‘It makes me cringe’: Adland leaders weigh in on Jaguar rebrand
Leading adland figures have shared their thoughts on the bold Jaguar rebrand, and how it has gotten everyone talking about the brand’s promise of ‘exuberant modernism’.
Last week, the British car brand unveiled a 30-second spot featuring a new logo and visual identity, marking its move to electric-only cars.
Jaguar’s chief executive officer described the rebrand as one built around ‘exuberant modernism’ meaning it is “imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint.”
Developed by Jaguar’s in-house creative team, the spot quickly started receiving widespread backlash for not featuring any cars, or the company’s traditional cat logo.
Mumbrella asked some of adland’s leading figures to weigh in on the controversial rebrand.
Jenny Mak, creative partner, DDB, Sydney:
When sales lag six to one against your sister brand Land Rover, bold moves aren’t optional, they’re necessary. That doesn’t mean this was the right one.
Jaguar’s sales haven’t declined because of branding or marketing alone. They’ve declined courtesy of limited R&D investment and a narrow product lineup.
Competing in the luxury market with just six models and minimal customisation options is a losing game. Porsche, in comparison, offers six base models with nearly 100 variants, each highly customisable. My point is that a new logo won’t solve the deeper issues holding Jaguar back.
The real misstep is in abandoning the brand’s iconic heritage. While reinvention can be powerful, Jaguar’s complete break from its storied past feels alienating. Their rebrand, marked by disconnected visuals and a bizarre launch video, seems aimed at young, affluent creative types – but misses the mark entirely. Without aspirational products to back it up, the effort risks driving the brand further into irrelevance. Until the new lineup is revealed, Jaguar’s rebrand looks more like a detour toward mediocrity.
Dave Di Veroli, chief strategy officer, Akcelo
The internet’s decided: Jaguar’s rebrand is a disaster. Conservatives are yelling “go woke, go broke,” die-hard fans are mourning the loss of a 100-year legacy, and everyone else is left scratching their heads. But wait—why are we rushing to the end of the story before it’s even halfway told? This is act two.
Act one? Jaguar was in freefall—sales down 40% this year alone. Plagued by product issues and embarrassingly late to the EV game, they were struggling. And their brand? Research showed people admired the idea of Jaguar but had no real desire to own one.
So, desperate times called for bold moves. Jaguar needed to shake things up, break from its stale past, with a symbol of re-evaluation. Was this rebrand the right way to do it? Maybe, maybe not. But it’s done something Jaguar hasn’t managed in years: it’s got people talking. More importantly, it’s given Jaguar a shot at writing their next chapter. If they play their cards right, this could still become a branding masterstroke. I am excited to see how it plays out.
As Adam Morgan wisely puts it, “Fear indifference, not rejection,” and Jaguar is clearly refusing to play it safe.
Ben Walker, chief doer, The Do Collective:
I respect the ambition and boldness behind Jaguar’s effort to break the mould and reimagine its future – whether it’s electric, vibrant, or drenched in colour.
However, the real test lies in whether Jaguar can translate this audacious narrative into vehicles that truly embody the promised ‘exuberant modernism’, which so far remains more an idea than a reality.
For a campaign this daring, the cars must be equally radical and transformative to maintain credibility and momentum.
While there’s potential for Jaguar to achieve a memorable reinvention in their rich history, I can’t help but feel sceptical about their ability to fully deliver on this promise.
With more of this campaign yet to be revealed, let’s afford them a little more doubt than benefit.
Carl Sarney, head of strategy, TRA:
When did you last think about Jaguar prior to this week?
There’s a rumour that the teaser video is in fact a diversion. I doubt it, but imagine. A strategic hoax to get everyone talking about what Jaguar is with a video that’s everything it’s not. This could be post-rationalising a giant marketing mistake, but; what if the best way to rekindle love for everything that’s made Jaguar great is to shock everyone into thinking they’re taking it all away? Shock indeed.
The real question though – will the rebrand be commercially successful?
Peugeot has gained market share since their 2021 rebrand …but they didn’t reimagine, they revitalised. And SAIC didn’t even mess with the MG logo when they stuck it on their entry level EV’s and grabbed a share of the Indian and European markets. It makes sense for parent company Tata to have a premium brand, but whether ditching the British baggage in favour of so-called ‘fearless creativity’ is the best way to attract younger, wealthier buyers remains to be seen.
Daye Moffitt, chief strategy officer, Houston Group:
There’s no debate that Jaguar’s latest move is bold, it undoubtedly is. But the nature of its boldness is worth unpacking.
Let’s focus on three hot topics: the glaring absence of a car in the ad; the so-called ‘sheer f***ing lunacy of the whole thing’, whatever that means; and, finally, some sky-high promises that could leave even the most ambitious brand gasping for air.
But here’s the rub: boldness is a double-edged sword. The higher the bar is set, the steeper the fall when expectations aren’t met. True leadership demands courage, not just to stand out, but to step out. To lead, you have to risk breaking out of the Peloton.
As Oscar Wilde famously said: “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about”. And as for Elon’s critique? Perhaps he should ask himself if he sells cars… or just himself.
I wish the brand well.
