Radical Jaguar rebrand and recent logo sparks ire online

recent YORK — 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 recent logo, is slated to launch Dec. 2 during the Miami Art Week, when the corporation will unveil a recent 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 shift to going all-electric.

“Copy Nothing,” marketing materials read. “We’re here to delete the ordinary. To leave 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. “shatter Moulds,” copy reads.

It drew ire online, with people complaining about the lack of a car and the confusing communication. X owner Elon Musk wrote on X, “Do you sell cars?” People also complained about the recent, 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 incorrect tone for potential buyers, and said the corporation is making a mistake by not using the brand’s heritage as an elegant British high-act sports car in its marketing.

“If they came back with a really excellent electric vehicle, they could construct on their prior image as opposed to really throwing out the heritage of the brand and going in this benevolent of path,” he said. “It’s challenging to view how the trade of people that would like that way is large enough for them to thrive.”

Rebranding is a ordinary 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 period to period.

But if they strike a incorrect chord, the outcome can be disastrous. history 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 insolvency protection in 2015.

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