Transcript
A (0:00)
Hey, fixaholics. Aaron here. Ooh, Jaguar. We are really onto something here. Since we recorded this episode, it's been reported that the product design chief tied to Jaguar's EV rebrand was fired. So is there a clear path forward being executed yet? There is not, but we gave them one. At the end of this episode, we untangled their product problems, the brand confusion, and we fixed the whole darn company. Maybe they'll listen to us, but in the meantime, you can. Here's our Jaguar episode. Welcome to We Fixed it, you're welcome. The show where we take over companies, you come along for the ride, and we try to put them back better than we found them. Jaguar, for decades, you've been a status symbol, synonymous with a certain kind of luxury and style, and you still want to be that. But who are you for? Like Bob Dylan in that Timothee Chalamet movie. You tried going electric and the crowd shrugged. You did a provocative to questionable rebrand and got roasted online and lost in the culture wars. Your CEO just resigned. It's not your finest hour, but that's where we come in. We're here to fix the situation. You've got us in your corner. That means Melissa on operations, Kadira on culture and corporate responsibility, me for marketing. And we're going to plus up the marketing muscle on this one. Joining us today is Beatrice Goodconnect. She's a fellow marketer, a rebrander, a podcast host and an Australian dialing in from Spain. How are you doing, Beatrice?
B (1:26)
I am badass. Thank you so much for having me on.
A (1:30)
That's really great. Really great to have you here. Why don't you tell us all a little bit about yourself?
B (1:36)
So I'm here on a mission to save. Well, for business owners who would like to be saved business owners. To avoid the cost and the pain of rebrands and instead focus on either repositioning or going inwards. Like, similar as to what we're handling here, too, with Jaguar.
A (2:05)
Perfect. Thanks, Beatrice. So you are the right person to have here with us, and we're. We're happy to have you. We will get into it, we'll talk about the rebrand side of all this. And before we do, let's all go back in time for a second. So Jaguar, or Jaguar, was founded in 1922 as Swallow Sidecar Company. They made motorcycle sidecars. They have a much better name now. They were founded in Blackpool, England, by William Lyons and William Walmsley, which is a very British name. They launched their first performance sedan in 1935 and started winning some races. In 1961, they released the legendary Jaguar E Type, which was praised by Enzo Ferrari as the most beautiful car ever made. They were acquired by Ford in 1989, sold by Ford in 2008 to Tata Motors, forming Jaguar Land Rover, or JLR. In 2018, they tested the waters of electric vehicles with a Jaguar I Pace. And it hasn't gone great. And now they find themselves in the center of a cultural and strategic firestorm because Starting in late 2024, in an attempt to reinvent as a forward looking, all electric brand, Jaguar unveiled a dramatic rebrand campaign. There's that word again. Rebrand. Featuring surreal visuals, spoken word poetry, a diverse cast, and they didn't even show the car. The result? Intense backlash. And they've caught a lot of heat. And it still is going on. Critics labeled the campaign confusing, out of touch and overly woke. There's that word again. So in contrast to the American Eagle situation, which we talked about recently, Jaguar had made it a point to show diverse representation and they were equally criticized. So can you win? We'll talk about about that. It went so poorly that their CEO, Adrian Mardell, officially announced his resignation on July 31, 2025, after three years in the role and 30. What? 30 years in the company. So now 35 years. So now you've got the brand in somewhat of a tailspin and the product is not going the way it should be. Jaguar said their vehicles would be fully electric by the end of 2025. And it sounds like they're sticking to it, which sounds great. But if you take a step back and look at other companies like Rivian and Lucid, maybe not so great, because those companies already have EV market share. That's what they're known for. Their cars are beautiful and they're facing layoffs, weak demand and plummeting investor confidence. Meanwhile, Jaguar itself hasn't released a new mass market hit in years. Their EV line has been non starter so far, as I mentioned, and now they're going all in on being an EV company.
