‘It completely misunderstands what a brand is’: A branding expert weighs in on Jaguar’s controversial new look

If you didn't hear the news that Jaguar has rebranded when the new identity dropped at the start of this week, you probably have now. With not one, but three radical new logos, the new look is already proving one of the most divisive rebrands of recent years, with everyone from design experts to Elon Musk chiming in.

With a wordmark that combines upper and lowercase letters, colourful marketing imagery and not an actual car in sight, Jaguar's apparent 'lifestyle' rebrand has been variously compared to advertising for a vegan smoothie company or trendy underwear brand – and they're just the kind ones. And according to one branding expert, Jaguar probably didn't even need to rebrand in the first place.

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"As a lover of the Jaguar brand and its heritage, I’m hoping this is a spoof to drum up PR," Lee Rolston, chief growth officer at BIA-winning agency Jones Knowles Ritchie, told Creative Bloq. But that might be wishful thinking – with the rebrand all over Jaguar's social media and website, there can be little doubt that this is the real thing.

"This rebrand completely misunderstands what a brand is—and what branding is. It’s impossible to reinvent a brand like Jaguar while ignoring its legacy." Indeed, legacy is an important word in the branding world right now, with countless brands opting to resurrect heritage logos in a push for nostalgia. So it's notable that Jaguar has opted to go the other way. "Imagine representing Snickers in the image of a pineapple—your brain simply wouldn’t accept it," Rolston adds.

And if Jaguar was trying to get a message across to its customers that its cars are going electric, Rolston isn't convinced that rebranding was the way to do it. "Brands transform through what they do and how their audience experiences them, not just by rebranding. Apple convinced us that a computer company could not only dethrone Sony Walkman but also take on HMV and Netflix– all without rebranding. Tiffany convinced us they were "not your mother’s jewellery" by streamlining their range and associating with Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Basquiat, and Nike—not by rebranding. Jaguar could have convinced us their cars now run on electric, not gas, by staying true to themselves—not by trying to be someone else.”

Jaguar has been at paints to point out that this is only the first step of a new era, with the brand's social media manger seemingly working overtime to respond to the avalanche of negative tweets to that effect. "The story is unfolding. Stay tuned," they respond to one, and "This is just the beginning," they say to another. Hey, if the next update includes some depiction of a vehicle, that'll be a plus.