We Fixed It, You're Welcome - Jaguar’s EV Rebrand — How to Fix a Luxury Icon

Episode Date: August 19, 2025

Jaguar’s EV rebrand was meant to redefine the luxury car brand — but instead, it sparked massive backlash, confused loyal customers, and even led to their CEO stepping down. In this episode, we break down exactly what went wrong with Jaguar’s electric vehicle strategy, why their marketing campaign failed, and how they can fix their brand without losing their iconic heritage. Discover the key lessons every business can learn from Jaguar’s rebranding mistake, the reality of competing in the EV market, and the blueprint to reconnect with loyal buyers while attracting a new generation. 📌 Topics Covered: Jaguar EV rebrand failure explained Why the marketing campaign missed the mark The danger of abandoning brand heritage How to merge tradition with EV innovation Strategies to win back luxury car buyers If you’re interested in brand strategy, luxury cars, electric vehicles, or marketing case studies, this breakdown is a must-watch. https://wefixeditpod.com/ A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We're here to ask the kinds of questions everyone's thinking. Have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you're welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where is Jaguar going wrong? Is it the campaign, the product, the timing? Is it all of it? And more importantly, can we fix this situation? It's not about the rebrand. It's not that they attempted to make a bold statement. It's not that they are driving towards a more sustainable future. It's luxury brand.

It's British. It's cultural. It's James Bond. Okay. It's performance. It basically like going to the supermarket, you buy the same thing. You go there every week and you buy ice cream. The same ice cream brand.

And then one week, you're like, it's not there. Here is it. But it is there. They've just decided to completely change it to an entirely different package. And you're just looking everywhere. You're like, where is this one that I know? 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 Timothy Chalemay movie, he tried going electric and the crowd shrugged.

He 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, an Australian dialing in from Spain. How are you doing, Beatrice? I am badass. Thank you so much for having me on. That's really great to have you here.

Why don't you tell us all a little bit about yourself? 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. Similar to what we're handling here too with J-Jure. Perfect. Thanks, Beatrice. So you are the right person to have here with us and 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 1920 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, by Enzo Ferrari is 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 by 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 on 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 that. It went so poorly that their CEO, Adrian Mardell, officially announced his resignation on July 31st, 2025, after three years in the role, and 30, what, 30 years in the company?

So now you've got the brand is 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. So let's put it all on the table. Where is Jaguar going wrong? Is it the campaign, the product, the timing? Is it all of it? And more importantly, can we fix this situation?

Kadira, I want to hear from you. Let's start. Yeah. So I think there's a few things going on and there's a few lessons here. One of the biggest is around authenticity. So it's not that they attempted to have diversity in their ads. It's not about the rebrand. It's not that they attempted to make a bold statement.

It's not that they are driving towards a more sustainable few. future, right? Two thumbs up all the way around for all of those things as stand alone. But typically, when you go bold, even when you rebrand, you lean into more of who you are. You're showing the world. You're showing the buyer. You're showing the customer more of who you are, more of your values, more of your mission, more of your ethos. What happened here is a really good reminder that the buyer is smart. These things have to already be a part of who. who you are as a company. Because when you make a sharp pivot, right,

these things seem to kind of come out of nowhere. You spring something like this on your audience, especially in this climate, it will make all the difference between something being well received or receiving backlash. Beyond some of the issues here, the other feedback was things like

the most important feature in the ad was missing, the car, right? The logo was replaced. I believe. Those timeless features, those iconic touches that we all know that make Jaguar recognizable without even having to say the name. We're gone. So not only was there this disconnect with the rebrand in the ads. There was questions of like, who are you trying to reach? Are you trying to reach your current customers, these legacy buyers? Or are you trying to reach new customers and, you know, get them given that you're, you know, you're going all electric? What are you trying to do here. But there was also like this just emotional disconnect, right, with buyers, whether it's

your current or potential, it just fell flat, unfortunately. So, but why were, why were people so bothered? You know, they put out this campaign. Yeah, it's, they didn't show the car, but it's a teaser campaign. They, they announced something's coming. It was stylized. It was artistic. They made it this retro futuristic type of hyper-futuristic type of appeal. They didn't show the product, but that's what you do. I'm not saying that theirs was good, but that's what you do in a good campaign. As you say, you tease, right? You provoke.

