How to Utilize Agile MRX: Research Tactics for Expanding Brands like Oatly

We did our own research into the attitude towards dairy vs non-dairy milk, focusing on the UK market, and asked our target audience a few questions. Let's dive in.

45% of the respondents have never tried alternative milk.

This translates into a growth potential for brands like Oatly, who aim to convert milk drinkers into dairy-free milk drinkers or win over those who have never tried alternative milk in the first place. Right, so among those who have already been introduced to the world of non-dairy, what types of milk do they prefer? Our initial guess was coconut and we were surprised to see that…

Our respondents choose almond (58%), oat (52%) and soy milk (39%), with coconut milk lagging behind at 29%. Now that we have our top three, let's see why people choose dairy-free milk over cow milk.

Respondents highlighted health reasons, lactose intolerance, perception of alternative milk as "more natural/organic", taste preferences and environmental concerns as most relevant to them. Interestingly, avoiding animal products for ethical reasons scored among the lowest of the reasons.

Now to the juicy part. The questions any brand is asking their marketing team: What is our brand awareness like? Do people even know we exist? And what other brands do consumers turn to?

Within our sample of 200 people, 77% of people knew Alpro, 51% knew Oatly and 43% - innocent. But knowing is one thing, we are curious about actual consumption.

People drink what they know, but! 23% of people who are aware of the alternative milk brands don't drink dairy-free milk at all. Statistics paint a promising picture. There is a crowd of cow milk drinkers to win over and competitor brands to outperform. But what would it take to convince your potential audience to ditch cow and go oat, and to stand out among the competition? Oatly, for example, is creating a wide range of products to satisfy any consumer need.

To distinguish itself from other alternative milk brands, and to switch people from consumption of dairy products, Oatly has doubled-down on marketing campaigns that are fresh and provocative. They stand out and have a unique tone-of-voice with recognisable copywriting and visual style (spam newsletter campaign). They evoke buzz in social media and even spark debate (reddit campaign backlash).

In order to grow their market share, Oatly is playing on different markets, both geographical and categorical. Let's take a look at their US billboard campaign, followed by a video ad they launched in the UK.

We tested the audience response to each of these campaigns to see if people got the message, how they perceived the brand, and whether these ads drove people to switch from other brands and dairy products.

Respondents found the billboard eye-catching and unique.

According to the survey results, this banner sparked a desire to switch to alternative milk (62%).

Conversely, the UK ad did not perform as well.

Similarly to the billboard, the video ad was seen as unique, however in this case the respondents felt it was irrelevant, questioned whether it was funny and doubted the messaging in the video.

The metrics above show a mixed bag of results. The low levels of interest and relevance translate into the low desire to switch to alternative milk. The video doesn't achieve what it wants to achieve - getting consumers to the oat milk side. Only 27% of respondents said they'd consider switching.

Oatly isn't only running provocative ads. They are educating and "bringing up" their younger consumers by pioneering the inclusion of plant-based drinks in the EU School Scheme. The brand is willing to make a big shift in the consumers' minds to replace dairy with non-dairy products, so that the latter eventually become the new normal, ensuring future sales.

Are the above marketing tactics effective? Agile market research is a tried-and-true way to determine that.

Fastuna insight platform is a tool that can help you get up close and personal with your consumer. It provides a seamless process, allowing you to compare markets, detect areas for improvement in marketing communication, and test often for best results. Test the waters before you jump!