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, stylised, 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 that 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 (Nov 20) 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 UK, did not return a request for comment.