You say, get ready for something. Why was there such backlash in this case? I think they needed to think about what kind of customer they are chasing. And Jaguar is known, the heritage of Jaguar, it's luxury brand, it's British, it's cultural, it's James Bond, okay, it's performance. So, you know, let's get real. The Rivians, the Teslas of the world, that is a different customer, okay? Those are tech buyers, those maybe tech bros, I hate to say that. luxury first movers, you know, first time. And that pool is already oversaturated. So you're not

going to out Tesla Tesla, okay? But Jaguar already has a defined brand. So why are you not thinking about utilizing all of that to take you to the next step, right? And so I think, Aaron, what fell flat was that it abandoned ship of its, you know, of its heritage and kind of tried to lure, oh, the sexy teaser campaign, let's go viral. But like, you have to have a product, you know, all of these kinds of things. And people, you can't recover from that as a company. But I think that what they don't want to do is just walk away from what's made them, just this luxury brand that everyone knows and loves. Well, Beatrice, let's hear from you.

Let's say they lean into their heritage and they said, we're a proud British company and we have this racing heritage and we're made for quality and we've endured all this long and now we've gone electric with that have worked like in a crowded TV marketplace? They, they hella alienated their audience. It's basically like going to the supermarket, you buy the same thing. You go there every week and you buy, I don't know, ice cream, the same ice cream brand. And then one week, you're like, it's not there.

Where is it? But it is there. They just decided to completely change it to an entirely different package. And you're just looking everywhere. You're like, where is this one that I know? And so they've done this. And, you know, I looked up their original values, right? The original values are grace, space, and paces.

Like, now their customer love, unity, integrity, growth, impact. What does that even mean? These are so subjective. Right, to a car. Like, what does that even mean? Right? Right. Yeah, yeah. I would agree. I love that analogy that you used because that's something that we can all kind of hold on to. I think that sometimes when we talk about these luxury brands, other people might be like, well, big deal. It's not something I could ever aspire to. But I think that, again, it gets to understanding who your audience is and really knowing them. And so luxury buyers who demand refinement.

status, seamless ownership, all of those kinds of things. That's where you lean into Kedera, like the culture and authenticity and, you know, aligning the product to that, right? And, you know, and you can tease things, but when you're teasing things and saying, you know, we've partnered with the top resorts in the world, the only place you're going to get to test drive the first new bubble. blah, blah is going to be in, you know, Bali or wherever it might be, right? You know, Monacoa, whatever it might be. But, like, they just kind of really fell flat because I think they tried to jump into the pool that everybody's already swimming in. Yeah.

This was absolutely a moment to, you know, clarify. Just, you know, even hearing, you know, the two of you, it's absolutely just, it was just a moment to clarify, right? Their core brand, their core DNA, you know, again, it's not. about trying to be something different, just clarify who you are. And, you know, again, you've got these legacy customers. I mean, I can remember growing up a family friend, her car was Jaguar. I mean, she had Jaguar after Jaguar after Jaguar. And I remember even as a little girl seeing it and it was just, you know, it oozed luxury and legacy. And so again, you do, just understanding, you know, to your point, Melissa, understanding who that customer is

and taking this moment to really clarify was just such an operational. when you think about, you know, the rebrand. I also think, you know, again, love, love this idea of thinking about what's next around the EV market and electric. But wouldn't it have been cool for them to, you know, position this as progress and evolution, right? Not, again, doing something different. It's like you're showing your audience. We're not abandoning who we are.

