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Oatly sponsoring half marathons might seem a little strange. After all, we don’t have oat drink-infused energy gels to give away (because they don’t exist), and we’re not in the habit of encouraging runners to spike their sports drinks with iced ube matcha lattes—though a stroke of genius like that should be in a memo to some important Oatly person somewhere.
But sponsoring half marathons in response to Big Dairy sponsoring full marathons? And doing it because, in the United States, Oatly Original Oatmilk and Barista have nearly half the climate impact of comparable cow’s milk? That would be a masterclass in trolling.
Which is exactly what we told ourselves when we ponied up big oat drink bucks to sponsor this year’s Brooklyn Experience Half Marathon (formerly known as the Brooklyn Half Marathon). As Big Dairy continues its bizarre quest to convince marathoners that a frothy glass of cow’s milk is the best way to finish a sweaty 26.2 miles, we thought it would be a welcome change of pace (!) to recite sustainability statistics to half-marathoners over a course of 13.1 miles.
We wanted to remind runners, spectators, and Big Dairy henchmen in disguise that Oatly Original and Barista are far less taxing on the planet when compared to cow’s milk. And we wanted to do it by committing to the bit.
So we threw a Halfway Halftime Show at the halfway point of the half marathon—with a drumline commemorating the occasion of getting halfway there. And we set up a Better Halfs Refreshment Station where we awarded Oatly drinks to spectators who came to see their partners, baristas, dog walkers, and other loved ones run by for three seconds.
We really tried to channel the energy of the corny uncle who beats the same jokes to death at every family party. There was a Half-a-Finish Area that served Oatly half smoothies, merch that included Half-a-Gym Bags, and pacers running at half-minute paces. We even hired a couple of people to trot around in giant Oatly carton costumes. They were full-size, though.
For the most part, runners ran around us because we were in the way.
But on occasion some slowed their pace to make sense of why we were there. A few even answered our math-related questions about sustainability when we stuck mics in their faces.
To those who might say we overdid it in emphasizing the fact that Oatly Original Oatmilk and Barista have about half the climate impact of comparable cow’s milk, we’d say you’re absolutely right. We’d also add that we blatantly stole the marathon sponsorship idea from Big Dairy. So yeah, we definitely overdid it… but only by about half.