Why Jaguar's rebranding isn't what you think
Plus more news about new resources that you can use for your business, including an email scheduler system and WhatsApp's new business spam feature.
Hey there, you fabulous folks out there! Dex here!
Welcome to another edition 🥳 of Brightwaves, the planet’s latest business + tech orientated newsletter with a side dash of culture.
In this week’s edition, I talk about a car company that suddenly appeared out of nowhere to catch everyone’s attention - and that could be a good thing for them.
As usual, I’ve recommendations for tools and services, business/tech news from Singapore, Canada and Asia. If you get a business idea from these summaries, drop me a line and I’d love to hear what you’re doing!
Disclaimer: I’m writing this as a co-founder of my own tech firm and we will advertise our own services here. But I’ll strive to keep all things fair and you can check out other similar services that can help your business advance!
ICYMI - News Roundup 🗞️
General News
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump says that he will slap a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico from 20 January 2025. (Source)
Open AI launches a free AI training course for teachers aimed at demystifying artificial intelligence and prompt engineering. (Source)
Tech & Product News
Legaltech software startup NotaryPro partners with Staples Canada to bring its 7 minute notarisation services. (Source)
Uber is entering the AI-labeling market with a new labelling platform that will hire gig workers. (Source)
Temu fully opens its marketplace to all sellers in the US as it takes on Amazon and other rivals for the Christmas period. (Source)
Instagram gets a WhatsApp-like location sharing feature. (Source)
Anthropic releases open-source tool to connect AI systems directly to datasets, eliminating the need to create custom code for each data source (Source)
Perplexity rolls out live earnings call transcripts from public companies, beginning with Nvidia last week. (Source, Source 2)
Startups & Funding News
Canada’s Boosted.ai secured a US$15 million bridge round to grow its artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Alfa. (Source)
Chinese autonomous driving company Pony debuts on the Nasdaq on 27 November, raising US$260 million at $13 per share. (Source)
AI-powered dental platform OraQ AI closed C$2.6 million in seed funding to commercialize its clinical decision support platform for dental practices. (Source)
Singapore-based NFC e-receipt platform Pi-xcels raises US$2.7 million as it seeks to expand into the U.S. market. (Source)
Making Waves: Jaguar, EVs, and the Tata Group
Jaguar - the century old British car company - bravely teased its brand refresh a couple of days ago in an avant-garde sort of video.
It didn’t go down quite well with the brand’s purchasing demographic, men (who buy luxury cars), because that add seemed rather more fitting for a clothes brand than a car company that is synonymous with postwar British culture.
I hear what they’re saying. “Where’s the car?” and “have they lost it?”. There’s also some salacious culture war terms and character assassinations that I don’t want to dignify here, so you find them yourself on YouTube.
To put things into context, Jaguar Land Rover is a car company that’s had sales in the United States - its biggest market - decline in recent years, with a 15% decrease to 17,000 vehicles in 2021. They haven’t had a new car in a few years too.
It is also trying to make inroads into China, its fourth-largest market after the UK and Europe.
It’s market share in the automotive sector is minuscule since it’s trying to compete on luxury. Jaguar only holds a market share in big cars of….0.27%.
I’m not a marketing expert, but looking at all things objectively here’s what I think they’re trying to do:
In one simple YouTube reveal, Jaguar has people taking about it again.
As it attempts to pivot towards electric vehicles (EVs) with its reimagine strategy, there’s a need to perhaps move away from an aged, luxury brand image.
They drew on the strategy of going viral - never mind the initial negativity or parodies - by getting the of vitriolic reaction they expected people to have.
By doing so, Jaguar is in the news cycle and on the feeds of people who use social media, gets them talking and that adds to their anticipation of what’s next.
That anticipation of this newly imagined electric-car luxury image will be put to the test on 2 December in Miami, and the eons beyond that.
Given what we know and the brand pivot, Jaguar wants to make waves as a luxury EV company and in the affordable luxury niche category. Think Apple….consumer luxury. But for cars.
All this is not surprising because the market for EVs is growing:
The Asia-Pacific will take a big chunk of the electric vehicle sales, expected to be 63% of global sales in the next 5 years and 39% of all car sales by 2027.
China alone saw 60% of global EV registrations in 2023.
Europe represented 25% of global electric car registrations that same year and that will still grow as the EU doubles down on clean technology.
Globally, the EV share of all new passenger vehicle sales is projected to jump to 33% by 2027, up from 17.8% in 2023.
Jaguar Land Rover (and the Tata group, which owns it) is investing US$3 billion yearly in the next 5 years to support the development of EVs and infrastructure.
Thinking further - electric cars help to create an ecosystem around them too. Think batteries, for example.
Jaguar has to make a big splash in this big ocean, so to me it’s a fair attempt to reorientate their branding as a sci-fi-ish luxury car brand, albeit with big risks. They’ve got the world’s attention at the very least.
So what really matters from now are the car(s) they’re going to introduce will be successful, not whether their teaser ad was ( enter culture war term of choice ). It’ll be win-win-win for manufacturers, consumer and suppliers at the end if they do.
Why niche with the guys you can’t win with, when you can go with the aspiring middle class globally who can - pardon the pun - drive you to growth?
Speaking of the Tata Group, it’s worth looking at the overall strategy of this business titan as they’re trying to achieve global prominence.
They’ve already made quite the splash with Jaguar (as you’ve read).
They’ve bought over, restructured and rebranded Air India as well, with a $70 billion plan to purchase 470 new Airbus and Boeing aircraft.
It’s investing big on the Apple manufacturing wave in India.
And they’re also planning to invest US$100 billion in new business acquisitions in the next decade.
This is a group that surely can take the hit on Jaguar should this entire rebranding and pivot fail.
But as you can gather, there’s also the ability for Jaguar to work with other Tata businesses and enjoy potential synergies. Imagine Air India driving their first class passengers on new Jaguar EVs to their planes, for example!
With this bigger picture look, let’s not count out Jaguar’s ability to thrive and ride the waves of the future.
Noteworthy Articles/Opinions💡
Would you do wine in cans in an industry that’s worth US$385 billion? One sommelier believes she can. Read here.
How will artificial intelligence transform energy innovation? Read more here.
And since we’re on EVs, here’s a brewing crisis with Northolt and the EV battery supply crisis that’s unfolding in Europe.
Useful Tools/Resources📚
Want to unsubscribe from business spam on WhatsApp? Meta has rolled out a feature that allows you to do that.
Too many emails fighting for your attention? Paced.email tries to solve that problem by batching your emails and sends them whenever you need them.
Are you a digital nomad looking for the right coliving spaces? Discover Coliving is a new coliving review website that can help you make that choice.
Brand new AI newsletter by a fellow writer - check out Equivariant labs and learn more weekly about AI advancement, governance, and safety.
Unclassified (services you can use)📢
Software Development: As mentioned, my software firm Lumina Future builds digital stuff, with a focus on AI, small widgets/plugins, and websites. Check out our services and get in touch with us here!
E-Learning: Need creative e-learning solutions for your business or organisation? Montreal based OctoD covers you in English and French. Check them out here.
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Till the next issue - have a great week ahead!