Table of Contents
Canonical URL
A year ago, I wrote about whether noise is all we have now. How, in design and branding, "awareness is not desire”, and is a loud voice better than real meaning?
I wrote it after Jaguar’s controversial rebrand. A year on, we’re starting to see more of the nature of modern noise. As marketing expert Jon Evans notes “people react to noise over substance.”
The bold Jaguar rebrand, with the lowercase wordmark, the radical visuals, even a short video, sparked intense social posting and debate. Much of it ridicule. Most of the backlash barely touched the why behind the change, and just enjoyed a pile-on.
It’s human nature when something shocks, we react.
It’s human nature when something shocks, we react. We’re programmed to spot the glitch. The anti-pattern. Even if it’s not targeted at most of us, as it was with Jaguar.
In Jaguar’s case, the rebrand was designed specifically to provoke a reaction. In that sense, it worked. However, big brand launches these days seem to be struggling to juggle the right reactions with the wrong reactions.
Once a pile-on begins on social, facts and meaning are quickly cast aside. Jaguar experienced this first hand. Maybe it should have focussed more on getting a reaction from the target market, not just anybody.
Jaguar actually leaned into the noise it created. They wanted to polarise. It’s just unfortunate that you can’t control a polarising message very easily. The crowd decides the meaning, not you.
So betting on noise is risky. Chaos can work in your favour, but it seems to leave a lot down to luck.
Did it work for Jaguar? Will it work for Jaguar? They seem to believe that the backlash is part of their strategy. A high-stakes move that will pay off.
And if noise is here to stay, big brand launches need to be mindful of backlash. Reactions are not always informed. The crowd will pile on. Work with it, don’t turn a blind eye.
Written by