Mathew Cummings, managing partner, By All Means:
In 2023 Toyota sold about 8.5 million new cars globally. Granted, Toyota is not a luxury car brand, but Mercedes Benz is, and they managed to sell over 2 million new cars over the same period. In stark contrast, Jaguar, which came in at number 93 in a list of the top 100 brands by car sales for 2023, sold less than 60,000 cars.
Once upon a time celebrities like George Harrison and Frank Sinatra were glamorously pictured swanning around high society in their uber stylish Jag E-Types. But since those heady days the Jaguar brand has clearly struggled, so it’s easy to imagine the enormous pressure to make dramatic changes across product and brand to improve the brand’s fortunes.
But this new work feels like a spoof scene from Zoolander. It’s so incredibly disconnected from any of the brand’s distinctive assets and associations (meticulously cultivated and nurtured over many decades), as to be unrecognisable for Jaguar. It’s almost as if this is an entirely new brand which now seems to be trying to sell me makeup products. Or perhaps a new clothing line? I really don’t know, it’s just so obscure.
It’s trying so very hard to get noticed that it makes me cringe a little. I used to think that Jaguar was a symbol of British success, style and sophistication. Now I have no idea what it sells or why I should want it. Which doesn’t bode well for the brand’s future ranking in the top 100 car brand sales list.
Psembi Kinstan, chief creative officer, DDB Group Melbourne:
Before I join a pile on, let’s look at the business context. Jaguar sold around 70,000 models last year, down from 180,000 in 2018. They’re about to launch their new ‘exuberant modernism’ design language at Miami in a few weeks’ time, so let’s assume this rebrand exercise is designed to build anticipation for that.
Has this got a lot of people who would otherwise not care that much about Jaguar’s new design language to care about their launch? Yes, definitely.
It’s successfully made the market think Jaguar is about to do something radically different – whether that’s good or bad remains to be seen.
Should our industry rubbish anything that’s this out-there and wacky, even if it seems vacuous and nonsensical? Not entirely. I’m glad it’s so weird, I just wish it didn’t take itself seriously. It feels like a parody of a global perfume film concocted in an AI fever dream.
So, will this be the death knell of a brand in free fall, or a precursor to a rise from the ashes when their new cars are revealed on December 3?
Only time will tell, but thanks to this weird fa-shonnnn rebrand, now the world is watching.
Louise McQuat, group creative director, Akcelo
Jaguar’s rebrand feels like a betrayal of its legacy. Once a symbol of sleek sophistication and bold English defiance, Jaguar now risks becoming a shell of its former self.
To be fair, Jaguar needed to do something. Reviving sales and staying relevant in an evolving luxury market isn’t easy. Other brands like Rolex and Louis Vuitton have modernised while preserving their heritage, but Jaguar’s bold move feels like a hollow attempt to stay relevant, sacrificing its rich history for generic ideals.
This is the brand that gave us the E-Type, “the most beautiful car ever made,” and campaigns like “Grace, Space, Pace” that sold more than cars—they sold a bold attitude. Now, the rebrand feels disconnected, trading individuality for abstraction.
The bigger risk? A fractured brand experience. Luxury brands are judged in every detail—from how they look in dealerships to how their cars drive. Does this rebrand translate meaningfully across Jaguar’s touchpoints?
That said, for better or worse, Jaguar has the whole internet talking. Maybe that was the point all along?
Jay Morgan, creative partner and founder, Popula
Right at the top I’m going to confess bias, I’m a car nut. I love old and new, the exotic, classic and weird but the thing that draws me to cars is the stories of the people behind them.
What inspired them, what were they trying to achieve with their car, what statement were they making, what convention were they pushing against? It’s how that story speaks to me and that’s what brand is.
Jaguar has a rich history. It started life as Swallow Sidecar Company. At this point it had wings in its logo and it wasn’t until it made the Jaguar car, a huge deviation from making sidecars and coach building, that it introduced the Jag face and logo type. It ditched the wings. The leaping Jag was added a while later and has been synonymous with the brand since.
In recent times it was one of the first premium car brands to enter the electric fray with an exceptional offering quite ahead of the class and true to Jag’s performance and luxury history.
Radical change is in the history of the brand, reinvention is part of its DNA. But times have changed. Today’s customers are faced with too much choice. If you don’t draw on the equity of your brand, you’re making it that much harder for them to make a decision about which brand is right for them. Customers need to be able to latch onto something familiar so tying back to the history of the brand is powerful. Remember, it’s the story they buy into.
I know so many younger brands that would kill for the storied history that Jaguar enjoys. Building a brand is hard stuff and it’s very hard to invent time. A strong brand with a reason for existing can drive the vision not only of the marketing but of the product and company too. Something it seems the current Jag team have ignored.
By now you could be thinking, “okay fine, I agree the new brand is awful, so what should it have been?”.
Allen Peters – a visual ID designer I’ve been following for the last few years always has a great take on rebrands. And with Jag I think he nailed it.
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Thanks Allen. Jag brand team, he’s fixed it, hire him.
The general consensus by the public and the industry is that the new rebrand is a miss. While it has garnered them enormous attention it’s not high fives and back slaps, it’s dumbfounded confusion.
Jag are about to release new cars that they say will define this new direction but the question remains, will this reinvention story be something people fall in love with.
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the agency beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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Ben Walker
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Daye Moffitt
Jaguar
Jaguar rebrand
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Jenny Mak
Louise McQuat
Mathew Cummings
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