The Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party is an annual celebration of the summer sweet treat for members of Congress, their families, Capitol Hill staff and food and agriculture professionals. But the bipartisan event held just outside the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., isn’t just about ice cream, it’s an opportunity for the International Dairy Foods Association to discuss dairy industry impacts among attendees. And this year, Oatly decided to crash the party.
On June 12, the oat milk brand activated a “Dairy Deprogramming Zone” sampling experience across the street, parking its own bright yellow ice cream truck with a huge inflatable ice cream cone on top to serve curious passersby Oatly Soft Serve. They could choose from vanilla, chocolate or swirl flavors, which were distributed in branded cups that said “Look! Another free-thinker trying dairy-free!” with finger icons pointing to the ice cream enjoyer.
“At Oatly, we’re trying to move people away from meat and dairy because it’s one of the easiest ways you can lower your climate impact, and a lot of people just don’t know this because the dairy industry is not very transparent on the information around the climate impact of their products,” says Malia Killings, creative and design director for Oatly North America. “We really wanted to ultimately create a space to start having these conversations and bring a bit of an awareness to the impact your food choices have on the environment.”
Messaging was key for the stunt. The truck’s exterior was covered in climate impact facts and stats (“what Big Dairy might not want you to know”), and matching A-frame signage featured phrases like “Dairy Debrain-washing Station” and “Former dairy converts welcome!” For the design, Oatly wanted something attention-grabbing to draw Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party attendees from across the street. Bright yellow and black with hints of white gave the truck and signage a “caution tape kind of vibe” that had D.C. locals and tourists doing a double take.
“We wanted to really strike that balance between this cautious color palette and thought-provoking messages that weren’t too aggressive and would steer people away, but then we mixed in some friendly Oatly illustrations and our fonts to make sure it still was a safe space for people to come and have a conversation,” Killings says.
The development of the Dairy Deprogramming Zone was cross-functional across Oatly’s various teams, involving public affairs to create a “provoking but constructive” approach for the Capitol Hill audience, p.r. to get the word out and invite press, events to secure the space and permitting, and sustainability to pull out up-to-date information from third-party life cycle assessments of its products that wasn’t “just preaching at people.”
Oatly team members served as oat milk lobbyists for the day, interacting with attendees and answering questions by the truck. The brand also brought in a sign spinner, a crossing guard and an undercover Oatly rep dressed in a $40 suit who was sent into the rival ice cream party to conduct video interviews and bring attendees over to the Dairy Deprogramming Zone.
Not promoting the event too much in advance, it was more of an organic, real-time campaign on the day, says Emily Whelahan, p.r. manager at Oatly, who was on the ground. Over two-and-a-half hours, nearly 400 people stopped by the truck for some oat milk soft serve, and the brand’s video content from the event has garnered almost 120,000 views on Instagram.
With the Dairy Deprogramming Zone being Oatly’s first run at a pop-up stunt event, Whelahan says the brand sees opportunities for growth at a future iteration, like adding a bigger cast of characters or setting up a photo op. Agency: Factory360.
Photos: Courtesy of Oatly
