No Agency
Hi Friends!
News broke last week that apparently, Jaguar has fired its ad agency. As I’m sure nobody forgot, back a couple of months ago, Jaguar committed a number of incredibly obvious unforced errors, including but not limited to a Fivrr level rebrand, a ridiculous rollout to its equally idiotic new market focus and probably most insulting, an attempt to completely separate itself from and delete its incredible heritage.
You guys absolutely blew my inbox up with this story and the primary consensus of most of the emails that I received basically broke down to “what the hell took them so long?” While I think the conclusion to this was unbelievably obvious to anybody who’s not a chronically online basement dweller, the fact is that this absurd advertising agency had some help here and they didn’t do this alone. There were people within the upper ranks of JLR and probably all the way up to the top that thought this was a good idea and they ultimately put their careers and their reputations on the line for it. We see things like this (albeit not to the dumpster fire Hall of Fame level that this was) from time to time at Motorwerks and there’s some pride involved as well as there’s also a real desire for these people to hope for the best and see this through as long as they can once it happens.
Unfortunately, there is an element in the business world that likes to play fast and loose with advertising agencies. For them it’s just a situation of who is going to say the right things, in the right meetings and who’s going to do what they’re told. I’ll be the first to admit, we have lost clients this way and generally, even if we genuinely care about their brand, there are times when walking away is the right thing to do (for both parties).
One of the most important components of my job (and it’s something I do an awful lot) is to tell people that aren’t used to hearing things that they don’t want to hear, the word no. There are people that can’t handle this and we end up parting as friends because of it. Sometimes they go poke around in the world and realize the importance that marketing agencies actually present (you are entrusting them with the face of your entire brand after all), figure it out quick and then come back with a different attitude (which we are great with. We have very short memories and welcome them back with open arms). Unfortunately, these people are in the minority and most of the time what happens is we watch these clients that we work so hard to try to build up, go out in the world, CLEARLY hire the wrong people, create chaos, destroy their sales/standing and then rinse and repeat multiple times down the line, causing real, serious damage to themselves. There are simply a lot of people that exist in decision making positions, that under no circumstances will ever admit that they’re wrong. To a degree, that’s an element that’s made a lot of people successful, but it’s also something that puts a ceiling on you and it’s definitely something that comes at you the hard way when it does.
So what would I do if Jaguar hired me today? First of all, for a number of reasons, I probably wouldn’t take the job. The approval of the previous campaign demonstrates to me a culture that I’m not interested in being associated with professionally. I like idea people and I like people that push boundaries, but I also like to work with people that can read the room and don’t just do things because they think they can and Jaguar’s primary handlers clearly proved they can’t do either. That’s a big ugly snowball that generally rolls downhill and I have no desire to try and be at the bottom of that avalanche.
This said, I would double down heavy on heritage, revive some historic models (G-Type has a nice ring to it or perhaps maybe tease a XKSS revival type supercar like Alfa did with the fabulous 33 Stradale. Cars like that are mostly about marketing after all) and begin to integrate back in designs that look and feel less like rebadged Nissan Altimas and more like real Jaguars. To keep the lights on during this, I would recommend continuing to build on the fleet programs that they have established with companies like Waymo and try to maintain sales as more of a wholesale outfit for a while. They did real damage here and they’re going to have to go sit in the corner one way or another and it’s not going to be cheap to do any of this. There is precedence for this kind of activity though. Ducati sells motorcycles, but they also have an electronics division. They’re going to have to get creative if they’re going to get through this (let’s also not forget that they do have the Land Rover brand, which certainly appears healthier).
I’ve stated this before and I will continue to maintain it: I love Jaguar. Throughout history, nobody (other than Alfa Romeo of course) has cars that I’ve felt more connected to and that I appreciate more. I’m genuinely hoping they can turn the corner and this will just become a footnote in what not to do for companies and individuals when trying to make wide sweeping marketing decisions or hiring agencies of any kind. Clearly, there were mistakes made and they were huge ones too, but their story remains, it’s important and it would be terrible for it to end this way.
That’s it for this week……
Darin Roberge
