Are rebrands destined to fail?

Jaguar’s rebrand has been front of mind at the moment, and as we’ve seen, rebrands can be polarising, with the potential to cause reputational damage. So firstly, when is one necessary?

A lack of awareness of your branding does not mean that branding needs updating - this can be fixed with a change in marketing tactics. Instead, rebranding should be reserved for a shift in company direction or a move with the times; a change in services or product, reaching out to a different audience. I realised this was the case for my own business - we realised our branding and colour scheme were outdated and blended in with the competition, and so a rebrand was needed.

In regard to Jaguar's recent rebranding, they are making the move into producing solely electric cars, which are to be marketed towards a different demographic of environmentally conscious customers. Therefore, some kind of rebrand was necessary - however, there has been a lot of debate around how they did it and whether it has worked. One side argues they have alienated their core customer and the other points out they are trying to attract a new and different audience. So, how can a company successfully rebrand and avoid backlash?

Taking a step back, there's been two standout car adverts recently. Volvo put out a 3.5 min advert that everyone thought was super brave given the internet's usual attention span. Actually, people loved it. Volvo have updated their brand in many ways - their new model car is looking positively cyber, the driver clearly verging on Gen Z. But the core brand identity is the same: safety. It's not how you look, it's how you make them feel. And Volvo gave us a lovely cinematic moment and we all sighed in the warm glow.

By comparison, Jaguar has always been known for a different brand: status. But oddly, they chose to send out a different message last week - 'non conformity'. This managed to upset everyone: principally, the Jaguar-drivers who still call them 'motors' and the PR gang who couldn't bear the brand dissonance, as the new look screamed everything but cars. Not including even a nod to their product creates confusion and anxiety about what you offer to your customers. The video could’ve been for a range of companies, and this makes it homogenous and lacking brand identity, but one could argue that we all know Jaguar means cars and so they can get away without showing them.

My team and I were paying more attention than most on the day Jaguar broke the internet, as we were also having our own 'rebrand' moment. For us it was a long time coming (last substantive one was in 2013). In rebranding, we believe form follows function; in fact, the new YouCanBookMe logo is the universal symbol for scheduling availability. For us, the key to rebranding was to keep the product central - although you might want to ‘sell a lifestyle’, users want to know that the product they know and love will prevail. So our brand is about differentiation, yes, but also about going deep into our relationship with our customers. You shouldn’t pull it out of thin air, rebranding is evolution not invention - ours took 18 months!

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This is where I think Jaguar missed the mark - it doesn't mean anything yet to anyone and it feels pulled out of thin air - their ‘non conformity’ doesn't have an audience yet ready to pay attention.

Sometimes a rebrand is necessary, however remember your identity and product - you have worked hard to build these, and your branding should show them off rather than leaving them as an afterthought.