When Katja Vogt considers a Jaguar, she pictures a British-made car purring confidently along the Italian coastline — a vision of familiarity that conveys "that dreaming, longing feeling we all love."
She's not sure what to think about Jaguar now after the 89-year-old company announced a radical rebranding that featured loud colors and androgynous people — but no cars.
Jaguar, the company says, will now be JaGUar. It will produce only electric vehicles beginning in 2026.
Bad attention is good attention, Jaguar execs would appear to believe. The car brand has prompted mockery online for posting a glitzy ad without a single car in it.
Say goodbye to British racing green, Cotswold Blue and black. Its colors are henceforth electric pink, red and yellow, according to a video that sparked backlash online. Its mission statement: "Create exuberance. Live vivid. Delete ordinary. Break moulds."
"Intrigued?" @Jaguar posted on social media.
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"Weird and unsettled" is more like it, Vogt wrote on Instagram.
"Especially now, with the world feeling so dystopian," the Cyprus-based brand designer wrote, "a heritage brand like Jaguar should be conveying feelings of safety, stability, and maybe a hint of rebellion — the kind that shakes things up in a good way, not in a way that unsettles."
Our brands, ourselves
Jaguar was one of several iconic companies that announced significant rebrandings in recent weeks, upending a series of commercial — and cultural — landmarks by which many modern human beings sort one another, carve out identities and recognize the world around them.
Campbell's, the 155-year-old American icon that artist Andy Warhol immortalized in pop culture decades ago, is ready for a new, soupless name.
Comcast's corporate reorganization means there will soon be two television networks with "NBC" in their name — CNBC and MSNBC — that will no longer have any corporate connection to NBC News, a U.S. legacy news outlet.
CNBC
One could even argue the United States itself is rebranding with the election of former President Donald Trump and Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Unlike Trump's first election in 2016, he won the popular vote in what many called a national referendum on American identity.
Are we, then, the sum total of our consumer decisions — what we buy, where we travel and whom we elect?
Certainly, it's a question for those privileged enough to be able to afford such choices.
Volumes of research in the art and science of branding — from "brandr," an old Norse word for burning symbols into the hides of livestock — say those factors do contribute to the modern sense of identity. So rebranding, especially of heritage names, can be a deeply felt affront to consumers.
"It can feel like the brand is turning its back on everything that it stood for — and therefore it feels like it's turning its back on us, the people who subscribe to that idea or ideology," said Ali Marmaduke, strategy director with the Amsterdam-based Brand Potential.
He said cultural tension — polarization — is surging over politics, wars in Russia and the Mideast, the environment, public health and more, creating what Marmaduke said is known as a "polycrisis": the idea that there are several massive crises converging that feel scary and complex.
Campbell's soups
"People are understandably freaked out by that," he said. "So we are looking for something that will help us navigate this changing, threatening world that we face."
Trump's "Make America Great Again" qualifies. So did President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" slogan.
Campbell's soup itself — "Mmm Mmm Good" — isn't going anywhere, CEO Mark Clouse said. The company's new name, Campbell's Co., will reflect "the full breadth of our portfolio," which includes brands like Prego pasta sauce and Goldfish crackers.
What is Jaguar?
None of the recent activity around heritage brands sparked a backlash as ferocious as Jaguar's. The company stood as a pillar of tradition-loving British identity since World War II.
The famous "leaper" cat Jaguar logo is pictured in 2019 at the Auto show in Paris, France.
Jaguar said its approach to the rebrand was rooted in the philosophy of its founder, Sir William Lyons, to "copy nothing."
What it's calling "the new Jaguar" will overhaul everything from the font of its name to the positioning of it's famous "leaper" cat.
"Exuberant modernism" will "define all aspects of the new Jaguar world," according to the news release. The approach is thought to be aimed at selling fewer cars at a six-figure price point to a more diverse customer base.
The reaction ranged from bewilderment to hostility. Memes sprouted up likening the video to the Teletubbies, a Benetton ad and — perhaps predictably — a bow to "woke" culture as the blowback intersected with politics.
