Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash 

Hi, friend. 

It was nice to get a bit of normalcy last weekend, watching Tom Brady win another football trophy. Two, if you count the MVP honor. 

Like 96.4 million other people, I tuned in to watch the game and, of course, the commercials. 

It feels a bit like Agency Christmas, all of us waiting to see what the brands will give us this year. There’s always one spot that hits it out of the park (gets it down the end zone?) for me--something perfect all the way around.

Did you have a favorite? I did. But everyone else hated it. 😬  

AdMeter ranked it dead last in its list of game day spots.

The Atlantic cried, “Woof.”  

Yet, I will die on this hill: Oatly had the best spot in Sunday’s game. If you're racking your brain, it was the one with its CEO singing “wow-wow-no-cow” off-key in an open field.

Watch the spot. Then I’ll tell you why it was perfect and why anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

It Was Perfectly Mission-First

When you have the opportunity to say something, ANYTHING, during a moment when you know nearly 100 million people are watching--what do you say? 

What message is worth $5.5 million and virtually every eyeball on the planet?

If you’re Jeep or Bud Light, the conversation goes differently. You can woo people with an emotional hook. Leave ‘em verklempt with warm, gooey feelings while never mentioning your product. You already have the brand value to trade on. No one has to tell us what Bud Light sells.

But if you’re Oatly or, well, any one of us, you’re not in that stratosphere just yet. Your message MUST drive brand interest and consumer intent. Your responsibility is double. The spot must be memorable AND undeniably relevant to who you are.

From that angle, Oatly wins.

Their spot was dripping with the brand mission. You may have hated that wow-wow-no-cow jingle, and maybe you never heard of them before Sunday, but today you know what they do. You know they make milk for humans and are rooted in sustainability. 

And not just the level of sustainability that sounds good, but the level that has the brand’s CEO barefoot (I’m guessing) in an open oat field wailing over his keyboard to get you to buy into the magic.

In 30 seconds, you got precisely who that brand is. That’s not easy. 

It Was Perfectly Out of Place

Did you see the Dexcom commercial with Nick Jonas? I was drooling by the end of it. The sweeeet kinetic text, the script, the tech namedropping—it was the quarterback of cool. Everything you’d expect and want from a big game spot.

Oatly was the direct opposite.

There was nothing sexy about this spot. Oatly CEO Toni Petersson, who does resemble a crunchy Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is not an A-list celebrity. It didn’t look like they spent months and months on the script and production. Petersson wrote the jingle himself, and it was shot in just three takes right before it started raining. 

That’s why it stood out. It was homegrown to its core and, well, kind of weird. And when put in an arena filled with 50 overproduced, perfect spots---weird gets noticed. Weird is memorable

It Was Perfectly Extended

That's what the Oatly homepage looked like in the U.S. immediately after its spot ran.

They knew you were gonna look. They weren’t surprised to be the odd kid at the dance; they were ready and prepared for it. They let you know that they saw you--the person checking out an oat milk website during a time when you’re supposed to be drowning in Bud Light and hot wings. It didn't stop there. 

Knowing their spot would be divisive, they accounted for it, offering free T-shirts that poked fun of the brand (but also kept it in conversation): 

Their social media team responded to the barrage of comments mocking them with very matter-a-fact, unapologetic language.

It all felt on brand, on mission, coordinated, and like they were in on the joke. 

I loved it because it felt true to who they are--not some overhyped version of who they want to be--and because it also showed planning and forethought. I LOVE when brands (or anyone!) think of the details. The buzz of the big game is easy to capture. It’s easy to get some folks talking when 100 million of them are watching. But how do you keep that conversation going? How do you re-invent what you did there and make it reusable over and over again?

The T-shirts that were made? So many people wanted one that Oatly ran out. 

That terrible jingle? People took hold of it and are creating covers around it. Writing and uploading their own version to share on social media.

Like this one:

And this one, too:

You can laugh, but their ad resulted in consumers creating new content on their behalf. Shelf life extended. That's impact.

Whether you loved it or hated it, you probably kept talking about it. And you maybe got that awful song stuck in your head.

So...Oatly: Best or Worst Ad Ever?

I’m calling it the best.

As predictable as Tom Brady winning a football game is how most brands approach a “successful” game day ad. Grab a celebrity, find a low-hanging punchline, and go all in. 

Oatly stood out by doing the opposite and took their shot to inspire people to think differently and make a different choice. And they did it by being 100% themselves, with the product front and center and a terrible jingle you may still have in your head. 

Say what you want but when you have 100 million eyeballs on you, that’s exactly how I’d use my moment.

Tell Me.

• What did you think of Oatly's spot?
• What commercial was your favorite? Why?