The Swedish oat drinks brand Oatly has lots of friends. “My inbox is full each day with lovely and often incredibly personal messages of support from Oatly fans,” says the company’s creative director John Schoolcraft to underline the point.
But Oatly has also made one or two enemies along the way – most notably the Swedish dairy industry. It’s part of the price, or perhaps bonus, of being a ‘controversial’ brand.
At this week’s Natural Products Scandinavia event, Oatly’s creative director, John Schoolcraft, explained how the company had gone from a small Swedish producer of oat drinks “to a movement that aims to upgrade people’s lives through the nutritional and sustainability advantages of a plant-based diet”.
It’s done it by completely revamping its packaging, launching memorable and provocative slogans – “Wot, no cow?’ and ‘Like milk but for humans’ among them – penning haikus, recording terrible songs (featuring its MD) and sending fans old copies of National Geographic.
“The reason we do all this is that there is a serious mission behind what we do, and you can’t buy your way to change,” says Schoolcraft.
Oatly’s latest marketing coup was to persuade the Gothenburg-based music festival Way Out West to go milk-free. Schoolcraft again: “It had already taken the bold step of being meat-free, so we asked them why not go one step further – and the festival organisers agreed. Then we waited for Arla (the Denmark-based international milk cooperative) to do something stupid, and they did. They came up with this ad campaign encouraging people to smuggle milk into the festival. Our response was to build a massive banner at the entrance to the festival that asked ‘Who drinks milk at a festival anyway?’.
“Then we waited for Arla to do something stupid, and they did”
“Yes, we got some negative media – this country is built on milk, after all. The headlines said we were stealing people’s milk. But just like when we were sued by the Swedish dairy industry before, the latest ‘bad’ publicity has turned out to be good for us. It helped sales. And we’re getting the message out there that adopting a largely plant-based diet is the most sustainable solution for people and the planet.”