We're evolving. We're leading the pack, right? Like we always do. Join us, follow us. Continue on this journey with us. then you kind of are grabbing, again, both your current customers, but then also that potential, right, that's thinking about, again, a car like Jaguar, ooh, now it's electric. You know, and then, you know, along those lines, again, it sounds simple, and I say this every time,

but, like, let's make sure that the product is actually something the customer wants. I'm always shouting from the rooftops, right? Test the market. Engage your customer. Engage those who know and love the brand. Even they're thinking about maybe those folks who, who might be detractors or, you know, might have questions, really listen and get that feedback and balance that with this long-term vision, of course, which is thinking about a more

sustainable future when it comes to gas cars, keeping up with the times. I can absolutely appreciate every company needs to be thinking about how you're going to keep up with the times. And, you know, especially in this day and age, you have to be thinking about how you're going to pivot. You have to be thinking about the competition, all the things. But again, you have to balance that with, does your target audience actually have an appetite for what you're setting out to do? Yeah. Yeah. I think you can also make it be a win with addition and expansion, not replacement, right? So I think what's scary when you do something like this and it's, and it's very clear cut, very focused on the EV side, is that it is positioning it so it feels like the traditionalists are losing out. Right. So we're losing out on performance. We're losing out on the luxury brand, the refinement and luxury, you know, all of the additional things. So what's really important is to use this time to find new energy for new audiences, but not alienate and reject the founding DNA of the company. You bring up a really huge point that from an operations perspective, Kadira, I just can't say enough. But the credit, you know, gap when the product doesn't meet what you're selling, right? So, you know, but by them not showing it is,

can sometimes feel like you're hiding something. And so is it that it's not ready to go? Because we've had that issue with others, right? You know, Ford did have that issue with a premature Model E electric branding, confuse their buyers before they even hit the showrooms, right? Cadillacs overambition. EV branding came years before their actual car showed up. The lyric arrived. So that just erodes trust and delays. And, you know, as an operational person, I love all of you marketing people, but we know marketing costs a lot of money. And so, you know, it's like, are you spending money on flash versus outcome? That would be my question because I think that internally, you know, just let's talk about the people that work at JAPWR, right? They have a reputation to uphold. And so,

you know, these campaigns, rebranding campaigns, consume budgets and management attention, and they're getting all the PR help that could have gone to R&D, customer focus groups, working out any kinks that were with the product line, making sure, you know, you have this early glamorous push. But if you're pushing out, like generic vanilla ice cream and not gelato or sorbet or something fancy, then what's the point, right? So I mean, I get where they were coming from. They were like, okay, you know, our audience is aging because, you know, the James Bond vibe, you know, that, that audience is getting older. So like, okay, you know, let's try to speak to the younger audience. Let's try to target like Gen Z,

Gen Alpha, they'll be, they'll be buying cars soon enough. And they, they, they, they talk. took this direction instead of, you know, looking back into that, okay, grace. Even the car, right, if we look at how the car is designed, this new design, it just blends in with any other electric car. Why not keep that original sort of grace, like the grace, the elegance, that luxury vibe that, you know, to not look like yet another. The tagline for this is copy nothing. But really, though? Yeah.

Really? That's a strong one to throw out there at this moment in time. But when you're saying that, it makes me think of VW Volkswagen, where I think they may have done it better. You know, they reintroduced. They said, here's something you've already, you know about us. You've known for a long time. You love it.

I think it was probably the early 90s where they did the bug relaunch, but now they've done the electric relaunch, and it's just, it's an evolution. It's another iteration saying, we're not wiping away our core, we're not going to copy someone else who are going to be ourselves. You already know you like it, if you like

it, and here's the electric version. So I think maybe because they were a little more true to their core and, you know, it had that consistency and that through line, consumers just said, okay, now that's electric, cool. But there's a lot

other X-factors that going on with, you know, with what we're seeing here. Did I think they did this because they wanted to jump on, like, the cultural brand bandwagon or, like, why do you think they chose the way, the path they chose? You know, look, I think that they were trying to balance again who they are known to be as a company and who they're known to be as a brand and their legacy. And I absolutely think that they were trying to balance that with keeping up with the times. I think that there was also a little bit of, you know, reading, you know, again, the room and reading the climate. But I think they should have went a little bit further on reading the room and made sure that the folks that were inside their room. This was actually going to resonate with. Again, I can appreciate kind of looking around at the climate of what's going on around the world and thinking like, hey, we need to make a statement here.

But again, you know, I think that, and this is a social responsibility kind of framework or play here, this is an opportunity, even when you're going to do something like that, which is admirable of really looking out into the world and seeing what's going on and thinking about how you can integrate it into your own brand, leverage your own, you know, key strengths. Take a shared value, you know, moment. So, you know, Jaguar, of course, shouldn't be looking at, you know, what another car company necessarily is going to do because maybe their. values and ethos and mission and all those things don't align. I think there was an opportunity there. You know, you talked, Melissa, you were talking, you brought up employees and I think that companies sometimes miss that as just a key, you know, stakeholder in all of this. I think it would have been so cool when we think about this moment to rebrand and even kind of push the envelope with everything that's going on, you know, in the world and this opportunity around inclusion,

how cool it had been to engage their employees or owners or like engineers or customers who live this company and breathe it every single day to actually tell that story? So you could have easily taken your target, you know, folks that are touching this company every single day and done something very similar in terms of thinking about inclusion. It was also an opportunity there where they could have tied in like the company's sustainable vision for the future. those folks who kind of believe this company and already believe these things because they're showing up to work, they're buying the cars, you know, the cars, you know, every few years they're turning them over. They would have been perfect to help tell this story.

And it goes back to what I said at the beginning. Now you're touching on authenticity. Exactly. And even taking from that, take it to the people. So what does, assuming they want to stay in touch, like they want to, you. connect with Gen Z, Gen Alpha, millennials. Look at the influence or the celebrities, oh, that generation, that align with those original values.

Link up with them. Collaborate with them. It's a human side, especially now with AI and all of this tech that's making us feel so isolated that will draw more attention compared to Tesla's, etc. Yeah. And I love what you say. Because I think that all that, even if there's a struggle or even if there's missteps, that is part of a brand story. You know, if I think of it from a marketer, which I do, you know, that people, Gen Z, Gen Alpha don't always want the here.

Here it is. We've done it. We made this for you. Now go buy it. They want, especially if it's going to be a fundamental transformation, they want the process, you know. They want the messy part. They want to know we struggled in. in engineering to get this one curve right and we stayed at it and, you know, we failed 17 times

and then we hit it. You know, there's a lot of, even if it's, even if there are missteps, even if it was costly, there's a lot that could have been communicated outward to maybe put some guardrails around what actually made it to, you know, made the light of day. And Melissa, I do think it's a case of flash, you know, I'm guessing maybe operationally or maybe something wasn't quite right. Maybe, you know, he mentioned the confidence around the car wasn't there. So maybe they said marketing. You're good at this. Go do something. You know, capture some attention and we'll figure the rest out. And it just didn't. Whatever happened didn't work. Well, and like I said earlier, I feel like the space is somewhat flooded. And so when you see cars now, you kind of automatically

see this like, modern-esque type of thing, you know, like everybody's making fun. of, you know, the electric trucks and things like that because they just don't, they don't, they're not sexy. They're not sexy. Let's just get real. Jaguars are sexy. So why aren't you leaning in to those types of things that differentiate you as a brand and make it your asset? So carve out your niche in this very, you know, full pool of EVVs. So, you know, use your heritage and your authenticity as an asset. So use, you know, use that. those interviews with employees, you know, use some fun, you know, like get the spokesperson, get all the James Bond actors, you know, like seriously, let's do it, right? Let's make it British,

right? While others compete on like that minimalistic look, you focus on keeping the Jaguar, you know, how do you keep it all about the Jaguar that you recognize, oh, that's a Jaguar electric car, right? It's got that amazing, luxurious interior. It's got poise, you know, it's iconic design, you know, it's go back to your, you know, logo, you know, all of those kinds of things. And you brought something up, Erin, that I was going to say as well, is that I think that the problem is it's not emotional enough. It's just kind of, you know, it needs to be a little bit more emotion in the car. You know, like I remember, you know, growing up,

okay, it was an electric car, very old. But like my first car and naming my car and, you know, all the things. And so like, how do you connect the buyers with the cars, right? You know, Lusa, Tesla, all of them, they dazzle with numbers.

