A Rebrand to Remember: An Oatly Case Study.
Daring. Dairy-ng. Get it? Did you find it amoosing? No? Ok…Mooving swiftly ahead, The reason for all these dairy puns is that we will closely examine the successful rebranding of Oatly- a company that managed to upset a monopoly in the dairy industry.
Rebranding is a process of a company revamping its image to better position itself for its target audience. This could include changes in colors used, fonts, logos, tone of voice, marketing strategies, and so on.
Branding is very important for a company. It is the image, voice, and personality you want customers to associate with you. It helps build trust as customers develop a preference towards you and your products.
In a market in which products have multiple alternatives and these alternatives have alternatives, it is strong branding that ultimately helps a customer pick you.
In this case study, we will take a look at how Oatly approached its branding, its feasibility, and what other brands can learn from it.
A Lil bit about the ol’ Oatly
Paraphrasing from the introductory video of the brand itself, Oatly was born out of boring, technical, and nerdy nutrition science, starting with the invention of oat milk in the 1990s. While the Swiss founding brothers had invented this creative alternative, they didn’t find much success internationally. One could imagine how it would be to suggest people switch from cow milk products to plant-based milk. People must have heard their ancestors crying in disbelief at this atrocity. But, today it is a 35 billion dollar market with many benefits and a combined mindset of people to avoid exhausting Earth’s resources.
So how did Oatly get itself on the global stage as a synonym for almost any plant-based dairy item?
The branding strategy of the brand-new Oatly
It all changed after the appointment of a new CEO- Toni Petersson, around 2014. The company proceeded to transform in the following areas:
Packaging
This plays a huge part in branding a company. Packaging in its essence is just the outer covering for a product to protect it from damage. Details related to the product and other legally required information are printed on it. But, when you look at it from a branding perspective, it’s so much more.
The packaging defines your brand identity in the marketplace. How should your brand look? Does your brand look good with a Hawaiian Tee, shorts, and Birks, or is it more of a hoodie, jogger, and Jordans type of brand?
The right fonts, colors, images, label info (how the product information is portrayed) and icons can resuscitate a brand.
An example is the avid Pepsi vs Coca-Cola fans. In many challenges done regularly online, many fail to recognize their favorite drink based on taste alone. So you can see how big a part the look and the brand identity play in attracting customers.
Oatly’s new CEO at the time did the same. In a dairyng (it’s the last time, we swear!) move decided to give the brand a whole new personality.
Image credit: Oatly, via Instagram
This benefited the brand by making it quirky, in-your-face and memorable! With quirky content on it, It’s so good that the brand name and icon could almost pass as the face of oat milk as a product.
The second benefit is due to the language change. They switched from Swedish to English- an important driver of growth on the international stage for any product or service. This was especially important for Oatly competing in the dairy industry.
If you gave us chocolate and the packaging was branded in another language, we would most likely close our eyes and take it, cause everyone knows foreign chocolate is good chocolate.
But when it comes to milk- one of the most common food items in the house, associated with growth, guests, and children- we’d be less likely to risk buying a brand that claims to be an alternative to the one and only ‘cow milk’, but the details of which we would need Papago to decipher.
2. A Fortified Brand Mission & Positioning-
Toni Petersson did a research study on the forecasted reduction in damage to the environment over the next few years with the use of oat milk as a substitute for the beloved dairy.
The study being in favour of the brand, they took to unapologetically marketing themselves with the brand mission: “To make it easy for people to eat better and live healthier lives without recklessly taxing the planet's resources in the process.”
Backed by the study, Oatly has successfully branded itself under the banner of being ‘healthy’ and ‘sustainable’.
3. Quality Digital Marketing
This is one of the key reasons why Oatly has over 340,000 followers on Instagram. Along with the packaging, Toni had also done away with the brand’s professional tone. Oatly now equips quirky content, paired with humour, a pinch (maybe more) of sarcasm, and ‘GenZesque’ language to really put their personality out there and have managed to attract many people.
Quite tough to comprehend, even more so to apply, but the brand has fun with its content, maintaining good vibes with a lot of cheekiness.
Image credit: Oatly, via Instagram
They also have customer testimonials which is a very important way in which they can appreciate and deepen their relationship.
They stick to their brand objectives of health and sustainability, whilst ensuring that the message doesn’t feel like it’s coming from a non-living entity.
Will the fame and success last?
While it is plain to see the positive effects and growth of Oatly with its branding strategy, it will have to tweak its strategy down the line because marketing is constantly evolving.
The appearance of imitations and similar products in the market is something that Oatly will have to account for. When there is something unique and creative in the market, it is only a matter of time before similar products appear to compete in the market. Once they’ve settled in the market, then Oatly loses its unique edge, allowing price, availability, and offers to be prime deciding factors of purchase.
Oatly has many eyes on them due to their strong stance on sustainability that indirectly (or directly) attacks the dairy industry. In such situations, the brand has to ensure that all its actions are in line with its mission.
However, the real, relatable, humorous, and GenZ-friendly communication of Oatly is their strong point. People value honesty and relatability today and this approach will help them maintain their position in the customer's minds.
And finally, they have really good products! At the core, this is what will help a brand’s success last.
Image credit: Oatly, via Instagram