A new campaign starring two puppets, appropriately called Norm and Al, hopes to spark conversations all around the country about the benefits of eating more fruits and veggies.
The oat drink company’s new campaign features two puppets dubbed Norm & Al (Norm-Al), who try to find a balance as they shift towards a more plant-based eating lifestyle. “The New Norm&Al Show”, as it’s called, is separated into five episodes, which are between two to five minutes of length each which are all available on YouTube, as well as the company’s official website.
The duo show the audience that anyone can try adopting a plant-based diet, you don’t have to be a hipster to make the move away from dairy or meat and you don’t need to go fully vegan in order to make a difference to the planet.
Behind the creative execution is Annie-nominated (one of the animation industry’s top awards) director Conor Finnegan and puppet maker Andy Gent who is best known for Wes Andersen’s stop motion epic feature Isle of Dogs. The stellar voice cast includes: Alexander Perkins (The Office) who plays Norm, Ethan Lawrence (After Life) who plays Al, and Rob Witcomb (Transformers: The Last Knight) who plays Milk.
Oatly’s creative director, Michael Lee comments: “After trying to help people eat more plant-based with super long Instagram posts, a dorky AFL Grand Final ad and nonsensical headlines, we’ve now landed on puppets to do the job. ‘The New Norm&Al’ helps us deliver a message that people might normally roll their eyes at, but because it’s puppets, well, who doesn’t like puppets?”
The launch is also supported by a digital media buy campaign across social media (YouTube, Instagram and Facebook) and broadcast VOD (7Plus, 10Play, 9Now and SBS On Demand) until 3 April 2022. In classic Oatly fashion, consumers can also expect to see the campaign run across OOH on buses and trams until 10 April 2022 in Melbourne.
In retail, Norm & Al will be making an appearance through stickers, wobblers and more in 20 specially selected independent retailers. Through a partnership with Woolworths, the puppets will also be popping up in more than 90% of stores across the country.
In addition to the digital, OOH and retail campaigns, Oatly has partnered with Milkrun in Sydney this week to deliver free samples of Oatly Barista Edition with every order made on Milkrun for as long as stock lasts.
Speaking of the partnership, Milkrun head of creative, Matt Knapp, says: “When Oatly approached us to give out 5,000 free cartons of oat milk to our loyal customers we were a little apprehensive. What would they think about a company called Milkrun giving out something that technically isn’t milk? But then we realised people love free sh*t, so we jumped at the opportunity.”
From 25-26 March, Oatly will also give away thousands of sample oat coffees in special Norm & Al cups from over 35 cafes around Australia to anyone who quotes ‘I like puppets’ at the till.