But what really makes you feel special? And Kadira, you were talking about your story about someone who owned a Jaguar. I have the same story. I had an HR manager that worked for me. And when she finally got this big promotion, she went out and bought Jack. And I was like, are we paying you that much? No, but I'm just kidding.

But like, the fact of the matter is for 15, 20 years, that's all she could think about. And she was like, this was my gift to myself. And I was laughing because I was like, you have two babies? like, is the Jag like the right car? You know, they're going to be puking in your car and stuff. But like, you know, whatever. But that emotional connection to like, this is a dream I have and this is what I want to do. So, like, you know, think about how do you, how do you tie emotion to the brand?

And then last but not least is customer experience. And I think that like when you think about these luxury brands, you could create, Jaguar has an opportunity to create unparalleled customer experiences. Right. You know, it could be like those James Bond type of events. It could be partnerships with the most top luxury brands. You know, you've seen that like I think Ford tried to do this or somebody did, you know, or they had the Eddie Bauer version or you know, da da da da da. But like they could, who knows, they could partner with like the top British brands, whatever. And they could bring that to you. exclusive events, you know, like Jaguar Clubhouses, where you actually get like this concierge clubhouse kind of feel when you, at a truck for charging stations.

Right? I like this. Like really cool things that kind of go back in time, but are actually, those are modern, right? Because who needed charging stations before? You needed like a place to go meet people in smoke and have a drink, right? You know, those kinds of things. So all of those are coming back too, right? Let's get real. Like speak-easies, all that kind of thing, you know, everything old is new again. So, you know, when we think about Jaguar getting stuck in traditional old time money, you know, people are craving that. Like, look at that. Everybody's wanting that kind of gilded age type of thing, right? They all want to go and kind of go back in history. And so,

like, utilize that, utilize that time. But then to Beatrice's point, like, utilize also the modern tools available to you. So are there influencers who could help you? Are there, you know, and how do you kind of tie, you know, tie it all together? But operationally, I think, you know, I don't know what their EV, you know, all the bells and whistles look like. But I think that there's an opportunity for them to really craft it into something that's so different than, like, a Tesla, for example. I mean, even the car itself, right, they, they weren't known for like the most smoothest drive.

Like, you know, that's, that's securely like, you know, Mercedes, BMW. They've got that market. So why try to go into that for like the sleet, like, sleekers? lean into that original like okay yeah we we've got floors it's not necessarily the easiest to fix but you've got this certain embodiment around our brand you know these these stations around speaking like yes hell yes for that double down on that image don't try to make it sleek don't try to go into another brand's territory we'll make it like sleek no mercedes have spent years, decades, doubling down and making their brand as smooth as possible, as fast as

possible, don't do that. Yeah, it's, if you have an EV, you know, it's beautiful and it's, it's, super efficient. I've said, you know, another, another scenarios, but that's the point of entry. You know, that's, that's, that's, that's what you need to show up to market. That's not going to win you anything. Unfortunately, you know, you've got to show superiority in one or more areas and, find your, you know, find your people. And if it's not the people that were drawn to your brand all these years and they feel alienated, who are they? You know, where are they going to come from? Because you're not going to take market share from other EVs that are struggling themselves. You're maybe going to try to create a category from, you know, traditional car buyers who might have

gone up or down one step. But it's, you know, it's, you don't want to manufacture a market. out of nothing. That's a hard for hard, hard, hard, hard, hard business proposition. You know, I'll go ahead. Well, I was, I was just going to say, I mean, I may be taking us a little bit off off of this particular topic, but as I'm listening to all of us with all of our, you know, great ideas and pushbacks and things like that, which is perfect, y'all know where I'm going to go with this, right? Who was around that table? And did they have diversity of thought and were folks really empowered, right? to, you know, talk about what's the vision of the company?

