Stop Blaming the Agency. Jaguar Knew What It Was Doing.

A year ago, I defended Jaguar.

While the LinkedIn mob queued up with their pitchforks and prewritten LinkedIn outrage, I argued their rebrand wasn’t just bold, it was necessary. Because when nobody’s spoken your name in 30 years unless it’s about how much your sister brand outsells you, you don’t need polish. You need a reinvention.

And now? The Telegraph reports Jaguar is reviewing its global creative account, and all eyes are on Accenture Song. As if the agency is to blame for what happens when a brand doesn’t follow through on its own bravery.

Let’s be clear. Accenture Song didn’t steer this ship off course. JLR asked for disruption. They said they wanted to be reborn. They said they were shifting to electric, to modern luxury, to a design-forward, art-aware future.

They got exactly that. The campaign didn’t show the cars because it wasn’t about the cars. It was about resetting the frame. Wiping the old association clean. They were trying to speak to people who didn’t grow up with Top Gear on TV and a growling cat on the bonnet. People who couldn’t care less what their dad drove.

And guess what? It worked.

Not commercially… yet. But culturally? People spoke. About Jaguar. For the first time in decades. It trended. It stirred something. It wasn’t quiet, safe or forgettable. Which is more than you can say about any Jaguar marketing since the E-Type.

The problem isn’t that the idea flopped. The problem is that Jaguar blinked.

You can’t rebrand, provoke, polarise and hope everyone claps nicely. You can’t invite Accenture (which a performance, data-led powerhouse) and then ignore the playbook because X got loud.

Where was the follow-up? The product demo? The documentary? The behind-the-scenes drop? Where was the next chapter of the bold narrative they committed to?

If they’d truly believed in the platform, they would have kept going. Instead, they’re pulling the plug before the system’s even had time to power up.

You don’t hire David Droga’s team and expect wallpaper.

You hire them to make a statement. And they did. “Copy Nothing” wasn’t timid. It was a call to arms. You either lean in or step aside. Jaguar did neither.

So let’s not scapegoat the agency for doing exactly what the brand asked. Let’s look at the brand and ask: were you ever really ready to change? Or did you just want the PR hit without the transformation?

If there’s anything to blame here, it’s not the marketing. It’s the lack of conviction to see it through.

Because whether you loved it or hated it, you talked about Jaguar. That alone is more than most brands can claim after three decades of safe mediocrity.

Maybe it’s not the idea that failed.

Maybe the brand just didn’t have the courage to own it.