Even if you’re not an oat milk lover, chances are you’ve heard about the Oatly x Nespresso collaboration that dropped in January 2025. That’s because they absolutely nailed the marketing and activations.
And honestly it’s one of those campaigns where you have to stop and appreciate the simplicity of the idea, because it’s so clever. No doubt they had a big budget behind it too.
Oatly and Nespresso did what no other coffee brand has thought to do: they created a coffee specifically designed to taste best with oat milk.
Smart, right?
Is it necessary? Of course not. You can chuck oat milk into any old coffee. But that’s not the point. The genius is in how they made the Oat Milk drinkers club feel like they had to try this, because it was made specifically for them. It’s clever audience psychology, and by partnering with Oatly, they had a ready-made, highly engaged audience to talk to.
So, what actually is the Oatly x Nespresso product?
Nespresso launched a Limited Edition coffee pod for their pod machines. It doesn’t contain Oatly’s oat milk, you’ll need to grab that yourself. But what it does have is slick co-branded packaging with both the Nespresso and Oatly logos proudly on display.
The idea is that this particular coffee blend pairs perfectly with oat milk’s creamy texture and slightly sweet flavour profile. It’s niche. It’s hyper-targeted. It’s a lifestyle moment.
What did they do for launch?
Honestly — what didn’t they do? This was a global campaign, and they went all in.
Pre-launch, they teased the collaboration across social media and newsletters. They cleverly dropped info about local events where you could try the coffee for free.
Limited Edition with no official end date or stock numbers. Immediate FOMO. No oat milk coffee lover wants to be the one who missed out on the pod made just for them.
Once it launched, they did:
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Paid social ads
- Organic social
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Influencer content
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User-generated videos
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Launch events in stores
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OOH activations
They didn’t stop there. Dedicated e-commerce pages were built to showcase the collab, explain what made this coffee special, and where oat milk fans could try it IRL.
Those pages also listed global event info. With everything from Run Clubs, free coffee tastings, cocktail making classes, to Spin-to-Win prize games in-store and at pop-ups.
Launched a collaboration bundle into retailers like John Lewis.
They built more than just a buzz with this.
Basically, they created an Oat milk coffee movement.
So, what were the results?
Sadly, we don’t have the sales figures (would love to see them though).
But what we can measure is reach across the internet and this campaign went far!
We saw:
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YouTube taste test videos
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TikTok feedback clips racking up millions of views
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Organic Instagram Reels, Stories and posts for their customers
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Even Reddit threads with hundreds of comments – just to discuss oat milk coffee!?
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Coverage in Metro, Leeds Live, The Grocer, PlanetFood News and more
And of course — people like me talking about it on LinkedIn and writing blog posts about it.
The idea is pure, simple genius. And the best part? The audience amplified the campaign beyond what paid media alone could have achieved.
If you’re looking for more marketing ideas and inspo like this, you’ve come to the right place! Check out these collaborations from our community of brands.
