Some MiLB franchises, for instance, employ bat dogs instead of bat boys and girls, and the league has dreamed up mascots ranging from the sublime (the Richmond Flying Squirrels) to the hilarious (the El Paso Chihuahuas).
Plant-based evolution
The partnership works strategically for Oatly, which has been expanding its U.S. distribution but has concentrated its paid media largely in a few key regions like Los Angeles and New York. The brand intends to dig further into experiential marketing, which made the MiLB alliance even more attractive.
A high-profile presence at baseball fields around the country—with its oat-derived desserts, milk substitute and eventually other products—will put the brand in front of new demos and deepen its role in mainstream sports. (Oatly has existing deals with three professional baseball teams and sells its products at Yankee Stadium in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago and Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas).
The relationship with MiLB, a first between a plant-based brand and a national sports league, is meaningful for its extensive footprint and category optics, Turco said.
“Baseball is so heartland, and it’s very important that we normalize the transition to a more plant-based diet and that it’s not perceived as something strictly for vegans or people on the coasts,” Turco said. “If our ultimate goal is to covert as many people as possible from dairy, we need to do it at scale and in every pocket of the country.”
Some attendees may be familiar with Oatly but still haven’t tasted it—a robust sampling of the brand’s vanilla and chocolate fudge desserts aims to address that gap and drive on- and off-site sales.
MiLB, which draws some 30 million fans a year to its games, has a sponsor roster that includes Nationwide Insurance, Capital One, Corona, T-Mobile and Wyndham Hotels. The irreverent plant-based Oatly “felt like the right fit” along with the blue-chip brands, Rawn said.
Swedes on the field
Oatly, with a now-legendary in-house creative division called the Department of Mind Control, will rely in part on its Swedish heritage as an explanation for doing things differently with MiLB.
