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Search interest in oat milk hit a major peak in March this year, according to Google Trends.
What happened? Well, its marketing and PR had been building towards this for a while.
2018
It started when the newest alt milk got featured in The New York Times. Back then it could only be found in coffee shops (not yet grocery stores), and a borderline black market emerged.
Then, an oat milk shortage in Brooklyn earned coverage in The New Yorker.
Both stories highlighted demand that outstripped supply, but search interest in oat milk stayed pretty flat.
2019
It remained pretty flat when Oatly in particular got more glowing coverage, in part thanks to its quirky brand voice.
February 2021
In early February 2021, Oatly ran a musical (and off-key) Super Bowl ad, then promptly launched (and sold out of) free t-shirts decrying the “bizarre” ad.
Search interest spiked... some.
March 2021
Still, it only reached its highest heights in the first weeks of March, when Starbucks announced — the day before it happened, Taylor Swift-style! — that it would stock Oatly nationwide.
Starbucks might not have done that if oat milk hadn’t steadily racked up wins for years beforehand. But, uh...
Our takeaway?
Starbucks is more powerful than the Super Bowl.