One Mad Man

About 25 years ago, I was the Group Creative Director at Y&R/Irvine (Young & Rubicam) tasked with overseeing the creative work for Jaguar Automobiles. This feels like it was in another lifetime. Or even two. 

One of the things I remember was a quote from one the many books we had accumulated about the storied English brand. 

It was from one of their Head Designers. William T. Wentworth or Clyde Higgenbotham or Sir Lord Kensington of Thatcherston -- I'm officially British, I can make these jokes. He (sorry ladies this was scribbled in the early 20th century) said, " If you can't tell it's a Jaguar from 100 feet away, we have failed to do our job."

That squire is no doubt rotating in his final resting place and furiously tilling the soil until it has reached a liquified state. I believe that's how peat bog is made, I could be wrong.

Have you seen the current line up of Jaguar automobiles? I'll give you a hint, you have. You just haven't noticed them because what were once the sexiest vehicles to ever grace the road are now nothing more than 4000  lbs of visual banality. So watered down that many Jaguar vehicles don't even require the stewardship of a skilled driver behind the wheel. I'm looking at you Waymo.

The Jaguar SUV is no different looking than the Bentley SUV or the Lamborghini SUV or the Ferrari SUV.

I bring this up because I have just concluded watching season 5 of Mad Men. Wherein they have just secured the Jaguar account, through some nefarious methods, and have begun suffering the consequences of that tainted victory. 

Spoiler Alert: One of the partners commits suicide.

I know I'm extremely late to the Mad Men party. Let's just say that while the show was commanding everyone's attention, the team and I were trying to scare up some interest in the fledgling X-type available for $199 a month. 

Make no mistake the X-type was hardly a Jaguar. The genii in Coventry simply took a Ford Mondeo, a mid-priced cubicle monkey's automobile, and slapped a cheap chrome plated leaper on the bonnet.

Jaguar isn't the first to abandon craftsmanship and pride in order to make a quick money grab. And they won't be the last. In today's shareholder economy, shrinkflation or some version of it, is the currency of the realm. It's across the board in every industry.

Which reminds me of a more current maxim you may be familiar with, "It's our responsibility to leave the world better than the way we found it."

Take a look around you. What's better?