Jaguar Land Rover Partners With Gorillaz (Toon) Guitarist To Promote Formula E Racing Debut

Jaguar Land Rover is partnering with virtual band Gorillaz guitarist Noodles as a global ambassador for a new campaign celebrating the auto brand’s electric vehicle technology and its new Panasonic Jaguar Racing Formula E team.

The campaign objective is to aims to highlight the auto outfit’s green technologies, address the global skills gap in manufacturing and highlight the opportunities for young people to get involved.

The initiative is led by a spearhead spot fronted by Noodles who takes one of the new Panasonic Jaguar Formula E cars and puts it through its (virtual) paces on a race track which debuted on YouTube on X

and was amplified across its other digital and social platforms.

With help from Noodle to inspire the next generation of @JaguarRacing engineers, vote for us to win the @FIAFormulaE Hong Kong #FanBoost. pic.twitter.com/YS18O1SJmq

— Jaguar (@Jaguar) October 7, 2016

‘The young minds of today are the engineers of tomorrow. We are in the driving seat and our imaginations are the fuel. It’s time to lead the charge and build a better world,’ comments Noodles in the campaign launch PR material.

A fascinating choice for an endorser, Noodles, of course, is actually an animated member of the virtual band Gorillaz created in 1998 by Blur front-man Damon Albarn and comic book artist and director Jamie Hewlett.

The four piece band – guitarist Noodles, lead vocalist 2D, bass player Murdoc Niccals and drummer Russel Hobbs – are all entirely fictional characters rather than animated personas of real life musicians.

Their fictional universe is explored through the band’s website (http://gorillaz.com/) and music videos, as well as across multiple media platforms and channels and a series of short cartoons.

9 October saw Panasonic Jaguar Racing complete its first Formula E race and it has entered the series primarily to leverage it as a platform to promote its ‘thought leadership position as a business that is shaping the future to solve the technology innovation and skills gap challenges’.

‘By 2022 we’re facing a shortfall of 300,000 skilled engineers in the UK alone. It is our responsibility to change this future by inspiring young people,’ explains Jaguar Land Rover global PR and communications director Fiona Pargeter.

‘Yes we want to be successful on track, but Formula E can be a once in a generation opportunity to inspire the future generations of engineers. A global platform to inspire and attract young children to a career in innovation and engineering – through Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s partnership with Noodle we hope to inspire millions of young people to help invent the future.’

Panasonic Jaguar drivers Carroll and Evans finished 14^th and 16^th respectively in the team’s inaugural race.

Comment

This campaign certainly recognises the blending of entertainment genres and the ever closer relationships between music and sport.

Some might wonder whether Gorillaz, a virtual band launched in the late ‘1990s’, are still a culturally relevant, hi-tech partner for the objectives behind Panasonic Jaguar’s cutting edge, future facing campaign, despite the Albarn-led music/graphic experimental concept’s roots in innovation and creativity and playing with the blurred lines between entertainment, musical, film and technology.

Plus, those who feel it’s been a while since the virtual band had a hit and think they might be a bit old hat might want to consider that the spearhead spot has already notched up a solid 310,198 YouTube views.

Links

Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Web:

http://www.jaguar.com/jaguar-racing/i…

Jaguar YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/JaguarCarsLimited

Jaguar Website:

http://www.jaguar.com

Jaguar Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/Jaguar

Jaguar Twitter:

http://twitter.com/Jaguar

Jaguar Instagram: