What do consumers think about Jaguar’s rebrand?

In a 30-second promotional clip, luxury car maker Jaguar teased a bold new brand direction. The clip – landing just before the December launch of a new Jaguar EV offering – features a range of brightly dressed models in unearthly landscapes, with phrases like ‘create exuberant and ‘copy nothing’ appearing on screen, before a flash of a new modernist take on Jaguar’s logo.

As soon as the clip landed, everyone had something to say.

General online opinion appears to be negative, with many wondering why a brand with such an embedded position in the market would need to relaunch at all, and why they’d want to do it without appearing to maintain any of their prestigious heritage.

But what a few tweeters and marketing mouthpieces think doesn’t really matter. What really matters is what consumers think.

That’s what we’ve tried to find out.

We ran a survey to 1,000 nationally representative consumers in the UK and the US to get some answers. And here’s what we found…

What’s the overall sentiment?

Overall sentiment towards the ad is mixed, with 42.7% giving a negative reaction.

When we asked whether the ad had any effect on people’s opinion of Jaguar, the response was almost split down the middle. 30.9% said they felt more positive about the brand after seeing the ad, and 29.7% said they felt more negative.

How the ad impacts people’s opinion of Jaguar

We then asked each group what specifically made them feel more positive or negative about Jaguar after seeing the ad.

Using Attest’s Gen AI summary of open-text responses, we found:

• The advertisement was perceived as innovative, creative, and different from typical car ads, standing out with its unique approach.
• Viewers appreciated the vibrant colors, diverse representation, and modern, fashion-forward styling of the ad.
• The ad conveyed a sense that Jaguar is evolving to be more inclusive, modern, and forward-thinking, challenging its traditional image.
• Many respondents felt the ad made Jaguar seem more exciting, relatable, and appealing to a younger audience.
• The “Copy Nothing” slogan and emphasis on uniqueness resonated with viewers, reinforcing Jaguar’s premium and distinctive brand image.

And here’s the negative group’s summary:

• Lack of car representation: Many respondents were frustrated that the ad didn’t show or mention Jaguar vehicles.
• Confusion and irrelevance: Viewers found the ad confusing, weird, and unrelated to Jaguar’s brand or products.
• Dislike of perceived “woke” messaging: Some respondents criticized the ad for being too politically correct or pushing a progressive agenda.
• Stylistic complaints: The avant-garde fashion, music, and visuals were off-putting to many viewers who expected a more traditional luxury car advertisement.
• Failure to communicate about the product: Respondents felt the ad provided no information about Jaguar’s cars or brand values.

Will the ad make people want to buy a Jaguar?

When the media and social media heat has died down, what’ll really matter to Jaguar is whether they’ve won over any potential customers with their new positioning.

We segmented the results to specifically find out whether people who are thinking of buying an electric car in the next 12 months would be more or less likely to choose a Jaguar following this campaign.

The results are encouraging for the car brand…

A statistically significant number of EV buyers said the ad made them feel ‘much more positive’ and Jaguar after seeing the ad.

And that enthusiasm does seem to translate into an increased likelihood to consider a Jaguar as their next EV.

This result would imply that EV buyers – presumably the target audience for this new electric phase of Jaguar’s offering – are impressed with what they’ve seen so far.

And this is before we get into the free earned media Jaguar has generated with this launch…