From roar to whimper: How modern branding tamed the Jaguar

The jaguar we once knew has officially been muffled. In the name of modernism, brands are scrapping the distinctive assets that once made consumers fall in love, replacing them with drab, minimalist fonts and soulless designs. Jaguar’s new logo is the latest casualty—a rebrand with aspirations but no clear link to its roots.

Jaguar’s intentions were clear: woo a younger, hipper demographic. Sure, millennials love bright colors and modern design, but they can smell authenticity, or a lack of it, a mile away. Jaguar’s rebrand reflects a surface-level representation of what they think millennials want. A car brand without a vehicle–a stripped-down logo with no substance behind it–is like Christmas without Santa Claus: excitement with no payoff. 

But did they actually ask consumers what they prefer? Apparently not. The response of consumers was highly predictable – for anyone who cared to do the research. We put the new logo through Zappi’s platform with a simple A/B test.

We showed 300 consumers the old and new logos side-by-side and asked them to pick their favorite. A resounding 87% preferred the original. More than that, the old logo was substantially ahead across every metric that matters. 80% of consumers found the old logo more distinctive and relevant, while 85% said it better matched their expectations of the brand.

The old logo wasn’t just a symbol; it was a story. One of Earth’s fastest animals — graceful, powerful, untamed — gave drivers something to visualize: speeding down the motorway as apex predators. It embodied the intentions of high-brow buyers everywhere–your key to assuming your place at the top of the food chain.

Jaguar gambled that the promise of modernity would outweigh the loss of its distinctiveness, but the data says otherwise: only 40% of consumers said they enjoy the trend in modern, minimalist branding, and among them, just 44% appreciated Jaguar’s new look. That’s not a leap forward; it’s a misstep.

This fumble is far from isolated. We’ve seen it time and again: brands abandon the distinctive assets they’ve spent decades cultivating in favor of trendy, minimalist designs. Pringles gave its mascot a wax, reducing it to a flat, inoffensive doodle. Twitter, now X, ditched its iconic bird for a stark, forgettable glyph–and that’s just the branding problem. 

What these shifts often miss is the emotional resonance of brand identity. Logos, mascots, and visual cues are more than aesthetic choices; they’re cultural symbols. Years of effort go into building their recognition and meaning. When brands strip away those fixtures for the sake of looking more modern than they actually are, they risk becoming generic, blending into an ocean of sans-serif type and minimalism until all anyone can see are characters with no character.

To be clear, a modern brand refresh isn’t always a bad move — when it’s done with purpose. Walmart’s rebrand corresponded with a shift toward quality, enhancing both perception and performance. Dunkin’ dropped “Donuts” to signal a strategic expansion into beverages and breakfast offerings, growing the brand rather than diminishing it. The key difference? Both of these brands, unlike Jaguar, maintained the core of their identity, using design as a tool to amplify their values and business goals, not erase them.

So why do brands like Jaguar miss the mark? Is it the result of consumers being overwhelmed with too many advertising signals? Have we reached critical mass in branding to the point where typeface is the most effective tool — or is it just a lack of imagination?

The failure of this rebrand is what happens when you strip away distinctive brand assets in favor of a design that’s more of the same. Modern branding may aim to stay relevant and attract new audiences, but it risks alienating the loyalists who built the brand in the first place.

The core lesson here is that branding isn’t just an aesthetic exercise—it’s emotional. People develop attachments to a brand and breaking those bonds too abruptly is a major risk. Distinctive assets matter. They’re the threads connecting customers to a brand’s history, values, and identity. Stripping those away without building something equally compelling leaves a void that design trends alone can’t fill.

If Jaguar wants to course-correct, it’ll need to do more than ride the wave of modern design. It’ll take serious work to listen to its customer base, rebuild trust, and reclaim the emotional resonance that made its brand roar in the first place.