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How a Jaguar presentation was driven by connectivity and experience

16 June 2022
jaguar land rover and dua lipa visual with blue and purple lights

This article first appeared in Campaign Magazine and is written by Creative Director, Lisa Rodin.

Back in September 2018, I helped create Jaguar’s launch campaign for its Pace Series vehicles. Read more about the project here.

This was a fully connected innovative brand-building experience that moved Jaguar’s PR and marketing towards a more integrated, experience-driven strategy. A multi-channel experience that combined new cars, new software, a global brand, a rapidly rising global superstar, a select in-person crowd and a remote worldwide audience.

It was one of the most collaborative pieces of work I’ve ever been involved in, and it has informed so much of the work I’ve created since. The purpose was simple, but the execution was complex. We were asked to create an attention-grabbing experience to build Jaguar’s brand in Europe. The British marque was taking on the German carmakers with its first electric vehicle (the I-Pace) and accompanying cars in the Pace series and it wanted to change people’s mindset toward the brand.

We’ve worked with Jaguar for many years, and it is a dream client, always looking to push innovation and design and this excelled on this project. The main event was a secret, invitation-only Dua Lipa performance, held at Sugar City in Amsterdam.

The creativity was in the detail, from the lighting and the customisable Dua Lipa track to the stage design and the intuitive software. Digital music was at the heart of it.

From a creative point of view, I started from the furthest point out. Stage design is usually all about the people present in the venue, but in this case, I was thinking just as much about the millions of people who were not there.

Specifically, about the user-generated content from the people in the audience – no matter where they stood, I wanted the stage to film well on their mobile phones. When they shared images and videos of the event, people watching on their mobiles would feel the energy, momentum and visual tension of the performance.

So instead of going for anything widescreen, we designed a diamond-shaped laser chandelier that framed the action and would fit beautifully in any shot on the phone screen.

The music and driving experience were intrinsically linked. Dua Lipa’s track, Want To, was written specifically for the event. Then, as part of the live experience, a number of influencers could test drive an I-Pace and while they were driving the dynamics were recorded.

The intuitive software we developed took that data from the car – how they drove, their speed, angles of turns and so forth – and personalised the song track based on that input bringing the data to life through immersive bespoke visuals, lasers and sound.

Even the content on stage was taken from the car data. Using an algorithm, we could create visual motion from the car, which was used as content on a backdrop screen for the light show as part of Dua Lipa’s stage performance.

Those people not at the live event could download an app to their device that remixed the track based on their Spotify preferences instead. It was a cutting-edge piece of software that meant everyone interested could get their own remixes, whether attending the event or not.

We’d never done anything like this before and the biggest challenge was making it authentic. We weren’t cheating, it wasn’t smoke and mirrors, the software was really informing the show and people’s remixes.

It required a lot of input from very techy people and the result was we could help take an established brand like Jaguar to a whole different place.

I think ever since the success of this campaign, I’ve approached projects in a more holistic way – considering multi-dimensions, always thinking about the pre and post-experience and how to engage and delight people beyond the physical space.

Lisa Riordan

Creative Group Head, Imagination London

As Creative Director, Lisa directs and manages the Creative Team responsible for delivering award winning events and experiences globally.

Lisa is responsible for the concept and delivery of the global experiential programme for Jaguar and Land Rover. Her expertise lies in the design and delivery of engaging, highly creative communication solutions for strategically driven projects.

She has led teams in New York, Cannes and London for leading International agencies delivering cutting edge creative solutions for a range of clients.