ampaign has generated is certainly not about societal hesitation to embrace inclusion in branding. For once, that’s not the focal point,” Mário Braz de Matos, co-founder and managing partner at Flying Fish Lab, told Inside Retail. “It’s that the brand seems to have done something that has caused it to entirely lose meaning because it seems to have ‘thrown away the baby with the bathwater!’” What were the issues? According to Matos, the new brand expression fails to connect with Jaguar’s heritage. The disconnect is so severe that consumers may struggle to distinguish whether this is Jaguar, the luxury car manufacturer, or simply another high-end conceptual fashion brand. The campaign features a 30-second video set in an unconventional, artistic environment with gender-fluid models – notably without showing a single Jaguar vehicle. The video generated more than 2.2 million views on YouTube alone.  “A brand’s need to drive reappraisal should never lead it to forgetting its root strength, even if it needs to reinterpret it in a new context,” he said.  While he acknowledged that Jaguar, like pretty much every other heritage car brand, is under pressure to redefine itself in order to compete effectively in the new EV context, he believes the pendulum has swung too far.  “Jaguar seems to have made a cardinal mistake here by imagining something so conceptual and intellectual, that it’s not just lost their traditional loyal customer base – they’ve managed to lose (or confuse) everyone else out there who knows or cares about the Jaguar brand.”  Fresh perspectives without losing core brand identity  The Jaguar rebrand serves as a cautionary tale for retailers and brands looking to modernise their image. While staying relevant is crucial in today’s fast-paced market, brands should carefully balance innovation with heritage, ensuring any transformation maintains a clear connection to their core identity and values. “When looking for breakthrough solutions, we often talk about how you need to understand which rules to respect and which rules to break in order to create a new perspective on the category,” Matos said.  “Some rules you should respect because not doing so would actually harm your brand (obvious examples: hygiene, safety, reliability, etc), but others you should respect because breaking them is of no benefit to you (burgers are round, but making them square or triangular has no particular consumer value or benefit).”  He added that while it’s important to bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to a category, companies must combine it with their category expertise. On its own, a fresh perspective does not lead to breakthroughs – brands need the capability to turn innovative ideas into reality. “The ability to reframe a brand’s perspective is the main reason why ‘intelligent naivety’ holds so much value for brands. It allows them to see opportunities where others don’t – creating the possibility of a breakthrough outcome,” Matos said.  For Jaguar, the “Copy Nothing” campaign strays from Jaguar’s traditional identity, alienating its core audience of affluent, status-conscious customers. While intended to refresh the brand’s image, it sacrifices clarity, meaning, and relevance in the process. “Brands should seek to stay true to their meaning but allow for complete flexibility in its expression,” Matos said. “The faster the pace of change in the market and consumer preferences, the greater the importance of the agility and flexibility in expression; experiment if need be but always in an uncompromisingly truthful way, to the unique thing the brand has always stood for.” Jaguar will present “Copy Nothing”, the first global public installation for its new brand that will include the physical manifestation of its Exuberant Modernism creative philosophy, in a Design Vision Concept at Miami Art Week.  Further reading: Brand collabs on steroids: What ‘Emily in Paris’ reveals about marketing today.