I blame it all on Basil Fawlty …

“How to destroy your brand in 30 seconds.”

“This is not a rebrand; this is Jaguar’s farewell to the world.”

Just two of the many comments on social media piling in to Jaguar Land Rover ahead of today’s relaunch of Jaguar as an electric-only brand.

What had aroused the ire of genuine Jag fans was not so much (in their words) the miserable 30-second commercial but the butchering of the logo.

Gone was the snarling big cat to be replaced by the rather weedy-looking typeface, which is said to read JaGUar.

Pearls were clutched, and smelling salts reached for as the motoring cognoscenti suffered a collective attack of the vapours.

Not helped, it must be said, by Jaguar’s response which came straight out of the Basil Fawlty School of Public Relations.

Where soothing platitudes might have calmed troubled waters, Jaguar execs decided to go toe to toe with their antagonists and hurl nuclear-tipped ripostes back whence they came.

Whole dissertations could and probably will be written on the subject, but the moral of the story is that we mess with our brand at our peril.

Your brand is your reputation, your promise, and your story. All rolled into one.

Treat it with care, consistency, and respect, or risk becoming a case study in what not to do.

If you need help ensuring your brand stands the test of time? Let’s chat.

Have a great week.

Alec