Oatly | Spotify | Sky Bet | Nestle | The Sauce

The Sauce – 26/10/23

This is for you marketers.

For the professional on the run (because you’re busy, not a fugitive), ‘The Sauce’ newsletter is your weekly dollop of marketing news. Yes, we’re going to serve you some AWESOMESAUCE.

The Sauce showcases the finest industry scandals, the juiciest campaigns and the most exciting jaw-dropping goss (as spicy as marketing related news can deliver anyway).

Here are our latest shoutouts:

Oatly turns on the dairy industry

Oatly’s latest campaign takes aim at the dairy industry as they claim climate labelling should be mandatory. The out-of-home ads proudly boast Oatly’s climate footprint numbers, while they also paid for the adjacent ad space, challenging the dairy industry to release their numbers too:

“We bought this billboard to tell you about the climate footprint numbers we’ve included on our products… and we’re donating this side to the dairy industry so they can tell you their climate footprint numbers too. Apply for this free ad space at oatly.com/DairyDeal.”

The brand offered Big Dairy companies the opportunity for free OOH space, print ads and national radio spots. “If we’re not ruffling feathers, we’re doing something wrong,” said Michael Lee, Oatly’s creative director.

Should businesses be forced to put climate footprint numbers on packaging to enable consumers to make more informed choices?

Spotify aims to take a bite out of Apple

Spotify has launched a new print campaign in the UK, supporting the new antitrust bill legislation, and specifically targeting its competitor Apple.

The ads showcase Spotify’s support for the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC) which aims to stop major tech companies from dominating markets unfairly and pushing prices up for consumers.

The ads are part of Spotify’s ‘Time to Play Fair’ campaign and specifically target Apple which it accuses of anti-competitive practices which harm consumers.

What do you think of Spotify taking on the world’s biggest tech giant through advertising? We love that brands such as Spotify and Oatly are using marketing to publicise issues they feel are unfair and calling out other brands. Over to you Apple.

Over to you Apple.

Red card for Sky Bet tweet featuring Gary Neville

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a Sky Bet tweet for breaching rules that prevent gambling companies from using celebrities to target under-18s.

The tweet featured a clip of Neville predicting Premier League winners on ‘The Overlap’, with the Sky Bet logo featuring throughout. The ASA stated he was “likely to be of strong appeal to under-18s”. Sky Bet disputed the ruling, on the basis that Neville ended his football career in 2011, with the ASA calculating Neville had 135,00 followers who were under 18, making the ad irresponsible.

What do you make of the decision? We think Sky Bet have a point and Neville would appeal to an adult audience, but the ruling highlights just how careful advertisers need to be.

Marketing investment pays off for Nestlé

The world’s largest food and beverage company, Nestlé, has started to see results from its recent marketing strategy.

The brand has upped its marketing spend for its flagship brands, and diversified its portfolio to meet demand. It has reported growth of 7.8% for Q3 and is confident that the strategy will pay off further in the second half of the year.

James Keith, Account and Strategy Director at Awesomesauce Marketing, said, “Too often when sales slump, businesses have a knee-jerk response and cut their marketing spend to reduce outgoings. Consumer confidence has dipped due to the cost-of-living crisis and it’s refreshing to see a business understand the importance of investing in marketing and understanding consumer needs to drive long-term growth.”

While we’re not opposed to a Kit Kat, it’s been Dairy Milks all round at the Awesomesauce office today when we took a break.

Same time next week? Be on the lookout for our latest serving.