While watching the Super Bowl, people will watch the commercials instead of the game itself. While there were interesting commercials this year, there was one commercial that stood out from the rest of them. A commercial that involved a CEO playing a keyboard while singing, "Wow, no cow." Oatly's "Wow, no Cow" commercial has got to be one of the weirdest commercials from Super Bowl LV. While it was strange, from an advertising and marketing perspective, it was genius.
It Got People to Talk About Them
While the Super Bowl advertisement costed $5 million, yes $5 million, social media basically gave them additional advertising, for free. Viewers were so confused that they brought their confusion to Twitter. Many viewers disliked the commercial so much that Oatly themselves created a T-shirt that said, "I totally Hated That Oatly Commercial." Additionally, the T-shirts were sold out within five minutes of them posting on Instagram. They knew people were going to talk about the commercial, so they had a line of T-shirts ready to deploy as soon as their Super Bowl commercial was aired. They were mostly going for a "no publicity is bad publicity" mindset, and that worked in their favor. Oatly has also received funding from Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z. In fact, Oatly is seeking to be worth $10 billion IPO. In other words, they are seeking a $10 billion valuation in the U.S.
It Had a Catchy Jingle
Jingles were widely used during the fast food era of the 1970's. McDonald's "You deserve a break today" was an iconic jingle utilized in their commercials, as well as Burger King's "Have it your way." Besides the State Farm jingle, Oatly's "Wow, no cow" was oddly catchy. It was so simple with a couple of piano keys, processed drums, and the CEO trying his best to sing. When something becomes catchy, it carries on. People will become familiar with the sound and sooner or later, people will think back to the Oatly commercial aired in the Super Bowl. Because the commercial was simple and warming, people can associate the brand to be simple and a warming brand.
It Was Not The Typical Super Bowl Ad
The typical Super Bowl ad usually contains humor and outrageous storylines. In 2020, Google had the most emotional Super Bowl commercial of that year with the "Loretta" commercial. Now here comes Oatly with the a guy who is playing the piano singing "Wow, no cow." Even though the commercial was created in 2014, and banned in Sweden, the commercial felt out of place in an era of bizarre Super Bowl commercials. Advertising agencies and companies aired these commercials because they want people to remember their brand. Oatly decided not to follow the "bizarre" trend and kept their commercial out of the ordinary. In an advertising perspective, I admire that. I admired the fact that they were not part of the norm. It would be interesting to see what else they could have done for the Super Bowl, but I think this commercial is genius. Who knows? Maybe another brand will be inspired by Oatly's Super Bowl commercial and try to replicate what they did? Time will tell how long this commercial will inspire others to keep it simple during the Super Bowl.
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