Ep. 096 - Talk This Way: Why Oatly’s Approach to Tone of Voice Works | Michael Lee - Oatly

Marketing and advertising is saturated with rules for best practice. Swedish plant-based milk brand Oatly has rejected them all. The brand frequently mocks the idea of advertising within its ads, it prints negative feedback on its packaging and once took to Instagram to poke fun at its own CEO. In this episode of Social Minds, we’re joined by Oatly’s creative director Michael Lee, to find out the process behind every self-deprecating billboard or tweet. The impressive part? Oatly has successfully scaled with just three copywriters, no CMO and no TOV guidelines across global markets. In this, Michael explains the importance of TOV and language, why having a marketing director hurts progress, and how a brand can be 100% serious about its cause, without taking itself seriously at all. This episode is a lesson in unapologetic fun, meaningful action and doing things differently.