Inside Oatly’s Bizarrely Brilliant ‘Lo-Fi and Slightly Unhinged’ Creamer Rebrand

Before you even take a sip, Oatly wants your morning coffee to feel like an event. That’s the idea behind its latest rebrand—a packaging overhaul for its oat milk creamers that doesn’t just change the carton, but invites fans to call a hotline, visit a microsite, and even reimagine the grocery store parking lot as a place of ritual. It’s a move that blurs the line between beverage and branded entertainment while reinforcing the company’s singular take on plant-based dairy.

Making creamers feel ‘more Oatly’

“This rebrand was definitely a bit two-pronged,” Malia Killings, Creative Director and Design Director at Oatly North America, told VegNews. “First, our new creamer carton design helps synergize Oatly’s coffee accompaniment portfolio, with the refreshed package more closely matching that of our Barista Edition Oatmilk and Half & Half. Now, consumers can clearly make the connection that Oatly’s Oatmilk Creamers fall within the brand’s greater coffee portfolio while navigating grocery store aisles.”

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That cohesion is not just cosmetic. It’s part of a broader strategy to deepen brand recognition across store shelves while giving consumers a sensory jolt of delight before their morning caffeine even kicks in. The creamers—which were previously packaged in rPET bottles—now live in cartons, a move that also aligns with Oatly’s climate transparency goals.

“With this rebrand, we did transition our creamers from rPET bottle packaging to cartons, like many of our other oat milk products,” Killings said. “We were also able to release the product climate footprints of the creamers alongside the rebrand, a disclosure Oatly has been rolling out for all of our SKUs in the US since early 2023.”

According to the think tank The Good Food Institute (GFI), plant-based creamer purchases are outpacing sales in the conventional dairy creamer category. According to GFI,15 percent of households purchased plant-based creamers in 2023—up from 11 percent in 2020. Oat milk also now leads the alt-milk market in foodservice, and it’s in the coffee category where oat milk—and specifically oat-based creamers—continue to find new cultural footholds among Gen Z and millennial consumers seeking barista-worthy moments at home.

“Oatly Oatmilk Creamers are designed for people who are looking for a sweeter, bolder, and more indulgent coffee experience, especially at-home—whether they’re adding a dash into a French Press, pour-over, or really any type of coffee,” Killings said. “Further, we’re seeing demand for personalized coffee experiences grow, especially among the next generation of coffee drinkers who prefer a wide array of unique flavor options. Oatly’s Oatmilk Creamers offer those consumers endless possibilities for crafting customized coffee creations.”

From parking lots to coffee rituals

But packaging alone doesn’t drive this kind of consumer intimacy. Oatly, which has previously placed quirky billboards in Times Square and hosted gatherings of professional Santas in hotel ballrooms, took its storytelling a step further with the rebrand campaign—this time setting up “Fancy Parking Lot Coffee” pop-up to hand out café-style drinks in grocery store lots.

“Many of our activations explore what happens when we bring Oatly to real people in real places where they are already engaging in their usual activities—in this case a Ralphs’ parking lot in Culver City, CA,” Killings explained. The experiential stunt supports a central campaign idea: that the new creamers, in flavors like Sweet & Creamy and Vanilla, don’t just dress up your coffee—they elevate the entire ritual.

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Killings says the creamers are anything but ordinary, “and we really wanted to highlight this through new packaging and an accompanying creative campaign,” she said. “The creative work developed for the rebrand focused on just how fancy our creamers can make your daily cup of coffee—thanks to their irresistible flavors and rich, creamy texture. In fact, they can even transform a grocery store parking lot of all locations into an elevated occasion.”

‘Lo-fi’ storytelling with a cult following

Oatly’s subtle blend of absurdity and relatability is something it routinely leans into across platforms, from TikTok to Hulu, where the brand’s playfulness continues to blur the line between advertisement and comedy sketch. “We try to remain true to Oatly as a brand—opting for the irreverent, lo-fi, and perhaps slightly unhinged storytelling we’re known and mostly loved for,” said Killings.

For the design team, the refresh wasn’t just about tightening up shelf presence. It was about creating new touch points for existing fans and an effort to attract new consumers. The side panels of the new carton serve as a launchpad for digital engagement, sending people to a special microsite and, unexpectedly, to a hotline that features an Oatly employee’s old high school drama teacher.

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“This packaging refresh was about making this product ‘more Oatly,’” Killings said. “With the previous creamer bottle, we were not only missing this product fitting with our other oat milks visually, but we were also missing the carton sides that provide us a canvas to engage with customers. Our new [cartons] actually invite people to visit Oatly’s ‘I Read Oatly Cartons’ website for those diehard fans, and ‘call 1-833-READPLZ’ to hear an Oatly employee’s actual high school drama teacher read the carton’s details aloud.”

While the brand has long been known for pushing boundaries in plant-based advertising, this effort may be its most consumer-immersive. Oatly has already logged more than 3,000 visits to the dedicated carton site—an informal metric that gives the team insight into how the refresh is being received. As competition heats up in the non-dairy creamer space—where soy, almond, coconut, and now macadamia nut milk options jostle for space—Oatly continues to cement its leadership by staying connected to both the visual and emotional needs of its consumers.

Beyond slick branding and witty writing, Oatly’s approach points to a deeper insight about the plant-based consumer: people want to feel seen—and maybe even entertained—by the products they bring into their homes. For Oatly, that means the message can’t just be about ditching dairy. It has to also be about embracing joy.

“We know a great tasting and performing product leads to conversion,” Killings said. “While this campaign is, of course, focused on our creamers, it does lean into the concept of not having to sacrifice when choosing a dairy-free beverage. In fact, we’re saying quite the opposite—it can be a fancy, celebratory, turn-your-day-around kind of thing.”