• February 27, 2012

Jaguar is launching a new global brand campaign, "Alive," that anthropomorphizes the cat cars by exploring the interface of technology and people. The effort, aimed at a younger audience, spotlights Jag's XF sports sedan,  XJ full size luxury sedan and the XK coupe and convertible is by Jag's ad hoc global agency, the new L.A.-based Spark 44 that came together under the aegis of Jaguar Land Rover last year.

The campaign comprises print, TV, outdoor, and digital. It also involves a new branding aesthetic around color palettes, fonts, and logos, including a new take on the images of the leaping cat and its growling aspect. The company says the graphic alternations are the biggest in 40 years.

A harbinger for the campaign was a spot that launched a earlier this year, showing the cars chasing each other through bucolic and urban settings. A brand new spot, though, uses the tried and true timeline method of anthem ads by showing the past moving into the present. The company says the ad opens with a visual collage of machinery of the past – including an assembly line and a robot -- that were invented to replicate and replace people.  It then cuts to visuals of a Jaguar XJ with a voiceover that informs viewers that the car is as alive as humans: "…there is one seductive, instinctive machine that's as alive as we are…Jaguar." The spot concludes with the tag Jaguar: How Alive Are You?

The automaker is reversing the TV-first paradigm -- an effort to reach younger consumers, per the company: the TV ad debuts today on YouTube and Facebook channels, then mid-March on national network and cable networks, including NBC, ESPN, Food Network and CNN.  Print ads break in April in top national lifestyle and business publications.  Viral videos will be seeded in Mid-April.

Also on tap is a butts-in-seats program called "Jaguar Drive Experience" that will travel to 18 U.S. cities starting in April. The multi-day "brand immersion" events offer consumers a performance driving experience with professional drivers riding shotgun. There will also be iconic Jaguars of the past, Jaguar technological innovation displays, and a design retrospective.