Jaguar Begins Search For New Ad Agency After Woke Disaster

Five months after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) effectively “Bud Light’d” itself with a woke social media campaign, the British automaker is reportedly severing ties with its ad agency, according to British media. 

But why now—half a year later? The backlash over its controversial woke rebranding occurred last fall, yet the company’s pronoun-wielding executive publicly defended the cringe ad at the time.

The Telegraph first reported that JLR was severing ties with its ad agency, Accenture Song, after the marketing disaster on November 19.

Copy nothing. #Jaguar pic.twitter.com/BfVhc3l09B

— Jaguar (@Jaguar) November 19, 2024

Elon Musk asked JLR: “Do you sell cars?” 

Do you sell cars?

— gorklon rust (@elonmusk) November 19, 2024

In 2021, Accenture Song joined forces with Spark44, JLR’s client-agency joint venture, to create a new marketing approach for JLR’s shift to an electric-first, modern luxury business.

But JLR’s marketing blunder was merely a repeat of Bud Light’s trans activism and a lesson for corporations not to stack their teams with woke activists.

Much like Bud Light’s disastrous foray into identity politics, JLR fell into the same woke trap. Now, the brand is paying the price as a multi-year sales decline deepens.

Days after the ad was launched and backlash erupted, Jaguar boss Rawdon Glover said the ad’s “intended message” had been lost in “a blaze of intolerance” on social media platforms and rejected the notion that the video was woke.

“If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand,” Glover stated. On LinkedIn, the executive still promotes his pronouns…

Unlike JLR, Volvo’s ad team read the room. Sensing the Overton Window had shifted away from far-left wokeism toward themes of family, tradition, and stability—they released this…

Volvo posted a 3 min and 46 second ad on Instagram, shot by Hoyte Van Hoytema, the cinematographer of Interstellar and Oppenheimer.

It goes against every single rule you can think about as a social lead. Length. Format. Over-produced.

Every comment under the ad said it… pic.twitter.com/wkmghuP4ye

— Guillaume Huin (@HuinGuillaume) November 21, 2024

Revisiting the earlier question: Why did JLR wait six months to start searching for a new ad agency?

Was it due to slumping sales, or perhaps pressure related to tariffs? We may never get the full story—but what’s clear is this: woke marketing is dead. Companies view the purple-haired college graduate as an increasing liability rather than an asset. 

Why does Aston Martin get it?

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