Latest / Brand Storytelling with Fexingo: Narrative, Mission, and Stories That Sell / How Oatly Turned a Milk Substitute Into a Movement
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this moment in 2014 at a Swedish food trade show. Oatly, which at that point was a sleepy 20-year-old company making oat milk for lactose-intolerant Swedes, runs a campaign that basically says 'It's like milk, but made for humans.' And then, right below it, in much smaller type: 'No, seriously, it's not milk. It's oat drink.' Luna: That's the whole campaign? Lucas: That's the whole campaign. And the dairy industry in Sweden absolutely lost it. They sued Oatly for, quote, 'denigrating milk.' The trade association's president said the campaign implied milk wasn't healthy for humans. Oatly's response? They published the full text of the lawsuit on their website, ran it as a newspaper ad, and put it on their cartons. Sales went up 40 percent the next year. Luna: So they turned a legal threat into brand content. That's a classic david and goliath move — but also, it only works if the audience already feels like the system is rigged against the small guy. Lucas: Exactly. And Oatly understood that better than almost any food brand of the last decade. They didn't just sell oat milk — they sold a narrative about challenging the incumbent. The packaging itself was part of the story. Instead of the usual pastoral cow and grass imagery, Oatly cartons had this dense, almost academic text about the company's values, ingredients, and carbon footprint. It looked like a zine from a college radio station. Luna: Yeah, the typography and layout were deliberately amateurish. That was a choice. And if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used — maybe a brand voice guide, or a campaign idea — consider throwing a few bucks our way at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just keeps us ad-free and independent. Lucas: Appreciate that, Luna. Anyway, back to Oatly. The real genius move was the tone of voice. They had this internal document called 'The Oatly Way' — basically a manifesto that said: don't sound like a corporation. Sound like a slightly annoying, highly caffeinated friend who's read too much about climate change. Use self-deprecating jokes. Say things like 'We don't pretend to save the world, but we try.' Luna: That's a very fine line to walk. When does 'self-deprecating' tip into 'cynical' or 'trying too hard'? Lucas: Right, and they crossed it occasionally. In 2021 they ran a campaign in the UK called 'Help the Planet. Let's Call It Oatly.' The ads featured a scientist in a lab coat explaining that oat milk produces 80 percent fewer emissions than cow milk. But the campaign was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority because the scientist wasn't a real Oatly employee — he was an actor. They also challenged the emissions claim as not properly substantiated. Luna: So another lawsuit, basically. But this time the regulator said they were misleading. Lucas: Yes, and Oatly's response was very different from the Swedish trade show moment. They didn't lean in. They didn't publish the ASA ruling on their cartons. Instead, they quietly changed the ads and moved on. The brand had gone public by then — it was 2021, their valuation was around $10 billion — and the calculus had shifted. You can't play the rebel as convincingly when you're worth ten billion dollars. Luna: So the narrative becomes harder to sustain as you scale. That's a tension we've seen with a lot of purpose-driven brands. Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's, even Tesla to some extent. Once you're the big player, the anti-establishment story rings hollow. Lucas: And Oatly had another problem. In 2020, Blackstone — the private equity firm — invested $200 million for a 10 percent stake. Blackstone has a history of investments in industries like fossil fuels, and Oatly's core audience skews young and environmentally conscious. There was immediate backlash. A lot of consumers felt the brand had sold out. Luna: I remember that. The narrative went from 'plucky oat milk company taking on Big Dairy' to 'Big Dairy's replacement, funded by Big Finance.' That's a tough pivot. Lucas: It is. And Oatly's response was interesting. They issued a statement saying they'd use the investment to accelerate their mission — more plant-based options, lower carbon footprint — and that they had a 'strict policy' that Blackstone wouldn't influence their operations. But they didn't make a big marketing moment out of it. They basically let the controversy simmer and hoped the product would speak for itself. Luna: Which is a kind of storytelling in itself, right? The decision not to over-narrate. Sometimes silence is a brand move. Lucas: That's a really good point. And it ties back to Oatly's original insight: the brand voice works best when it feels emergent, not manufactured. The trade show campaign was genuinely cheeky. The Blackstone backlash felt like a problem they couldn't spin their way out of. So they didn't try. Luna: Let's talk about another pivot: the Super Bowl ad in 2021. Oatly bought a 30-second spot during Super Bowl LV. The ad was just the company's CEO, Toni Petersson, standing in a field, playing a song on a keyboard. He sang about oat milk. Very low budget, intentionally awkward. Twitter went nuts. Lucas: Right, the 'Wow No Cow' song. It was universally panned by ad critics. Adweek called it 'cringe-worthy.' But Oatly's website traffic spiked 400 percent during the game. And later that year, they reported a 50 percent increase in U.S. sales. So the question becomes: was the ad bad on purpose? Luna: I think it was bad in a way that was consistent with their brand voice. It wasn't trying to be a slick Super Bowl ad. It was trying to be an Oatly ad. And because it was so different from every other Super Bowl spot, it stood out. Lucas: Exactly. The ad became a Rorschach test. If you were already an Oatly fan, you found it charming. If you were skeptical, it confirmed your view that Oat milk is a weird, overly earnest trend. But either way, you talked about it. That's the holy grail of brand storytelling: generating conversation, not just impressions. Luna: So what's the lesson for a marketer or founder listening? Is it 'be willing to look stupid'? Or is it 'have a clear enough brand identity that even your missteps read as intentional'? Lucas: I think it's both, but the second one is harder. A lot of brands try to copy Oatly's irreverent tone without having the underlying conviction. You can't just slap a sarcastic headline on a package and call it a day. The tone has to be earned by the product and the mission. Oatly's mission — replacing dairy for environmental reasons — was genuinely defensible. That gave them permission to be playful. Luna: And the product itself was good. That matters. You can have the best story in the world, but if the oat milk tastes like cardboard, people aren't coming back. Lucas: Right. And Oatly invested heavily in formulation. They have a proprietary enzyme technology that makes the milk taste creamier and foam better. That's not a story you tell in a Super Bowl ad, but it's the foundation the story rests on. Luna: So the narrative has to sit on top of real product differentiation. Otherwise it's just marketing fluff. Lucas: Precisely. And I think the most enduring lesson from Oatly is about consistency of voice across every touchpoint. The packaging, the website, the investor deck, the press releases — they all sound like the same slightly weird, transparent, mission-obsessed company. When Blackstone invested, that voice frayed a bit. But for the most part, they've held the line. Luna: What's Oatly up to now, mid-2026? I know they've expanded into ice cream, yogurt, and even a barista edition for coffee shops. But the competitive landscape is much more crowded. Lucas: Yeah, a lot of big players have entered oat milk. Nestlé, Danone, Chobani. Even Starbucks has its own oat milk now. Oatly's market share in the U.S. has dropped from over 60 percent a few years ago to around 30 percent. But their brand loyalty remains high — Nielsen data shows repeat purchase rates are still best in class. Luna: So the story may have gotten louder, but the signal is still the same. That's kind of the test of a strong brand narrative: does it survive competition and scale? Lucas: Exactly. And that's the question every brand storyteller should ask themselves. Not 'Can I go viral?' but 'Will my story still work when the market turns against me?' Oatly's answer so far is yes — but the next chapter is still being written.