Where are we going? What's our long-term plan? Is this going to work? Have we tested? Just ask all the questions. I'm just curious, you know, who was sitting around that table? And again, did they have, you know, the right folks around that table to ask and raise these questions? Or, you know, what typically happens and when we see, you know, unfortunately, way too many companies, we kind of want folks that will reinforce what we want to hear what we want to be told. So just listening to all of, you know, everything that we're saying, I think it's something that, you know, we have to consistently raise when we have these types of challenges that arise with companies is, you know, what questions were being asked and by whom? And who's listening, right?

I think that, like, you can have the right people at the table, but maybe they're not listening to each other. Who has the moral courage to stand up and say, you know, wow, this is a lot. lot, maybe we should bring more people that are smarter than us because, gosh, you know, Beatrice is making a life out of rebranding and helping business owners. That tells you right there that there are some issues, right? That people from the get-go aren't starting, they're not turning off on the right place. So I totally agree with you, Kadeer. I think that that says a lot. And, you know, when you said bring employees into the fold, like, what has the communication been like internally, externally, like, are, is the board really hearing this? Because at the end of the day, they're looking at the

numbers. And I think, Aaron, you might have brought it up, but like they've had an abysmal, you know, lot, you know, 97% below year over year sales. You know, that is, that's not going to fly. And so what happens is, you know, the hand is on the neck of all those people sitting at the table. So sometimes you're just, you're feeling forced to just go with the flow or go with what the board wants or go, you know, try to jump on the EV bandwagon, right? And it's, to your point, at the beginning, you said, it wasn't the wrong, there weren't the wrong ideas. It was the actual execution and then, and maybe even the way they went about it. So it's a very, interesting component that I think spans all companies right now that this is a cautionary tale.

American Eagle is a cautionary tale. There's so many like cautionary tales about all of these types of things. And then we'll have next week we'll be talking about something that will be like some brilliant viral moment and we'll be like, oh, why don't we think of that? Yeah. Yeah. Well, and look, I mean, you know, what typically happens, right? The C-suite, you know, is kind of like, oh, right? Like so in this case, the CEO stepped down and, you know, we don't know exactly why. But if I were a betting woman, I bet it has something to do with this, right? After having a 35-year career with the company, this, you know, rebrand kind of flops and, you know, there's customer backlash.

And I'm sure there's board pressure and all the things. I actually, with the exception of a few things that, you know, we can talk. talk about it a different time, I actually do think that there's an opportunity to course correct, right? Because I think it's not just, yes, we can get rid of the CEO, we can get rid of the CMO and, you know, whoever else. But like, I'm always interested exactly to your point in who's in the driver's seat, who's being heard, are we listening? Because we can get rid of, you know, all the folks that we want to get rid of. But if we're not really looking at structural changes, if we're not looking at cultural changes,

if we're not looking at our frameworks and our policies and our approaches and all the things, a couple of years from now, we're going to be right back in this position with egg on our face in a different spot. Right? So I really think that's what we have to think about.

You know, we see this again, not just in the case of Jaguar, but a lot of companies, you know, you'll let some members of the C-suite go. And look, that's the price you pay. You're paid big bucks. You know that likely if there's some issues, you're going to be let go.

But again, let's make sure that we're actually addressing those structural issues. Otherwise, you know, here we go again. You know, you guys make a great point. And it's really fun. Like, it's something we need to look back at the fundamentals of what. And sorry, Aaron, I think this really comes to marketers, et cetera, really pushing the idea of rebrands. You need to rebrand. Like, oh, are you feeling, you know, like your brand is flat?

