Description
Oatly basically said, “Why chase likes when we can take over an entire building?” Instead of crafting some perfectly polished Instagram post, they slapped a giant, screaming mural on a city wall. The message is loud, cheeky, and wonderfully unnecessary, an oat milk carton towering over the street with a tagline that winks at baristas, coffee lovers, and anyone who’s ever scrolled mindlessly on their phone.
It’s Oatly in its purest form: self-aware, sarcastic, and proudly unconventional.
How It Works:
The genius is in the anti-ad approach. It mocks modern advertising while being a very effective piece of modern advertising.
By calling out Instagram posts in a literal mural, it creates a fun contradiction that grabs eyes, sparks laughs, and earns instant attention. It feels rebellious, casual, and almost too honest, which is exactly why it works.
Oatly is telling you:
“We’re not trying too hard… but also, yes we painted an entire building.”
How You Can Reuse It:
Lean into meta storytelling, ads that talk about the fact that they’re ads.
People love brands that don’t take themselves too seriously. Break the fourth wall. Call out the obvious. Make fun of the process. Show the joke and the product at the same time.
When your brand confidently admits, “Yep, this is an ad,” it becomes refreshing in a world where everyone else is pretending otherwise. And that honesty? It makes people stop, look, smile, and actually remember you.
