Jaguar taps James Bond credits director for new ad campaign

Dive Brief:

British carmaker Jaguar launched a new ad campaign to promote its latest F-TYPE sports car, according to a press release shared with Marketing Dive.
The campaign centers around a series of six 15-second ads from director William Bartlett, the creative force behind the opening credits for James Bond movies "Goldeneye," "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Spectre." The ads are available on YouTube and are being promoted across social media channels.
The ads combine live action and computer-generated images to show off the new sports car's features in a number of different settings including racing alongside horses and launching off a ski jump. London-based agency Spark44 and production company Framestore Pictures worked on the effort.

Dive Insight:

Jaguar wants to position its new F-TYPE model as a sports car with performance that thrills, so it tapped a BAFTA-winning action movie director to help deliver this fantasy. The spots use different CGI-enhanced settings to show off the model's features and immerse viewers in thrilling experiences to help them imagine driving one of the vehicles. The latest effort also has the potential to be social media fodder as the cinematic videos are ripe for sharing among car lovers and consumers looking for entertaining digital content.

Parent company Jaguar Land Rover recently cut 10% of its workforce and announced that its customer experience director Fiona Pargeter would be departing after less than two years in the new position. The luxury car market is growing and while the SUV category is one of the fastest growing, sports cars remain and small but strong segment of the market, according to Mordor Intelligence.

In this environment, Jaguar has been focusing some of its marketing on electric vehicles, another strong luxury car segment. Last year, the company petitioned the to Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to redefine the word "car," to highlight the company's move toward electric vehicles. The publicity stunt for the electric Jaguar I-Pace model, aimed to capitalize on the momentum of the model, which had been named 2019 World Car of the year at the New York Auto show.

The latest campaign shows a return to focus on its long-standing reputation as an elegant sports car brand. James Bond is synonymous with cool fashion and elegant fast cars and tapping the director of the franchise’s opening credits can help the carmaker tell a story in a similar sleek and polished way that the movie's credits rely on.