What’s the Matter With Jag?
Hi Friends!
I’m sure by now everybody has seen the disastrous rebrand that Jaguar attempted this week. From the garbage Canva/Fiverr level logo attempt, to the completely tone deaf and thoroughly absurd rollout, to the delusional and combative social media strategy that followed, I think most people at this point would agree that this is one of single greatest branding failures of all-time, and in any industry.
For such a storied and legendary company (which also happens to be my second favorite automotive brand ever), this entire situation has been very sad to see unfold.
Now, there’s not much more that I think I can say about this that hasn’t already been said somewhere, by somebody at this point, but unfortunately, this did remind me of a certain type of call that we get on a far too regular basis, which is certainly one of the most frustrating types that we receive:
Potential client: Hi Darin! Here’s a massive series of problems that we sort of semi consciously created over a long term, multi-year period. Can you fix all of them in 2 weeks?
Me: Uhhhhh…. No. Maybe 6 months
Potential Client: That’s no good. We’ll find somebody that can do it in 2 weeks.
Spoiler alert: They find no one to actually fix anything and the problems get worse (or like in Jaguar’s case, they find somebody out there who can really, really make it worse for them fast).
This is ultimately what’s happened with Jaguar. They’ve been compounding problems on top of problems for years and since they were purchased by Tata Motors in 2008 all of this has been accelerated at a rapid and highly alarming pace.
Of course, during this time they have released a couple of truly handsome cars. The initial design of the F-Type was borderline legendary and the F-Pace is a truly fabulous luxury SUV (if you’re into that sort of thing). However, how they’ve presented themselves as a company, how they’ve made cars available to the world (currently there are none, as Jaguar has taken a year off essentially from doing anything on the ground), how they’ve cultivated their culture at the dealer level versus their competition and pretty much every other car that they’ve made or continued to make outside of these two examples has been pretty uninspiring comparatively.
Here’s an article I wrote for LinkedIn back in July of 2020 with the same name as the title of this newsletter. It further highlights the issues that I was noticing, as a then recent Jaguar owner, who very much wanted to own another one again, but just couldn’t find a way to rationalize it considering what was being presented in front of me at the time……
July 24th, 2020
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH JAG?
Over the course of the last few days, I’ve been seeing articles all over the place discussing the seemingly never-ending conversation surrounding the “impending demise” of Jaguar and the litany of problems they are currently facing. Of course, most of these focus on the usual suspects. Questionable brand management, declining sales in China, unrealistic growth strategies and of course the ever-insinuated sales war with the likes of Audi and BMW. I will be the first to admit, I am a Jaguar enthusiast. They are without a doubt, one of my top couple favorite automotive brands on Earth, past or present. So, what’s in my garage now? Unfortunately, not a single example of Britain’s great cat. I’ve certainly tried, but there’s two key things that have stopped me from jumping back into the shadow.
1. Jaguars dealer network badly needs a kick in the ass
When I owned a Jaguar, anytime I had to do anything with the dealer for any reason I always left feeling positive. When I walked in, I was treated in a manner in which was representative of a luxury brand, with the additional Jaguar panache and the constant reminder of the history of the brand (at the time, the dealers were clearly trying to cater to that…. Jaguar’s marketing team used to be absolutely fantastic) and that made it a special and worthwhile experience every time. I have returned to the same dealerships a few times since then, with the intention of buying another one and that I’m sad to say, is completely gone. Most notably, the last time I visited, not only did everything become completely Land Rover focused (in a terribly dopey Red Green Show type of fashion no less), but I was cornered in the entryway in a typical buy here, pay here type tactic and turned to multiple managers who had no intention of figuring anything out past their litany of half awake, cliché trial closes (“do you have a number that I could get you where I could earn your business today?”). Additionally, as I was leaving, the sales “professional” I had been working with felt the need to point out that he had killed a guy in a nightclub parking lot in Chicago in 1985 and I “had better answer his follow up phone calls”…… I’m a 6’3” 215 lb male who spends about 120 minutes per week (or about 40 rounds for those of you keeping score) training in a boxing ring. I wonder how they’re talking to a 26-40 year-old female (who for example, makes up like 35% of Lexus and Cadillac buyers)? Operating a high line dealership in this manner is just like walking money out the door. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and does nothing for the integrity of a brand. By contrast, when I walk into a BMW store (which is what I currently drive – and although it’s excellent transportation, I am in no way passionate about it), I’m greeted by a well-dressed professional, with a bottle of water in hand, who understands that not only am I (the client), more than likely smart enough to know what I want (and probably also not interested in settling for less), but is also confident enough in their brand to understand that they don’t have to earn my business. They understand that it’s a privilege to be a part of their legacy and they don’t need to try and jam me face first into something, that very second. Point is, Jaguar needs to completely restructure a significant number of their dealer procedures and objectives to better reflect what the marketplace is seeking.
2. Jaguars simply do not feel like Jaguars anymore.
Part of the lure of Jaguar has always been that it’s not for everyone. They present a certain look, feel and ownership experience that you can capture nowhere else. Now, they feel like boring, run of the mill, Nerf ball, Altima imposter, plastic boxes. One of the things I loved so much about owning a Jaguar was that I knew what I was in every second I was in it. It was like driving the Concorde, surrounded by white Connolly leather and Burl Walnut, a foot off the ground and I loved everything about it. It was all British, it embraced that it was different and made no apologies for that fact. You just can’t capture that when trying to cater to the masses. Especially after half a century of building a reputation for questionable quality. You need to have a way to override the risks involved. Becoming boring and mundane just doesn’t make that juice worth that squeeze. It needs to have the look, the feel, the sound and the smell that reminds its lucky owner that while Audi and BMW make great cars, you’re in a Jag and there is no alternative, nor is there any substitute. You need to create something special. It needs to be an experience. At this point, even the F-type (despite the wonderful noises that it makes), feels more like a bloated Miata than the offspring of the legendary XKE. Jaguar just plain isn’t making interesting cars anymore. For what has traditionally been a niche brand, that’s a problem.
I don’t think there’s any question that Jaguar has a variety of issues right now. Some their fault, some not so much, but as a former owner and forever enthusiast, these two things to me are the reason why I don’t own one right this very second. Fact is, it’s about making cars your customer base wants to buy and giving them an experience that makes them return. Obviously, production, research and development and so on are also critical components, but if you’re not doing the simple, basic things that potential customers are looking for, you might as well take it all to the litter box.
At the end of the day, you don’t do something as destructive and disastrous as what Jaguar did this week without building on a lot of pretty significant judgment errors first. There’s no doubt that there is a culture problem within the walls of their headquarters and things are likely to get worse before they get better, but the question is, how much worse can they possibly get?
Allegedly, Jaguar will be releasing concepts for their all-new upcoming line of electric vehicles in December. I’m sure the world will be watching (albeit probably not for any of the right reasons however).
Until then, take a look at your business. Are you building on and compounding long-term issues or are you asking yourself the difficult questions required to solve your problems as they arise, in order to not wind up in a mess like this?
Nobody wants to be in a position like Jaguar is in right now and nearly every time and on nearly every level, situations like this are completely and totally avoidable.
This one was definitely, definitely avoidable too.
PS It’s worth noting that Jaguar did at one point have some pretty great marketing people and pretty recently. Here’s some examples:
That’s it for this week…
Darin Roberge