With its latest rebranding video, Jaguar has leaped into the mouths of netizens (plus the general public) in a big way, but probably not in the way the car company had envisioned. After the haloed brand exited stage left from selling internal combustion cars and taking a one year hiatus, many have been holding their breath to see what
Jaguar's EV plans would look like. Thus you can imagine why this rebranding announcement was met with disappointment, not just for its overt use of cringe-worthy taglines and catch phrases, but also the just plain lack of actual cars.
Uhm yeah... Copy nothing. Create exuberant. Delete ordinary. Live vivid. After watching this, one can only surmise that either Jaguar's marketing team is trying to push a younger, more vibrant direction for the brand or that they've lost their marbles completely. Look, they even changed the logo to jaGUar (see below)—nothing wrong in and of itself, but imagine that on a Jaaag, it just doesn't feel proper anymore. It's gone soft and doesn't invoke the feline energy that the prior logo does.
Of course, people (and especially fans) are understandably vivid... I mean,
livid. Reactions to the video/ad/art school project have been predominantly negative. Many are questioning what target audience Jaguar is attempting to capture. Even more folks rightfully said that it practically mentions nothing about
cars, electrification, or performance.
Jaguar's chief creative office, Sir Gerry McGovern, has a comeback for all that flak, saying, "New Jaguar is a brand built around exuberant modernism," while adding that "it is imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless." Indeed, as one commenter on the YouTube video suggested that the only thing brave about this ad was leaving the comments section on.
All said though, there WILL be a vehicle debuting on December 2 at Miami Art Week, called the vaguely named
Design Vision Concept. This car will be one of three ultra-luxury electric vehicles being planned by the Tata-owned company. We hope this reset was worth it. And you know what? At least Jaguar's ad had real actors in it, unlike
a certain giant soda brand that shall go unnamed.