When my Uber driver tells me about a new Jaguar EV, it's advertising gold
Jaguar launch an ad with no cars, tons of colour and plenty of criticism (doesn’t get any better than Elon Musk), characters not out of place in a Starwars bar and with bold tag lines like Copy Nothing, Create Exuberant, Live Vivid and Delete Ordinary!
Jaguar define this transformation as Exuberant Modernism, a creative philosophy that underpins all aspects of the new Jaguar brand world. It embraces bold designs, unexpected and original thinking, creating a brand character that will command attention through fearless creativity. No doubt!
And they remind us, Jaguar has its roots in originality. Sir William Lyons, the founder, believed that ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’. The vision for Jaguar today is informed by this philosophy. They tell us the “New Jaguar” is a brand built around Exuberant Modernism. It is imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless.
James Ramsden, the executive creative director at the London design agency Coley Porter Bell, said the rebrand was a “radical reinvention” of a business wanting to appeal to a new generation.
“It’s just a shame it walked away from some of the iconic, treasured, and beautiful icons that have occupied the brand’s DNA for generations,” Ramsden told Adweek. “If you’re going to ‘break the mould’, you’d better have one hell of a range of cars full of innovations and shape language, with a new buyer experience, ready to roll … this we wait to see.”
But we didn’t have to wait long
Because this week Jaguar backed up these claims serving up the 00 distinctive design vision concept, not in England, the traditional home of the marque, but the Miami Art Week, and the hits just kept coming!
The concept itself was stunning, the vision, highly ambitious and the internet lit up. But behind the scenes, many industry professionals admired the campaign for putting Jaguar back in the conversation.
Remember this new EV “direction” is not a car, ready for production, Jaguar, in a bold move have already halted production of all the old ICE cars, with a complete reset and the first step in the reinvention is to launch a 4 door EV sedan in 2025.
And don’t forget this is not Jaguar’s first EV rodeo. A revolutionary SUV called the i-pace was launched 6 years ago, and has been ticking away, not evolving and sales decreasing from a slow start
What did one of the experts say?
Manfredi Ricca
Global chief strategy officer at the brand consultancy Interbrand, who has worked with Bugatti and on the relaunch of Mini and BMW
Flashback to two weeks ago. Nobody’s particularly interested in Jaguar. Out of the blue, a 30-second video is released. Millions immediately turn their heads. In the space of 24 hours, Jaguar is part of the global conversation, having shown no product.
As a result, the level of anticipation for the new lineup builds up to World Cup final levels in terms of reach and intensity – including a leak on the eve of the launch.
You can hardly ask more of a campaign – especially one designed to revitalise a brand. Because what so many commentators have overlooked is that Jaguar Land Rover wasn’t trying to evolve a thriving brand but reinvent an ailing one
Today’s reality is that the number of people celebrating Jaguar’s heritage far surpasses those actually wanting its cars.
Museums can live on the past alone; commercial businesses can’t – they must turn whatever heritage they have into something that a sufficient number of customers can be willing to pay enough for.
It is an Amazing EV
So as a lover of all EV’s we applaud the bold new direction Jaguar are taking. Concept cars are not production cars but they do allow car brands to dream, to create and aspire to some new vision for the future, that’s what Jaguar have done here.
And as a student of marketing, like it or hate it (the advertisement or the car) if your Uber driver is telling you about it, you know the campaign has been a success. New concept, new logo, new device mark, Jaguar needed to attract a new audience, and they certainly have!
Either way we can’t wait to see what’s next from Jaguar!