Oatly Takes on Santa with its Hilarious Holiday Campaign

Oatly is back to challenge holiday traditions with its bold and amusing "Update Milk" campaign, and this time, it's setting its sights on Santa Claus. Move over, milk and cookies—Oatly is here to claim your spot as Santa’s new favorite treat and beverage for his Christmas Eve rounds.

This year, Oatly continues its delightfully quirky series with a new twist: instead of the traditional dairy milk and cookies, Santa will be receiving oat milk and croquembouche, a French dessert made of choux pastry puffs stacked in a cone and drizzled with ribbons of caramel. The latest entry into the campaign swaps classic Christmas imagery with a humorous modern update, in typical Oatly fashion.

The “Update Milk” Campaign: A Delightful Disruption

In Oatly’s latest creative strategy, the brand takes iconic moments from pop culture, such as Emeril Lagasse’s cooking show, and humorously inserts its product into existing content. In one of the standout pieces, the ’80s Polaroid commercial "Love, Santa" gets a makeover, transforming into an unapologetic promo for oat milk and croquembouche. Similarly, "Leave a Note" shows a dad preparing his kids to leave Santa his new treats.

But Oatly doesn’t stop there. The brand has produced a unique 69-second film titled "Santa Taste Tests." In this short, Oatly hired 31 professional Santas to participate in a taste test, where they sampled both dairy milk with cookies and oat milk with croquembouche. The film playfully uses the power of suggestion, with the milk and cookies sitting alongside the oat milk and croquembouche as Santas weigh in on the superior combination.

Oatly's Bold Creative Approach

According to Eric Routenberg, Oatly’s North America Creative Director, the goal of this campaign is to highlight the outdated dominance of cow's milk in popular culture. “The Update Milk collection of creative is joined this year by a holiday edition, but as always it centers on calling out the ubiquity and antiquity of cow milk in popular culture,” Routenberg told Campaign US. “For each new creative piece, we dig into the interwebs and archives of yesteryear looking for scenes and moments to refresh, giving them a much-needed, more twenty-first-century update."

The brand’s unique approach demonstrates how easily traditions can be updated. By making a simple switch to oat milk, Oatly shows how simple it is to disrupt the norm, whether that’s changing a historical moment or just swapping out the holiday snacks.

Oatly’s Reach This Holiday Season

The 15-second ads for "Love, Santa" and "Leave a Note" are running across social media, out-of-home (OOH) placements, and streaming platforms. The longer "Santa Taste Tests" video is also being featured on social media and in cinemas. Oatly has also placed wild postings and digital ads in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, extending its festive reach even further.

The Rise of Plant-Based Alternatives

While the so-called "milk wars" may have cooled, plant-based milk alternatives are steadily gaining market share. As more consumers seek dairy-free options, Oatly’s humorous holiday campaign aligns perfectly with the growing demand for alternatives. According to Statista, U.S. plant-based milk sales are now worth a significant $2.9 billion annually.

Oatly’s fun, unexpected twist on the traditional holiday snack is a perfect example of how brands can engage with consumers in new and inventive ways, offering a fresh take on holiday traditions while making a statement about the evolving preferences of today’s consumers.

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