Jaguar’s Not So ‘Gorgeous’ Campaign
Jaguar has been promoting its new XK model with the “Gorgeous” campaign. While the car itself is a marvel, the campaign is just disappointing. Slogans include “Gorgeous trumps everything”, “Gorgeous doesn’t care what others are doing” and “Gorgeous can get in everywhere”–all the while showing supermodels you’d expect from Calvin Klein rather than from a top automotive brand. The advertisements don’t even show the car half the time. All this is really sad because a company of Jaguar’s stature could be beyond this kind of ad strategy.
You can check out Jaguar’s Gorgeous campaign (including the commercial videos) here.
Posted in Rants, Ad Industry 
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December 30th, 2005 at 12:46 am
i’m going to have to disagree. in my opinion, jaguar has done the right and unconventional thing by not showing the car but instead selling the jaguar lifestyle. all the other auto companies show the car so why not sell the aura instead. after seeing the commercial, i got goose bumps because i wanted the portrayed lifestyle and if jaguar can get me one step closer then so be it. keep up the great work.
December 30th, 2005 at 3:15 am
Hi Frederik, I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while. I like ur blog very much, here i want to wish you Happy New Year 2006, and keep up the good work
December 30th, 2005 at 6:19 am
I have to disagree too. I think these ads are not only beautiful, but also strategically correct. They are poetic and aspirational. Just the correct tone of voice and not too cheezy.
December 30th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
I disagree with those that disagree. The campaign is so blatant, so thinly veiled and so strategically wrong it boggles the mind. So what if those people are the supposed target group. How does 60 seconds of unrelenting reflection persuade them that Jaguar is a better automotive choice than say a well engineered, and equally beautiful Mercedes, Audi, BMW or Lexus? Where is the insight? The executional style is also way too pretentious. It’s so aware of itself, it’s nauseating. The Announcer reads “Gorgeous” 17 times over 60 seconds, that’s once every 3.75 seconds. Tallk about hamfisted.
December 30th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
These ads look like a promotion for the vacuous.
What a way to piss away your heritage….
Jaguar’s are not “gorgeous”, you can find many adjectives to describe a jaguar and a car….
These ads scream “I’m a dork”…
December 30th, 2005 at 5:50 pm
I don’t know: car nuts will have seen the XK and it’s getting huge below-the-line. This campaign complements that and is more subtle—I suggest intelligent (and increasingly cynical) consumers appreciate this approach. Let’s put it this way: it’s miles better than the ‘new Jag generation’ campaign for the X-type with Sting, showing a car for the “old” Jag generation.
December 30th, 2005 at 7:06 pm
Elvis dude! You’re totally missin’ the point with the gorgeous-thing. In British-English (cockney to be specific) gorgeous doesn’t mean pretty, beauty. It’s rather used to describe someone who’s a slick motherfucker. Take the film ‘Sexy Beast’ as a reference.
December 30th, 2005 at 7:17 pm
Normally I would destroy this creation completly. But I’m hesitating. Somehow they managed to make a jaguar look very sexy. It made me look very sexy, in my head, behind the steering wheel of a jaguar. I saw a projection of my life, the only thing missing was a jaguar. Waw, sometimes classic advertising works just fine. I’m getting a raise and then off to the dealer!
December 31st, 2005 at 1:21 am
i’m stunned by the people who think this is great work.
‘gorgeous’ is vacuous. gorgeous is empty. gorgeous is crap.
December 31st, 2005 at 12:52 pm
Of course not everybody can appreciate advertising like this. It’s so subtile. I know it looks like an uninspired image thing. But it’s crafted in a very elegant way. It makes me think a lot of the campaign fot WE clothingstores. I know it’s a very classical way of advertising. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t be good? It doesn’t have to be all the time retro, animatics, stop-motion, 3D-modelling… Neither does it have to be all of the time funny, witty, slap-stick, absurd, strange, unearthly… Sometimes people relate to the most obvious things in life. These things are simple, natural and gorgeous.
December 31st, 2005 at 2:40 pm
I have to disagree with the previous comment. Sure, some people can consider it “subtle” advertising. But I don’t think those who don’t like the ad don’t “get” the point of the ad. I get the point, but it still doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t expect car ads to be “funny, slap-stick, absurd, strange, unearthly.” But after seeing too many liquor and fashion brands use “the good and luxurious life” ad strategy, this one seems a tad uninspired. Basically, the campaign says that the XK’s selling point is “the good life.” If you think about it, a Benz/Audi/etc can claim the same thing. So why pick the Jag? As it was, you can take replace the Jaguar logo in the ad with that of Benz/Audi/etc and it would make little difference because the ad didn’t focus much on the product.
But of course, people are entitled to their own opinions.
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January 5th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Look at the real Jag XK. Stand there for say 10 minutes and stare at it. You can’t do it. I tried. There’s not enough there to stand 10 minutes of looking, not to mention the 5 years of payments.
If you want this car, and it points you to the lifestyle you believe you deserve, good luck to you. I love Jags - but this forgettable and ugly car with a pathetic, shallow and sad campaign makes me ill.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
I don’t think the majority of you appreciate the finer things in life and that is why you don’t appreciate Jaguar’s advertising campaign. After all, what are the chances of all of us owning the $90,000 sports car? Slim to none, and the air of a Jaguar is targeted specifically to those who DO enjoy the exculsiveness and gorgeousness that Jaguar cars offer.
Sure BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Porsche can provide just as expensive and competent automobiles, but they have also flooded the market with their high-priced wares, something Jaguar has been keen on not doing in order to protect their iconic image as the epitome of English elegance. Gorgeous, if you will.
And I also think that in the back of your minds, as you bash the stellar advertising campaign that Jaguar Cars has created, you secretly wish it was you in all those advertisements, living the good life, the gorgeous life, behind the wheel of a Jaguar.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Have you seen the people in Jaguars all look rich and that is just what jaguar is. It is a car company producing cars for the rich the same thing they have been doing for ever.