• by Karl Greenberg , March 1, 2012

Jaguar's new global campaign, "Alive," is the biggest campaign for the brand in years, and it comes as the auto brand has gotten kudos for vehicles like the XF sports sedan, XJ full size luxury sedan and the XK coupe and convertible. It's a rebirth for the brand that includes a new take on the "Leaper" and "Growler" logos and a new performance-oriented creative approach that posits the Jaguar lineup as living creatures, at least in spirit.

The campaign, via Spark 44, Jaguar's homegrown agency, 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 is also refocusing on digital media to reach a new buyer, with the TV ads debuting on YouTube and Facebook channels before its mid-March debut on national network and cable networks. David Pryor, brand VP of Jaguar, talks to Marketing Daily about the brand in perception and reality.

Q: Why is Jaguar updating its brand graphics and colors?

A: The big differences are The Leaper icon on the back of car and the Growler, the face of the cat. It's always a big deal to touch something that's iconic, the image of the brand. But in the past few years we hadn't significantly changed the vehicle design direction. But now product has clearly evolved. It's modern, the designs are bold. So the idea with the new campaign was, in part, getting the brand up to speed to match the product. That meant evolving core components of the brand to signify that there's something new here.

Q: What are the main changes?

A: The "Leaper" is now a 3D image, not flat; it's more muscular, there's more definition. The word mark is now metallic, and the font matches the one on the cars themselves. We are creating a link between product and communications.

Q: This must be the biggest Jaguar campaign in years, maybe since 2003?

A: It's certainly the biggest since 2005, and it's fully integrated with TV, print, digital, social and experiential. We will continue the investment at a significant level, and that is what the brand has been missing. This isn't investing for three to six months and then the brand goes way. [Parent company] Tata gives us a consistent level of investment and  they identified the U.S. as a key market. This is the start.

Q: Just based on sales numbers, it seems that there has been a return of Jaguar even before this campaign.

A: Particularly in the last six months we have seen a real resurgence now that we have pushed into areas like social, where we hadn't done much. It's an important platform for us, for the brand, so we are investing heavily there. The metrics are through the roof: we have seen a 10-fold increase in activity. We started with 16,000 Facebook fans and now we have 160,000 fans.

Q: What else are you doing on social media to extend the "Alive" campaign?

A: We just launched our YouTube channel in November -- we hadn't had one before -- and views have gone from basically immeasurable to over half a million per month in December and January. And we are working with Facebook to develop an application for video content where we are challenging people to express how a Jaguar makes them feel alive -- we are using the platform to get fans to help us tell the Jaguar story. And we are working with our social agency Carrot for a program around SXSW, where we will be interviewing music and media executives about what makes them feel alive.

Q: Given where Jaguar starts in the luxury market -- you don't have that entry-level model now, probably a good thing, where are you getting customers from?

A: Sixty-eight percent is conquest, which is high for an established brand. So they are coming from competitors. We are also seeing people coming into the brand across all of our products especially to our certified pre-owned vehicles. For us, since we don't have an entry-level vehicle now, certified pre-owned is almost a fourth model line: [our CPO customers are] 10 years younger; it has become a third of total sales. And they do tend to go from pre-owned to new.

Q: So what do American luxury auto shoppers think about Jaguar? What is brand perception nowadays? There has to be some confusion because of all the changes the brand has gone through over the past decade.

A: Everyone knows we make premium luxury performance vehicles but if you start to dig deeper, while the first reaction in clinics is always very positive, and lots of times they have a story about a first experience with a Jaguar, they soon run out of things to say. Or they don't know we don't make the X-Type any more, or that we aren't a Ford unit any more. The challenge is to change some misconceptions about the brand. One is that they still think quality is an issue, but the XF was No. 2 in [J.D. Power & Associates'] IQS. They don't know we are a wholly owned company making substantial investments. And that's just going to take some time, but "Alive" will help.

Q: I guess part of it is that, competitively, German brands are known for having a technical edge in some sense.

A: It is an area they have tried to own, but we have all of that, and we will talk about it once we can bring people into the brand. So our challenge is getting them to understand what we are all about. How do we get on that shopping list. Part of it is to go out with the right creative.

Q: And I guess the experiential component is critical -- the test-drive program?

A: We are doing our largest ride-and-drive to date in 18 cities over next 12 months. We want to get 20,000 people behind wheel of a Jaguar.

Q: What are you doing around lifestyle and music to connect to younger consumers?

A: We are branching more and more into lifestyle but our average age is going down as a brand. One cost-effective means we have used to reach people at auto shows is by digital chat, and broadcast from shows. We are also doing viral videos that are edgier that will be on our website and social channels after the "Alive" launch.