Rebrand. Do it like a fresh picture. Change the graphics. Change the words. But if the inside of the business is still the same, the operation is still the same, it's like putting lipstick on a pick. Like, it's been said over and over again. But that needs to stop because businesses will automatically go to, oh, you know, like,

I'm not feeling like there's movement. There's no traction. How can we fix this? A rebrand should not be the solution. If you've been in business for even a few years, you've already started getting a certain amount of association to your brand, whatever that association is. So as soon as you change that, you lose those people. You do more damage. So I think that needs to change. And yes, I think that Jaguar can still save face, but it really needs to go back into that internal aspect. What do these, let's go back to these original values

instead of like having five, ten different values. What does that look like now? How can we make sure that with these changes that we've made, how can we apply these right now? Yeah. Well, consumers love a good rebrand. If it's done right, you know, it's a way to get attention. It's a way to say we, you know, again, when it's done right, we, we were who we are who we were, we are who we're going to be. You know, you caught us at this pivotal moment in time where I'm glad we're all doing this together. We're all having an experience. And, you know, if you don't do that and you just change and don't draw attention to it, you lose, number one, you lose market opportunity. And number two, he caused confusion. So, you know, you. you know, whether you love the concept of a rebrand or not, it's, that is the business as usual. That's the way things go. I just think in this case, maybe it was the execution was just the drop the ball a lot of ways.

Not that rebrands don't work. It's just, it's a 50, the percentages are, what is it, 50% or less of rebrands work. And it really depends on how you do it, how much the team's involved. You know, make sure that operations is in there. Make sure that your front end is in there, your HR. Everybody needs to be involved for it to actually be successful. Right. Yeah, it can't just be like I said before, but on marketing where it's, it's we, we need time.

We need to stall. We need to figure this out or go solve our problems, you know. Yeah. And you can tell it and not outside of this case too, when something is very, I'll say when it's a manufactured moment, you know, you can tell it. You can, consumers are, like you said, Melissa, at the beginning, consumers are smart. They can spot that stuff and they'll point it out. And boy, did they this time, you know.

So we are getting our fixed wrap-up. So we put it, we did put it all on the table. Let me try to pull it back in with my scribbled notes. But you, you know, if you're going to change who you are and you're, you're going to do it publicly in a big way. You ask your people, what are we going to do about this? You listen to the answer. You don't just discard it.

Make sure that there's, you know, a broad representation of people there in the room, giving their voices and opinions. When you move forward, you temperature check the culture before you, you know, spend a bunch of money and do something splashy and make sure it's actually what people want, not only what they want culturally in the culture wars and in the zeitgeist in the moment, but what they want from your company. Don't change everything at once. And, you know, in this case, maybe Jaguar should not have made a new thing. They should have made an electric Jaguar. And consumers may have said, oh, good, you're finally doing that. Or good, you did it right this time.

We want in. But the fact that they said, you don't know us anymore, here we are now, that was the stumbling block. So if we put all the, if it's our company for a minute, now we're going to give it back. Jaguar followed that code of conduct or those order of operations. Did we put them back in a better place? Did we fix the situation? Let me ask you first, Melissa. I think we did. I think what Jaguar needs to do is restore the spotlight on the product, right?

We didn't see that. So we need to make sure that that's done quickly and fast. Open a genuine dialogue with the loyal customer base that they have, really reconnecting with them actively, not passively, you know, heritage and tradition meets electric events, all of those kinds of things. And really, you know, some transparent communication, as Kadira and Beatrice have mentioned about like what's going on. And then I really think that they can refine this new brand story by bridging that gap, right? The heritage with innovation. So crafting a clear, authentic message, being very consistent.

in that and merging it, you know, and so letting their customers know why they have these electric ambitions, but it really feels real exciting and above all Jaguar, and it's really focused on elegance, British luxury, racing spirit, performance, all of those things that they've been known for in the past. I like that a lot. Kadeira, how about you? Yeah, absolutely. All of that.

They need to work on restoring trust, of course. and they can do that. They need to leverage their core key strengths. Who are they? Who have they been? Lean into that more. Authenticity is key. So read the room, right?

Again, they need to be listening, testing, learning, and then executing. But this is absolutely fixable. Thanks, Kadira. I agree. Beatrice is there a way out of this. What do you say? Yeah. do think that it is possible.

However, I would say there's significant damage done to it, which it will take them a lot longer to try to rectify, but getting the team involved, getting true to your values or their values, and making it, bringing that human element back in, changing out like the models, a perfect-looking models for just their target audience, make it relatable. Yeah. Rather than chasing the virality. Great. You know, people are talking about them.

