney.

In the case of Bud Light, however, the difference was that the Mulvaney partnership was never an official deal, and it certainly was not a complete rebranding.

In fact, you could say that one hand didn’t know what the other was doing in the case of Bud Light. And despite the backlash combined with the anti-woke sentiment that’s been brewing for years now, Jaguar saw all of this and said, “Hold my beer.”

Class, What Have We Learned?

We’re not saying that experimentation is bad. In fact, as a creative agency in Charlotte, we’re all for taking risks.

The issue, however, is that these risks need to take place within a customer-centric frame. This Jaguar rebrand took over 100 years of history and hard work to build a luxury brand known for class and sophistication and threw it in the trash.

Disrespectful? Yes.

Wasteful? Yes.

Stupid? Yes.

The lesson? Stay in your lane. Speed around corners, put a loud muffler on the exhaust if you must, but stay in your lane.

Know Your Customer

Know your customer. This is the foundational principle when marketing any product or service. Speak to the needs of the customer above all else. Don’t get so lost in your peer bubble that you forget to check yourself into the real world.

Just like Bud Light’s core fanbase is not and has not been people who care about trans issues, Jaguar’s customer base is not made up of arthouse snobs. Are there some in the crowd? Sure! But not enough to justify this rebrand.

A Better Jaguar Ad

A better idea would have been to have an artist and his entourage pull up to a gallery showing in a new Jaguar. This speaks to that crowd as well as those who care about the vehicles themselves.

A simple, easy approach can scratch the itch of all involved without jettisoning everything into bizarro world. Marketing doesn’t have to be hard.

In fact, it can be very easy, especially when backed by over a century of brand history.

Creativity is always on the table - but keep things within your brand’s customer-centric frame.

Build Everything Within Your Customer’s Frame

An easy way to avoid this kind of issue in your own marketing is to build your branding within your customer’s frame. Think about who your ideal customer is, what they want, and why they want it.

Develop creative based on the foundational aspects of your brand within the customer’s frame. As noted above, Jaguar could have spoken to the art crowd by invoking imagery of a modern art exhibit with Jaguar drivers pulling up. They didn’t have to use cliche, outdated cringe.

Think About the Future

Also, consider the future ramifications of your marketing. Maybe not all of your decisions, but most of your decisions will have some impact on your positioning in the future. Jumping on trends and fads can taint your brand for months or even years to come.

Don’t tie your company to a trend lest you become a parody in time. Jaguar may not live this one down for a long time to come. The amount of time and money required to undo this marketing blunder will be immense, and reputations are lost.