Copy Nothing, Become Something?

Of boobs, the future, games & exuberant modernism.

Greetings.

Mea culpa: last week’s missive had one truncated piece and some missing peanuts. I blame formatting woes and excitement for an impending cricket series Down Under. But, note that while emails once sent may never be amended, all can be fixed on the Coffee & Conversations page, so give it a go- read there or in the substack app, its prettier.

On to this week.

1. Copy Nothing: Much ado about Jaguar’s something.

2. Friday Find: Boobs, & the future.

3. Wandering Eyes: Through children’s eyes.

4. Watchlist: Secret levels and beastly game shows.

5. With: Social media bans, Nick Cave & cricket, Waitrose’s sequel, million$ AI art.

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1. Copy Nothing…

…become something?

It is very likely that you have been assaulted by commentary around the Jaguar rebrand and its accompanying ad. Its been hard to ignore. (I tried. A lot.)

But in case you haven’t, here’s a recap.

Jaguar, the car brand with a storied legacy and once-passionate customer base, has unveiled a new brand identity. It had previously announced that Jaguar would move to an entirely electric future; in fact, it has paused new car sales for a year, to develop a new range of all-electric vehicles planned to go on sale in 2025.

The rebrand heralds that new direction, a future now wrapped in the creative philosophy “Exuberant Modernism”, articulated with the statement, ‘Copy Nothing’. Harking back, apparently, to their founder’s words from the previous century, “A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing”.

For the moment, this means the world has seen (1) a new logo and (2) a 30sec spot that creatively introduces this new ethos. But these two things are more than enough for the internet, consumers, marketers, advertisers, designers, Reditters, LinkedIn gurus, labradoodles and absolutely anyone else to unleash their opinions, impressions, queries and- inevitably- their vitriol.

Here’s the spot.

Call it bold. Striking. Creative. Say it piques curiosity.

Call it cold. Disconnected. Bizarre. Say it doesn’t touch you.

People around the world have said all of that and much, much more. The flurry of commentary has seen the full range of adjectives: dull, brilliant, catastrophic, weird, pandering, genius, rubbish, masterstroke…

Any which way, its one 30sec advert. Accompanied by a new logo.

Its not the end of culture as we know it. Nor its reinvention. But if you were to spend less than 10 minutes looking at some of the takes on it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Jaguar has ruined global car culture.

My take- I am happy to allow for the far-out creative, the fearless departure: I appreciate the bold expression. Yet, I must also say the message/effect is quite abstruse. Its assured, but the jury is out whether that confidence is misplaced.

But. Its a tease. Love it or hate it, you have noticed it. That counts for something. The real test comes when the product is revealed. Is it worth the hype? Does it live up to the new ethos? Does it help me understand the new ethos? Is the branding just cosmetic? The thing is, we have very little idea. I think that bit is not only ok, its possibly very clever.

While we have no answers to the above questions, arguably a lot more people are asking them and waiting to find out, than any incremental rebrand might have provoked.

I have no idea what this is all about, but it’s genius.

-Martin Brundell, the F1 broadcaster

When rebranding, a brand can look to double-down on what they are known for, or known as. Lean heavily into strengthening existing perceptions. Jaguar has chosen the opposite. What it has been, with however much legacy, was not working for it anymore. Sales were down, existing customer base shrinking and clearly not enough to sustain it, and a new electric era (of their own making) is upon them. “Timeless British elegance” be damned. It feels like a lot of the reaction against it is also steeped in this legacy. It seems pretty clear to me that Jaguar has felt the need to break away from that, unequivocally. A complete departure from what it has been, product-wise; the storytelling around it better be as bold too.

So now, Jaguar is not what we have always known… but we are not yet sure what it will be. When we find out, we can judge better. Miami Design Week, Dec 2. More than a few are now waiting for that reveal.

You may copy nothing, but what will you become?

As a brand, the edge that Jaguar had was that it stood for timeless British elegance. The word ‘timeless’ is key. Moving from that structural core to an absolute leap into the unknown may not be the best way to recreate the brand. Plan A is about ditching the past and re-inventing from the ground up. By the looks of it, there is no Plan B. One may say this is dangerous or bordering on hubris. Or it could just be the greatest disruption in the history of automobile marketing.^

Addendums

1. Oh, I am totally fine with those who feel this is a creative or branding misstep, as much as those who believe this is a masterstroke. But I’d rather not give more than a moment’s thought to those who split this through the prism of political, left/right/ woke/conservative divides. Making it part of the (very American) ‘culture wars’, is petty at best. Unsurprisingly, that angle has really taken off online.

2. Watch: In the swirling chaos of reactions to this, another ad from a few months ago surfaced. Quite the other side of the spectrum, but quite beautiful too; do watch it to get the context. This is filmed by master cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (of Interstellar & Oppenheimer fame), a wonderful example of storytelling versus ‘ads’.

