Jaguar’s Rebrand Missed the Only Thing That Matters

In late 2024, Jaguar dropped a full rebrand.

New logo. Minimalist typeface. High-production video.

But no cars.

The campaign looked more like a perfume ad than a car company.

The tagline? “Copy Nothing.”

Even Elon Musk posted:

It was clean. Sharp. Confident.

And it left people with no idea what Jaguar actually was anymore.

Not legacy. Not luxury. Not even electric — not yet.

Just... vibes.

Jaguar wanted to look modern.

But instead of evolving, they erased.

The rebrand stripped away the past — without saying what the future was.

And that’s the part founders should pay attention to.

It’s easy to confuse aesthetics with clarity.

The moment a company feels stuck, rebranding feels productive.

It’s motion. It’s new. It feels like progress.

But unless it answers a real question — “What are we now?” — it just becomes a distraction.

Jaguar’s mistake wasn’t bad design.

It was skipping the one part that matters.

Quick gut check:

1. Would your customers recognize themselves in your homepage?

2. Would your team say the same thing about what you actually do?

3. Would you bet your brand on what you’re showing — or just hope it buys you time?

If those answers feel shaky, don’t call a designer.

Get in a room and decide what you are.

Then make sure you share that clarity with your customers.

Jaguar wanted reinvention.

What they launched was absence.

And in branding, nothing is worse than saying nothing — just more quietly.

Best,
Peter