Did you know that the International Dairy Foods Association hosts an annual ice cream party in Washington, D.C.? Oatly, widely known in the out-of-home industry for its catchy advertisements and unique activations, launched a “dairy deprogramming” campaign. The campaign was both a response to the ice cream party and an effort to shed light on the environmental impact of dairy consumption.
“Moving away from meat and dairy is one of the easiest ways Americans can lower their climate footprints,” said Malia Killings, Creative & Design Director at Oatly North America. “But because the dairy lobby is not transparent about the impacts of their products, many people don’t understand the true role that the industry plays in our climate crisis.”
Oatly puts their climate footprints on their products’ packaging. Killings says the company is passionate about educating consumers on this topic to help them make informed food choices.
Oatly’s direct approach to transparency culminated in a strategic and eye-catching location for their activation.
“Rather than wait for the dairy industry also to embrace transparency, we decided to just show up across the street from one of their larger annual lobbying events to expose the facts ourselves. One of those facts is that Oatly’s Original Oatmilk has a 49% lower climate impact than comparable cow’s milk,” Killings said.
The campaign’s centerpiece was the Oatly Soft Serve truck, which offered free oat-based soft serve to passersby. Though they’ve done similar ice cream truck activations, this time, they worked with experiential agency Factory360 to bring the pop-up ice cream truck to life.
Oatly’s campaign adopted a tone that was both educational and slightly irreverent. “We really approached this initiative from an education standpoint,” Killings explains. “How could we show up in a way that inserted a bit of transparency into this day, while also bringing the brand levity and overall voice people have come to know (and mostly love) from Oatly?” The campaign effectively balanced these elements, providing clear information while memorably engaging the audience.
The truck attracted nearly 400 Washingtonians eager to try out the oat-based treat- and learn about the environmental benefits of choosing Oatly over dairy.
The campaign’s on-ground success was matched by its online performance. “Not only were we received well by the hundreds of DCers on the ground the day of the pop-up, but our resulting video content has also been received very well on social media so far – receiving well over 100K views across channels.”
Every brand is trying in one way or another to get noticed. Oatly seems to have the formula for great brand moments cracked.
“At Oatly, we greatly respect people’s attention, and as such, we have a couple very simple guidelines to the work we do. When we show up as a brand, we try to say or do something that makes people think, or, at the very least, we try to do something that is entertaining. If we get a moment of your time, we want that moment to be of some substance.”
The “dairy deprogramming” truck perfectly exemplified this philosophy. By choosing a location directly across from a major dairy industry event, Oatly provided a tangible counterpoint that was hard to ignore.
“We provided a few statistics around dairy and Oatly to give folks some useful information and hopefully spark an interest to learn more,” Killings said. “And in offering a counterpoint, we also offered non-dairy soft serve for people to try, so they could draw their own conclusions on if they’d be open to considering a more environmentally friendly option in the future.”
This is not Oatly’s first viral OOH moment or its first subversive one. In 2021, they also had an extremely long billboard message that needed to be extended to a second billboard as part of their humorous, creative design. But they have long been known for breaking the six-word rule. They’ve also had successful ads for their non-dairy frozen dessert.