"Authenticity" is a tired, played-out marketing buzzword of the early 2010s that still plagues us today.

A client once reprimanded their team in front of me by saying, "No one has ever strived to be inauthentic."

Truer words were never spoken.

The definition of authenticity as it relates to brands is "staying true to [the brand's] identity and engaging meaningfully with its audience."

So by saying, as a brand, we're the most authentic in comparison to our competition... I fucking hope so.

Stop selling consumers "authenticity" and build it into every little crack and crevice of your brand and the consumer's experience.

Sell them something different.

Sell them a solved problem.

Sell them something that hasn't existed before.

Sell them a world to step into.

Sell them an emotion... any kind.

Don't sell them authenticity; it means nothing.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I can’t get it out of my head. I suspect this was their move all along and honestly probably one of the best moves Jaguar could pull given their current position. 

Consumers have all but forgotten about Jaguar, and now they've thrown the internet into upheaval. They've gained massive awareness with just the investment of a photoshoot and some light PR, all ahead of an electric car pivot.

As they say, all press is good press.

As far as we can tell, nothing has been produced yet.

I doubt they'll actually execute any of this work, and I suspect they won't. In fact, I think this is just the first act. The second act will likely be an equally bizarre activation at Art Basel, furthering this campaign. It will be a new take on a concept car release, which is a good idea, though I still question their execution strategy.

With all concept cars, we never see anything like them in the market.

If they pull this off, it will be the greatest bait-and-switch awareness campaign this year. They have all eyes on them, free to launch anew into the electric market. But they need to capitalize on the hype quickly, which is challenging when you've ditched your all of your equity.

Jaguar didn’t just throw the baby out with the bath water; they threw out the whole bath and seemed to have forgotten they’re a car company. This rebrand looks like an ad for the new Google Pixel or any number of 5G phone brands. The irony that Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons said, “A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing,” is not lost on me. 

Many marketers fear that leaning too far into their heritage will leave them stuck in the past and hold them back from being seen as the innovators they hope to be. In response to this fear, many brands overcorrect by discarding any sense of heritage in favor of a bold, new, futuristic look.

“This is a reimagining that recaptures the essence of Jaguar, returning it to the values that once made it so loved, but making it relevant for a contemporary audience.” Although the marketing team is saying all the right things, they need to bring that sentiment to life. 

What they’ve done is ditch over 100 years of equity when they should really be embracing it, redefining it, and redesigning it, NOT creating something new from scratch.

You can read what other design industry folk said on The Dieline - https://bit.ly/DielineJaguar