Dive Brief:

• Oatly released a holiday marketing campaign that encourages consumers to put out oatmilk and the French dessert croquembouche for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve instead of the traditional milk and cookies, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• A 60-second video running on social media and in cinemas documents a taste test the brand gave to 31 professional Santas. In 15-second videos appearing on channels like social and streaming, the brand replaces archival footage and audio of milk and cookies with references to Oatly, oatmilk and croquembouche.
• An extension of Oatly’s cheeky “Update Milk” platform, the seasonal campaign also features out-of-home wild postings and digital OOH, including a twist on the classic Yule log video, that will run in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Dive Insight:

For its holiday campaign, Oatly is taking aim at one of dairy milk’s most cherished occasions: acting as half of the traditional treat left out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. To sweeten the pot, the Swiss milk alternative paired oatmilk with croquembouche, a decadent French dessert whose conical shape resembles a Christmas tree.

Central to the campaign is a 60-second video that documents a taste test the brand conducted with 31 professional Santas, including a ventriloquist and a close-up magician. All but one Santa chose Oatly’s alternative. “The data is undeniable,” a title card proclaims. “96.774% of Santas prefer oatmilk & croquembouche.”

The campaign also features two spots that iterate on the brand’s “Update Milk” platform, which launched last year, with edits to archival footage that replace milk with Oatly in an unsubtle fashion. “Love Santa” updates an old Polaroid commercial while “Leave A Note” refreshes social content. In addition, the campaign will include wild postings in major cities and a digital OOH video that will run in high-foot traffic areas like New York’s Port Authority.

As with previous campaigns, Oatly’s marketing goes on the attack and has some fun at the expense of the dairy industry. This type of competitive sparring has made a recent comeback as brands, especially challengers, take on established rivals on issues like value.

Oatly notched $208 million in Q3 revenue, a 10.9% year-over-year increase driven by an 18.1% increase in North America, according to its latest earnings report. While milk alternatives have gained traction with consumers, the industry has faced inflationary pressures that recently caused its first sales decline in years, per NielsenIQ data.