But are the right people talking about them? Because at an alignment, this is just, you know, marketing. Yeah. So that's the key there. Thanks, Beatrice. I'm inspired by all of you. I'm going to fix this one too. We're going to go spend a bunch of their money.

We're going to go back to the workshop and, you know, rebuild that Jaguar the way that people want it and come back out and say, look, we got it. We made something. It was kind of a monstrosity. You didn't like it. This, we know you like. We're going to be really vulnerable as a brand, which brands don't do. But let's let people in. Let's have the new CEO stand up and tell everyone, look at this commercial.

Look what we did. Look how far from our mission we got. You know, we tried to do something. We tried to cater to the cultural environment. It didn't work. Make that a public, you know, on an apology tour, but just like, look, we did this. You know, let's own that. Let's own the fact that we got off track, you know, we got way far away from where we should be as a, or what people know us for, what people love us for,

what we committed to all those years ago as a vision. And recalibrate, but do it, do the messy stuff. Let us all in on that. And then we're going to keep spending their money. I heard James Bond a few times. Now, James Bond traditionally is Aston Martin, but I love that idea. I think maybe they partnered out enough. They've done partners before.

But we're going all in on James Bond, so which is owned by Amazon MGM now. They've got whatever the next movie is going to be. We're going to do, Beatrice, you're with me on this, maybe. If you like it, we're going to kick off a campaign. It's going to be Live Like Bond. And that's going to be the center. piece, and Bond's going to switch from Ashton Martin to Jaguar once and for all. There's a win.

And then we're going to bring in our British influencers. We got not just a brand with heritage, we've got a country. So it's going to evolve to live like a Brit. And we're going to explain what that means. And there's going to be, you know, that just elevated lifestyle and all those things where you're not buying a car. And how you're tapping into a cultural mindset. And you're joining a tribe, a community. And that can go for a while.

And it can expand. I love that, Aaron. Live like a Brit. It could be live a driver. You could have S-1 driver. You know, you could have all the things. The other. And then we've got British celebrities that, you know,

influencers telling us, come be like, be one of us. The price of entries of Jaguar. You want in? Yeah. Yeah. Or like the refined sort of living. Yeah. Make it like a whole world. Build that world around the brand. What are the other elements of like, okay, refine sort of living. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. Refine living and refined partnerships. I think that's what they need to do because it gets back to Beatrice. What is that feeling? What is that feeling and what is connecting you to the brand? Right. Yeah. And I think that is key and I love all of this. Yeah. Who they would make an exceptional partner with,

Nespresso. Oh. George Clooney? Yep. Yeah. Like the vibe between those two brands, coffee. I love it. Yeah.

And none of that's a rebrand. It's a reconnect. Yes. There you go. Yes. Good. Kadira, Melissa. Amazing.

Thank you so much for the brilliance. Beatrice, thank you for being here with us and tell our listeners how do they hear more from you. Thank you for having me on so much. This was an incredible conversation between all of you guys. In terms of how you can connect with me, there's three places. You can check me on LinkedIn, Beatrice Good Connect, or Badassery by B on pretty much a lot of the socials, badasseryby.com, or the podcast, The Art of Position. Yay.

Excellent. Thank you so much for being here again. That will do it for this episode. If we fixed it, you're welcome. Jaguar, we are rooting for you. Keep making improvements. Maybe follow our advice. And when you get it dialed in,

you can send us matching Jaguars as a thank you. And we'll drive them around for you. It's a win-win. To our listeners, thank you. About you. Yeah. The demand for our show keeps growing and growing. So keep listening.

Talk us up at cocktail parties. keep running us up the charts, and we will keep making new episodes for you. Deal? Deal. If there's a company we haven't fixed yet, and you like, and you're all like, when are they going to do it? We'll drop us a line at We FixItpod.com, and we'll try to get to it. And we will see you next time. We hope you enjoyed this episode of We Fixed It. You're welcome. We go into every episode somewhat cold, and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice, or anything that would get us in trouble. All trademarks, I, and brand elements remain property of their respective owners.