Radical Jaguar rebrand and new logo sparks ire online

NEW YORK (AP) — A promotional video for a rebrand of British luxury car brand Jaguar is being criticized online for showing models in brightly colored outfits — and no car.

The rebrand, which includes a new logo, is slated to launch Dec. 2 during the Miami Art Week, when the company will unveil a new electric GT model. But Jaguar Land Rover, a unit of India’s Tata Motors Ltd., has been promoting it online.

The Jaguar brand is in the middle of a transition to going all-electric.

“Copy Nothing,” marketing materials read. “We’re here to delete the ordinary. To go bold. To copy nothing.”

The promotional video, posted on X and Instagram, shows models dressed in futuristic brightly colored outfits walking in an alien-like landscape. “Break Moulds,” copy reads.

It drew ire online, with people complaining about the lack of a car and the confusing message. X owner Elon Musk wrote on X, “Do you sell cars?” People also complained about the new, stylized, logo. The “leaper” jaguar image has also been reimagined.

Charles Taylor, marketing professor at the Villanova School of Business in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said the promotional video strikes the wrong tone for potential buyers, and said the company is making a mistake by not using the brand’s heritage as an elegant British high-performance sports car in its marketing.

“If they came back with a really good electric vehicle, they could build on their prior image as opposed to really throwing out the heritage of the brand and going in this kind of direction,” he said. “It’s hard to see how the market of people that would like that approach is large enough for them to thrive.”

Rebranding is a common tactic for companies seeking to spark sales. Campbell Soup Co. on Wednesday officially changed its name to Campbell’s Co., and companies like Airbnb and Instagram update their logos from time to time.

But if they strike a wrong chord, the result can be disastrous. Past rebranding failures include Tropicana changing its logo in 2009 to omit its trademark orange — it soon changed it back. And Radio Shack rebranded to “The Shack” in 2008, alienating its core shoppers, before eventually filing for bankruptcy protection in 2015.

Jaguar Land Rover, based in Whitney, Coventry, in the U.K., did not return a request for comment.