Jaguar is getting ready to play the bad guy in the US – marketing itself as a “British villain”.
In true baddie style, the brand will kick off by hijacking the prime time advertising spot at next month’s Superbowl, the hottest ad ticket in the US.
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Jeff Curry, Jaguar’s brand vice president in the US, said: “When you look at the movies, all the great villains seem to be British and we see an opportunity to tap into that with our marketing.”
Marketing your brand as a villain is a brave move but the campaign does come with the hashtag “it’s good to be bad”.
The movies do seem to put British actors in the role of the bad guy from Ralph Fiennes’ Lord Voldemort to Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lector. Jaguar has signed up Sir Ben Kingsley, who has been known to play a baddie or two, to headline its marketing.
Curry added: “We are looking forward to getting this campaign out there and taking a position in the market place with a bit of exclusivity.”
Jaguar is currently the fastest growing brand in the US and topping the charts in the quality surveys as well.
Curry added: “What has really pushed the brand on is the availability from last year of all wheel drive and the new four cylinder turbo charged engine. This has been putting us on more shopping lists.”
Good news as well for sister brand Land Rover. Vice president Kim McCullough said the off-roaders are even changing the attitudes of buyers in the US.
“We can’t get enough vehicles to meet demand,” she said. “People are even prepared to wait six months for their new Land Rover and that is unheard of in America.
“The new Range Rover and Sport models have gone down extremely well and even Evoque, now in its third year, was up 28% in 2013 with demand outstripping supply.”
