Oatly in Paris: another ad you wish you’d thought of

Oatly in Paris: another ad you wish you’d thought of

Oatly, which produces plant-based alternatives to dairy products, recently ran into legislative difficulties when trying to promote its products via an out-of-home ad campaign in Paris.

Rules around commercial wall murals in the city dictate that painted murals must be done "artfully", without the use of products or logos. But, in the spirit of guerilla marketing and unconventional thinking, Oatly found a way to get around this: its creative team skirted the rules with text-heavy murals with phrases such as "Wouldn’t this wall be much nicer with a carton of oat drink?".

The twist? Delivery workers enter the shot to line up various objects to give the ads new meaning for a series of online videos.

“On entering Paris, we learned that commercial walls were only accepted if they were 'artfully' done, without products and logos. As we love both art and outdoor advertising, we wanted to honour that when telling the Parisians about our arrival and, at the same time, have some fun with it,” said Oskar Pernefeldt, creative director at Oatly.

The advert plays on Paris’ iconic street art culture, which feels in keeping, given the brand’s history of subversive campaigns. The brand uses different messages to hone in on the health benefits of vegan products for humans and nature.

This time, Oatly employs a tactic seen across the recent spate of Christmas adverts putting workers and personnel into the forefront. The creative use of its familiar vans and trademark ‘drawn’ branding also fit well for the advert’s urban context and ‘budget’ feel.

Credits

Country: France
Year: 2023
Brand: Oatly
Creative Team: Martin Ringqvist, Oskar Pernefeldt, Mårten Vennelin
Brand Director: Iggy Diez
Brand Lead, France: Elise Prigent
Studio and Production Manager: Lisen Axelsson
Supervisor: Anna H.
Media Team: Magda Szmilewska, Catalina Östrell
Social Media/CM Team: Åsa Ramlid, Anni Tjebbes
PR: Erica Wigge
Team Oatly, France
General Manager, France: Julie Duval
Key Account Manager France - OOH: Francois Vogelsinger
Barista Market Developer - France (Consultant): Mark McKinney
Barista Market Developer: Héléna Morin
Supply Chain Manager: Luis Andrade
Head of Finance France & South Europe: Marc Brisset

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