You will understand how this is being touted as brilliant for being the very opposite of what Jaguar is trying to do, even though is this is exactly what the brand has mostly always done.

3. A great analogy from one Jesse Coulter.

Ryan Gosling said it best when he defended himself against those who thought he was too old to play Ken in the Barbie movie. “Suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared,” he said, adding that “if you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed.”

Why am I posting this? Because Jaguar is Ken.

4. As a lovely aside, Garth Manthe, a creative brand strategist in South Africa decided to take on this cultural passage of play, and show us how an organisation like WWF might use it for a meaningful message.

Links.

This is their new era page. For now. More on their media page. Forbes has a balanced take, framing Jaguar’s effort in the context of the company’s current woes. ^In the ET.

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2. Friday Find: Boobs & Monologues.

A double edition (not double D).

A. I bring you, a Museum of Boobs.

A confidently unabashed message delivered through what seems like a collection of oddities. A real museum of sorts was created for the film, and every installation we see was made by hand. “There’s a world of boobs out there - each as unique as a thumbprint… your boobs deserve to be seen and understood.”

The particular context of this ad (in India, but not unique to it, surely) is captured candidly by its writer, Shikha Gupta. “How lovely it was to be able celebrate our weird bodies without once having to show a woman dance in her underwear.”

B. A Monologue from the future.

Louise send us a message from 2050. She is part of a collective called We The Hopeful, who reach back in time with an underlying message of hope and conviction. Yet, we can’t quite escape a sense of dread as we watch. Maybe because we are all too aware of the today we live in. Maybe because of the urgency that underpins that hope.. and because of that dull drone pervading the spot.

This comes from an initiative called #WeTheHopeful, whose mission is “to turn the science behind the sustainable transition into stories that inspire people to act.” Magically, they also received a message from another Louise, who lives in another 2050. The drone is the same, but the dread more visceral. Watch that too, here.

Give it a few minutes of your time. Louise will appreciate it.

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3. What A Child Sees.

Non-profit ‘Teach for China’ shaped a ‘Wandering Eyes’ project. This is a collection of 40,000 photographs taken by students from nine rural schools in Yunnan and Gansu provinces. We have all seen photo essays and narratives of (especially) rural children across the world, but usually through an external lens, and its accompanying bias. Here, we see their own snapshots of imagination, mundanity, friends, family and village life.

These are captured in a short video that takes us through some of the images, then in the second half speaks to some of these children to understand their thinking more. From “I want to photograph evening clouds as they turn from red to purple”, to “I want photographs of my Grandma because she had none when she was young” and “Its like my second pair of eyes”.

A different- and worthy- perspective.

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4. Entertainment Watchlist

Beast Games: Amazon Prime Video’s much hyped new game show with Youtube’s messiah of entertainment, Mr Beast, has a launch date. Starting Dec 19, weekly drops will see over 1000 contestants trying to win the trifling amount of $5million.

Watch the trailer here. Anyone else got some major Squid Games vibes (without the brutal loss of life)?

That thumbnail though. Legit Youtube!

Secret Level: They had me a couple of months back with “from the visionaries that brought you Love, Death & Robots”. Now, Prime Video’s Secret Level has dropped a trailer, more cinematic, more epic than its teaser which was pretty cinematic and epic! Secret Level is an anthology series with stories “set within the worlds of some of the most beloved video games”, and looks absolutely smashing.

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Masala Peanuts

(where I share stories or tidbits I find interesting)

1. Know: A portrait of mathematician Alan Turing looks to be the first artwork by a robot to be auctioned- fetching a mere million dollars. Ai-Da, is one of the most advanced robots in the world. In a time where we are all too often told that AI is a tool and will foster and support art, here is one that just creates it on its own, with commercial value. Go figure.

2. Read: “A little flame that you hunch over and cup with your hand and pray will not be extinguished by all the storm that howls about it”. I have spoken about Nick Cave here before; I have (surprisingly) mentioned cricket only in passing. The Guardian’s often wonderful ‘The Spin’ has found a way to put both into the same piece, in Keep the flame alive: Labuschagne & Kohli can learn from Nick Cave.

3. Watch: You may have seen the Waitrose festive mystery I shared a couple of weeks ago. Maybe you have spent the time since agonising over who committed this holiday crime? If so, investigate no more. All was revealed this week in Part 2.

4. Know: The Australian government legislated and passed a ban on social media for children under 16. Significantly, it is trialing an age-verification system, which is key. “The onus will be on social media platforms. The onus will not be on parents or young people.“ You might recall that Norway announced such attempts recently. The UK is open to similarly strict social media regulations.

   While many support the intent, a number of groups and experts have expressed reservations about rushing into this. The main concerns are around privacy issues and further isolating young people.

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Here’s to another cup of coffee on a cool, rainy day.

The last month of the year is upon us. What?!