But Did It Work? Cutting Through the Noise of Jaguar’s Rebrand
Using data to measure the effectiveness of Jaguar’s polarizing rebranding strategy.
Hailed as either genius or going ‘woke and broke,’ Jaguar’s recent rebranding announcement made quite the stir. Despite the immediate and clamorous negativity online following the initial “Copy Nothing” advertisement, Jaguar doubled down on its rebrand, asking the public to “trust and reserve judgment.”
While pulling a controversial ad might seem like the sound thing to do after anecdotal backlash, this knee-jerk reaction could be without cause. For example, Google pulled its Gemini AI ad after it seemingly backlashed during the Summer Olympics, but here at Grow Progress, our research showed it was just as effective at persuading their target market as their other AI ads, proving that the loudest of voices aren’t always the truest measure of reality.
Case in point for Jaguar, their ad currently has more than 3 million views on YouTube and this rapid attention could be exactly what Jaguar wanted. Love it or hate it, many people are now talking about the 102-year-old beleaguered automobile brand and its ambitious push to become an all-electric automaker. The ad catapulted its brand from old-money luxury to something bold and relevant, quite literally overnight.
While Jaguar suggested naysayers “trust and reserve judgment,” here at Grow Progress we believe in data and measurability. This is why we tested two of Jaguar’s ads and measured their effect on the general favorability of the Jaguar brand, how likely people are to buy or lease a Jaguar as their next vehicle, and whether they identify with the brand.
Key Takeaways on Jaguar’s two ads and how they affected consumers’ brand opinion, likelihood to purchase or lease, and brand identity.
How we did it
We put two very different Jaguar ads to the test: Copy Nothing, their latest rebranding ad that is vibrant and diverse, and Jaguar E-PACE, a more traditional ad from 2021 for one of their electric vehicles that focuses entirely on the car.
We tested these two ads using the Grow Progress Rapid Message Test tool, which uses randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—the premier standard in message testing modeled on medical trials.
First, we recruited an audience of over 1,200 US adults who have a household income of $75k or more a year. Then we randomly split them into one of three groups. Each group viewed one ad (Copy Nothing, Jaguar E-PACE, or a placebo message) and answered the same three questions. In less than 24 hours we had the following results.
The Toplines
Overall, across all three success questions and subgroups of interest, the more traditional Jaguar E-PACE ad outperformed the Copy Nothing rebranding ad.
Perhaps not surprisingly, as Jaguar E-PACE showed a model and features while Copy Nothing was more “about the vibes,” as Gen Z would say. It’s worth noting that the intent of the Copy Nothing ad was not to sell cars but to announce a rebrand.
Topline key takeaways on Jaguar brand aspects
Looking further at the topline data, we can see that the Copy Nothing ad had no measurable effect on any of the three brand aspects we were measuring. That said, the Copy Nothing ad also noticeably had no overall backlash at the topline, even if it was less effective.
So was all the online negativity simply virtue signaling and keyboard opinions?
We dove deeper into the data by focusing on two notable subgroups: political affiliation and households making over $100k a year—Jaguar’s likely new target demographic.
Political Subgroups
Brand Favorability
Key persuasion takeaways for brand favorability among subgroups, including political party identification.
When we filtered the results by political affiliation we found backlash on brand favorability among Republicans who saw the Copy Nothing ad. They reported that the ad didn’t have the look or feel of a traditional car ad and mirrored the online criticisms that the ad was overtly “woke.”
Though the Copy Nothing ad performed better on brand favorability with the other two political party subgroups, +10 with Democrats and +11 with Independents, the traditional E-PACE ad outperformed Copy Nothing among all political ideologies regardless of a respondent’s 2024 vote choice.
Likelihood to Purchase
Key persuasion takeaways for brand choice among subgroups, including political party identification.
When it comes to affecting the likelihood of purchasing a Jaguar, the Copy Nothing ad was once more outshined by the E-PACE ad. Although the Copy Nothing ad did see a +9 lift amongst Democrats and a moderate directional lift for Liberals, it still didn’t compare to the persuasive effect of the E-PACE ad.
While there was a small drop of -1 points for Republicans who saw the Copy Nothing ad, there was no backlash to report.
Brand Identity
Key persuasion takeaways for brand identity among subgroups, including political party identification.
The Copy Nothing ad had little to no measurable effect on whether or not participants felt Jaguar was a brand they could identify with across the political spectrum. Interestingly enough, the E-PACE ad performed with similar results amongst both Liberals and Conservatives with a +17 lift and once more performed better across all subgroups.
Overall, despite the anecdotal conversations, no data-driven backlash happened when we tested the ads.
Household Income
As Jaguar starts going upmarket to target the same people who purchase its sister line, Range Rover, this means they will start to focus more and more on households who can afford a $100,000+ vehicle.
To test whether Jaguar alienated the very group of people they were going to start targeting, we once more filtered the results by looking at individuals whose household income was $100k+, as well as people who expected their next vehicle to be worth more than $70k.
Key persuasion takeaways for brand favorability among household income subgroups
Cutting right to the chase on whether the ads affected the likelihood of purchasing, we once more see that the E-PACE ad outperformed the Copy Nothing ad. And once more, we again see that there was no backlash amongst potential buyers who saw the Copy Nothing ad.
Open Ended Responses
We also asked the following open-ended question to all respondents: “What did you like most about the advertisement you viewed? What did you dislike most?”
Many said they weren’t sure what the Copy Nothing advertisement was for and that it had nothing to do with cars. One respondent said, “I had no idea what it was advertising. If it weren’t for the Jaguar logo, I would have never guessed that was what the advertisement was presenting.”
Others were actively upset by the ads. Some very strong reactions included:
“I didn’t like it cause it had nothing to do with the car and seemed more like a fashion show”
“Weird! What does this ad have to do with a nice automobile? I realize marketing folks are different, but this takes the cake, you want to know what I don’t like, EVERYTHING.”
“I liked nothing from the ad. VERY DUMB. I disliked the entire ad.”
Of the 394 open-ended responses of people who saw the Copy Nothing ad, 8% of people expressed that they thought the ad was either “weird” or “strange.”
On the other side, plenty of people complimented the vibrant, eye-catching nature of the ad, noting that, “It was visually stunning. I mean, just beautiful. And the diversity of styles and looks was arresting. Very much grabbed my attention and sucked me right in.” Others said, “It was very colorful and vibrant. The people were lovely, and there was nothing not to like.”
Conclusion
The key takeaway from the Grow Progress Rapid Message Test results shows that a traditional car ad may do a better job of building brand favorability, brand identity, and improving the likelihood of purchasing when compared to an ad that doesn’t show models or features and instead focuses on a brand’s freshly minted values. However, it’s important to note that the intent of the Copy Nothing wasn’t to sell cars.
While the Copy Nothing ad certainly did result in some backlash, particularly among Republicans on brand favorability, the data didn’t match the level of anecdotal backlash one would expect if they were following the online debate. Most importantly, it didn’t cause backlash amongst their target market. In fact, the Copy Nothing ad has no measurable effect toward or away from the Jaguar brand overall.
The Grow Progress Rapid Message Test results highlight the need for all brands to be able to test and measure their branding and messaging before going to market. Running a Rapid Message Test, and getting real results from respondent data in 24 hours, can give brands confidence that their target demographics haven’t been affected, despite the noise. Rapid Message Testing also prevents premature knee-jerk reactions, such as pulling an ad due to perceived backlash, which might have simply fueled the flames online.
Ready to find the messaging that resonates with your audiences? Learn more about Grow Progress’ Rapid Message Testing, and be sure to sign up for our newsletter and never miss a beat.
