Advertising Jaguar in China

Jaguar as a brand is founded on a long history of distinctive cars offering a unique blend of style, performance, refinement, prestige and affordability. Over time these values have been built upon and reinterpreted to achieve even more success.

·         Contemporary, forward looking, distinctive design.

·         “Performance” driving experience.

·         Appropriate application of technology.

·         Modern interpretation of luxury.

·         Quality in all attributes.

Unfortunately due to advertisement restrictions in China, some of these values can’t be clearly expressed through the advertisements. Luxury advertising has been banned in Beijing and other major cities as the outdoor ads are viewed as too ostentatious, and as a painful reminder of the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
 The Beijing government wanted the removal of words such as: luxury, royal, supreme and high class. Otherwise advertising agencies and brands would face fines from 30,000 Yuan (£2,800) upwards. As well as this aspirational advertisements were assumed to be creating a politically unhealthy climate and the Chinese government lashed out on advertising, warning the industry of how it shouldn’t encourage people to aspire to a foreign lifestyle.
  As well as this due to the congestion on the roads in China it’s hard to express how the performance of the car will be of any benefit to the Chinese general public.

With all of these restrictions in place I moved on to researching current trends within the Chinese car market regarding sales figures and brand interest, to pick out positives I could possibly use within my ads. I looked at two lists of the top car brands in China, one from 2010 and one from 2013, it’s clearly noticeable how Jaguar have fired up the rankings table whilst other luxury car brands have slipped down.  
  According to Phil Popham, Director of Group Sales Operations at Jaguar Land Rover, Jaguar is expecting its Chinese sales to increase further and jump from between 20 to 30% growth thanks to demand for its new product line, specifically the redesigned XJ and XF models which have been tailored specifically for the Chinese market.

With the new information discovered I got underway with image surfing and other creative processes, here are a few ideas of many that I’ve turned into simple visuals.

I thought that the route of the formal suit would be the most effective in relaying the values of distinctive design, the appropriate application of technology, luxury and quality in all attributes. Whilst also showing how the car is tailor made for the Chinese market, which I believe is the unique selling point for the products.  Here are a few finalized ideas, adopting the strap line of ‘Tailored to suit you.’