Jaguar Land Rover hunting for new advertising agency after disastrous woke rebrand unveiling new Tesla Cybertruck-style car
Jaguar Land Rover is looking to replace its current advertising agency just months after the company faced a backlash over its controversial rebrand.
The company launched a review of its global creative account - currently held by Accenture Song and its in-house agency Spark44 until mid-2026 - following widespread criticism over its campaign, The Telegraph reported.
Critics of the radical rebrand - including Nigel Farage and Elon Musk - accused the carmakers of abandoning their 'jag-man' heritage.
It comes after the company announced plans to shift to electric vehicles with a bizarre new advertisement featuring brightly dressed models but no cars.
The group also abandoned its iconic 'growler' cat badge, replacing it with a curved geometric J and L symbol.
Defending the campaign late last year, JLR's Managing Director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times: 'If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we'll just get drowned out.'
Jaguar says its new philosophy will 'command attention through fearless creativity' - a phrase that suggests it knew it would spark a backlash with its new look
However sales plunged by more than a quarter in 2024 with Jaguar selling 33,320 cars, a significant drop from the 61,661 sold in 2022 and the 161,601 sold in 2019.
Jaguar's failed campaign follows a series of other similar woke rebrands from other big corporations such as Nike and Coca-Cola.
Most infamously in April 2023, Bud Light collaborated with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney in a social media promotion - prompting a widespread boycott campaign and significant drop in Bud lights sales.
Last night Jaguar insisted that any review into the creative accounts was not linked in any way to public outrage over the re-brand.
The classic Jaguar 'leaper' bonnet ornament that inspired the decades-old logo. These were scrapped in 2005 - and are now almost gone completely from the firm's branding
A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover added: 'As a matter of policy JLR does not comment on any supplier arrangements.
They continued: 'The reinvention of the Jaguar brand was planned to attract significant global attention and comment; we wanted to spark online debate and get people talking about us.
'The scale of the reaction has been unprecedented; this shows just how much of an emotional attachment Jaguar has with so many people.
'Accenture Song is our incumbent agency; contracted into 2026; They have been working with JLR and our House of Brands for over 4 years now and this has been a successful partnership.'
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