Why I love and HATE Oatly

For those of you who don't know, Oatly are a Swedish 'oat milk' (or oat drinks in Europe) brand who are taking on Big Dairy and in my opinion, winning!

Why do I hate them?

Well, their entire mission centres round the belief that:

We should grow stuff to eat instead of growing stuff to feed animals that we then eat

Essentially, they oppose just about everything that dairy farmers do in terms of the milk they produce, the way animals are treated and agricultures effect on climate change.

So, why on earth would I love them?

Well, I love, and cannot fault, their marketing and branding! It is truly SUBLIME.

From a consumer stand point, it makes me FEEL something. It's different, funny, tenacious and most of all, it has PERSONALITY!

Take the above advert for example? Beautifully simple but effective.

Not only does this advert clearly highlight the problem they are solving but it's written in a very personable manner. It's not the same corporate bullshit we see come out of so many companies these days.

And I love them for it. For daring to be different. For talking to consumers like they are real people. For taking a risk (it takes balls to throw stones at Big Dairy!)

And here's another (the examples are endless.....)

So what can we learn from this?

The Oatly marketing strategy is formed around this simple graph:

As an industry, I believe we are doing ourselves an injustice in using bland, impotent messaging that doesn't connect or resonate with the consumer.

We would benefit from taking a leaf out of Oatly's marketing playbook.

So here is what I believe we need:

• We need marketing with personality - write like you talk. Don't try and be too clever or corporate, just say it as it is
• Make people feel something - make them smile, laugh, get angry, be scared. Whatever it is, create emotion
• Take risks - if your not taking risks in marketing, you're in the wrong game. Build nervousness into your marketing because that's what will make you stand out. Nothing bold or new was achieved without having a go.

Oatly prove that you don't necessarily need a better product to succeed. What you need is the ability to better communicate your product in a way that makes consumers feel something towards it.

Love them or hate them, farming could learn a lot from the enemy.

Until next week.....