In November last year, Jaguar Land Roverunveiled a radical rebranding exercise. The iconic British car brand, known for its sleek designs, racing heritage and unmistakable growler emblem featuring its big cat mascot, made a dramatic pivot that both alienated its existing customer base and failed to resonate with new audiences. Spearheaded by agency Accenture Song, the new identity introduced a minimalist 'J' logo, replacing the iconic 'growler' logo, along with advertisements that conspicuously lacked cars. Instead, the campaign featured an array of abstract visuals and diverse models with slogans like 'Live Vivid' and 'Delete Ordinary'. It was all part of a strategic shift to position Jaguar as an all-electric luxury brand by 2026. But the public response was swift and devastating. And the backlash wasn't limited to social media outrage: it translated directly to Jaguar's bottom line. Global sales plummeted from 61,661 vehicles in 2022 to just 33,320 in 2024, marking a nearly 50% decline. Now, the company is actively seeking a new advertising agency, effectively acknowledging that the rebrand has failed to achieve its objectives. So what went wrong, and what lessons can other brands learn from this costly misstep? What went wrong? Sue Benson, founder and CEO of The Behaviours Agency, lists some of the reasons she feels the new approach failed. "There are few, if any, cars in the ads, which leaves audiences unsure what the brand even stands for. Heuristics like the leaping cat logo have been discarded, weakening mental shortcuts consumers rely on. Emotion has suffered, too; rather than stirring pride or aspiration, the new identity feels cold and aloof. And in terms of consistency, the shift has been jarring, with little cohesion between legacy and future." In short, the brand destroyed more equity than it built. By abandoning recognisable elements that consumers had emotional connections with, Jaguar created a vacuum that its abstract new positioning couldn't fill. "In a market where EV brands are multiplying, distinctiveness matters more than ever," Sue reasons. "Jaguar already had strong emotional and cultural heritage, so it's worth questioning whether stripping that away in favour of minimalism was the right move." Sign of desperation Of course, many of us like radical change, and many people in the design industry were pretty excited when the rebrand was first launched. But sometimes, 'radical' can go too far and end up throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. "The scale of the transformation was hard to ignore," says Gabor Schreier, chief creative officer at Saffron Brand Consultants. "If Rolls-Royce were to abandon the Spirit of Ecstasy, the reaction would be immediate. Jaguar's move belonged in the same category. Abandoning that legacy and sacrificing vital brand assets might be seen as either a bold, forward-looking strategy or a sign of desperation disguised as a provocation. A leap so detached from its heritage, they might as well have changed the name entirely." Typically, a successful rebrand will maintain a sufficient connection to a brand's core identity so that consumers can follow the evolution. Jaguar, however, created a chasm so wide that the rebrand appeared to be a complete reinvention rather than an evolution, leaving consumers confused about what Jaguar now stood for. A broader identity crisis Of course, none of this happened in a vacuum. Lewis Jones, managing partner at Coley Porter Bell, frames Jaguar's struggles within the broader context of the auto industry's shift to electric. He suggests that the problem goes beyond the rebrand itself to a more existential question about what makes cars desirable in the electric age. "The traditional thrills of internal combustion such as sound, speed and mechanical drama are fast becoming irrelevant," Lewis notes. "As EVs lean into minimalism, efficiency and tech-led rationality, the emotional connection to the car risks being left behind." In this light, a car brand needs to not only maintain its own identity but also solve the broader problem of creating emotional connections in a category increasingly defined by sameness. Instead, though, Jaguar leaned into the very minimalism that risks making electric vehicles feel interchangeable. "Design is where this battle will be won or lost," believes Lewis. "It is no coincidence that one of the most talked-about EVs of 2024 is the Renault 5, a masterclass in retro-modern design. It is not the specs or software that excited people. It is the character, the charm, the identity. It feels like something. In an era of indistinguishable EV silhouettes, design becomes the new sound of the engine. It is the thing that stirs emotion." Despite the failure of Jaguar's rebrand, though, Lewis acknowledges one potential positive: it has "elevated design into a cultural conversation." More specifically, the unveiling of the Type 00 concept car at Miami Art Week in December 2024, which showcased the brand's future electric design direction, did generate significant attention, albeit with the same polarised reception as the rebrand itself. In short, while Jaguar's execution may have been flawed, its instinct to differentiate through bold design wasn't entirely misguided. The failure was in how that design connected—or failed to connect—to the brand's heritage and values. Lessons for brands So, what have we learned from all this? Here are five big lessons for other brands contemplating significant repositioning. 1. Evolution, not revolution Gabor's comment that "right now, it feels as if a Jaguar might no longer be a Jaguar" encapsulates perhaps the most critical lesson. Overly radical rebrands risk destroying more equity than they create. Successful rebrands, in contrast, maintain sufficient connections to a brand's heritage while moving it forward. 2. Maintain distinctive assets Sue highlights the importance of maintaining recognisable elements that create mental shortcuts for consumers. Jaguar's abandonment of the growler logo eliminated a powerful visual cue that had built recognition over decades. The simple lesson is that brands should carefully audit their distinctive assets before discarding them. 3. Solve emotional connection challenges Lewis's about the EV category point to the challenge of creating emotional connections in categories undergoing technological transformation. Brands need to find new ways to create emotional resonance when traditional sources of differentiation disappear. 4. Test with core audiences Jaguar's rebrand appears to have been developed with an idealised future customer in mind, without sufficient consideration for existing loyal customers. Brands should test significant changes with core audiences before full implementation. 5. Ensure clarity of purpose Perhaps most fundamentally, Jaguar's rebrand created confusion about what the brand now stands for; as Sue notes, there was a marked absence of actual cars in the ads. A successful rebrand should clarify rather than confuse a brand's purpose. The road ahead As Jaguar looks to appoint a new ad agency, it faces the challenge of deciding whether to double down on its controversial new direction or course-correct back toward its heritage. Gabor notes, "As someone once said, to err is human; to rectify, wise. Even the most daring strategies leave room for course correction." No brand should be so committed to something that it cannot adjust when the market provides clear feedback. What's clear is that Jaguar's next agency will need to help the brand reconnect with consumers on an emotional level while distinguishing itself in the increasingly crowded electric vehicle market. As Lewis states, "The agency it chooses will need to build on this momentum, not just to sell cars but to help people reconnect emotionally with the act of driving." Whether that means embracing the controversial new direction with better execution, or finding a middle ground that honours Jaguar's heritage while looking to the future, remains to be seen. Either way, the stakes couldn't be higher for this storied British brand. #why #jaguar039s #rebrand #failed #what