‘Creators are their own brand’: Oatly on using influencers as ‘creative directors’

As Oatly continues to bring its bold humour to social feeds, influencers are an ever bigger part of the equation.

Activating creator content on Instagram, YouTube Shorts and TikTok, influencers are responsible for a third of the oat milk brand’s social content. Some pieces of creator content have amassed 66 million views, while posts on TikTok are typically “less branded”.

Oatly has worked with influencers since its launch on Instagram in 2012 and added TikTok to the mix in 2022. The influencer strategy is based on “entertainment and engagement”, according to global media director Sarah Sutton.

Rather than a separate entity, influencers are seen as “an extension” of the in-house creative team, bringing in “fresh ideas”, “irreverent thinking” and an in-built audience. Instead of creators, Sutton prefers to describe Oatly’s influencers as “creative directors”.

“When we use creators externally, and especially specifically social media creators, they can bring a whole new style, tone and relevance to the brand that we might not get to internally, because we’re too protective of that tone of voice that we’ve crafted,” says Sutton.

She explains the challenge of being a “small company with a big brand” means Oatly’s “budgets need to work really hard”, which often translates into making an active choice on whether to work with one big creator or multiple smaller ones.

These creators are working in an agile, flexible manner and they work fast, and they work relatively cheaply when you compare them to traditional content.

Sarah Sutton, Oatly

Oatly focused on “irreverent”, creative or craft style influencers rather than “personality influencers” when it started forming such partnerships back in 2012 – an ethos it carries through today.

When it comes to selecting creators based on follower size, Sutton believes it’s important the brand involves itself with a “spectrum” of creators, with the “truly famous” on one end, relative to creators who are “famous within their bubble and their community”.

“We don’t always have the budgets to go for that larger talent. Where possible, we try and create a blend,” she explains.

She cites Oatly’s work with musicians Benny Blanco and Giggs as examples of work with higher profile influencers.

Day-to-day, the focus tends to be on smaller creators who have “more of a strong, local following”.

“That really helps us tap into communities and activities that are happening at a market level. That brings people closer to the brand and then hopefully that brings them closer to taking some sort of action, i.e. searches,” says Sutton.

Smaller creators give Oatly the ability to “truly open up the brief” and offer more “creative licence”, recognising that individuality in content is important.

“We’ve all recognised that we don’t need to appeal to everyone all of the time and you shouldn’t. When brands really desperately try to have universal appeal, that’s when the work and the creativity becomes a little bit more bland,” says Sutton.

‘Constant cadence’

When it comes to the process of working with creators, because Oatly was “building the category” back in 2012, it could afford to give creators more free rein.

Although creators still have room for creative freedom, the guardrails have been tightened slightly due to the competitive landscape. There’s now more of a focus for the brand to be “front and centre” and for the product to be “somewhere in the creative idea”.

“There’s no expectation for people to hold said product to camera, but we do want them to incorporate the brand in there and highlight it somehow. That’s usually as tight as the brief goes,” explains Sutton.

To her, what’s more important is selecting the right creator from the outset, with the goal being to find people who “stand out”, yet still match the brand values. Sutton cites creators like Pablo Rochat and Sylvanian Drama, which she defines as “funny and unique”.

There are financial challenges that come with working with creators, such as the admin needed to set creators up as vendors so they can be paid fairly. This is where Oatly works with the likes of influencer agency Whalar.

When brands really desperately try to have universal appeal, that’s when the work and the creativity becomes a little bit more bland.

Sarah Sutton, Oatly

“We really pride ourselves on making sure that all the creators we work with are paid efficiently and accurately,” says Sutton.

“We have a duty to protect the creator space in terms of sign-offs and lead times. At the end of the day, these creators are working in an agile, flexible manner and they work fast, and they work relatively cheaply when you compare them to traditional content.”

Creators don’t want to work with brands with too many restrictions and sign-offs in place, she adds. While Oatly doesn’t class itself as an “incredibly reactive brand”, having the ability to be reactive and agile is something it appreciates. Vetting talent is also important.

“Creators are their own brand. If that brand is mischievous, if they’re satirical, if they’re provocative, that’s going to come across in the work,” says Sutton.

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Going forward, Oatly is thinking more consciously about building longer lasting relationships with its creators, something Sutton says brand is “guilty” of not always doing.

“We tend to flit around and just bring more and more in. And actually, we’re now starting to think about how we could potentially have more longer-term relationships with some of the smaller creators,” she explains.

Another goal for Oatly is to have a “constant cadence of influencer work across all markets”, with Sutton seeing smaller creators as having the potential to “lean into local communities”.

She can see a world where there’s a 50/50 split between in-house and creator content, However, Sutton is careful not to increase creator content too much, expressing the need for “restraint”.

“There’s a danger that we could dilute our brand tone of voice by working with too many creators. If we lose that, the best creators won’t want to work with us,” she adds.

Marketing Week will continue to explore the creator economy in future articles in our Influencers Explored series.