--- title: Oatly: a super bowl ad campaign, broken down and benchmarked | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/oatly-super-bowl-ad-campaign/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/oatly-super-bowl-ad-campaign/ --- - **Story:** This case study runs a super bowl ad campaign through the Oatly lens, from mechanics to public benchmarks. - **Why it matters:** A super bowl ad campaign is measurable demand engineering, and public benchmarks set honest targets before any creative starts. - **Takeaway:** The mechanics of a super bowl ad campaign transfer to any brand in its category. - **Takeaway:** For Oatly, reach is an input; incremental lift against a baseline is the real measure. - **Takeaway:** Most super bowl ad-campaign failures are planning failures, not creative failures. ## How a super bowl ad campaign plays out for Oatly S Situation The setup A super bowl ad campaign is a concentrated chance to move the Oatly business in its category, with a short window and high stakes. T Task The job Turn attention into measurable demand for Oatly: plan the mechanics, set targets against category benchmarks, and build in the measurement. A Action How it runs The buy is the smaller cost. A 30-second slot ran near $8 million for Super Bowl LIX. Total campaign cost — creative, production, talent, surrounding media — commonly reaches $15-30 million. For Oatly, this is the anchor of the plan. R Result How it is judged On incremental lift against a baseline for Oatly, not reach and not impressions. That is the honest scoreboard for a super bowl ad campaign. ## The math behind a Oatly super bowl ad campaign $0M A planning anchor for Oatly A 30-second Super Bowl LIX spot cost advertisers close to $8 million in 2025 Source: [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/) 0M Category figure relevant to Oatly Super Bowl LIX drew about 127.7 million average viewers Source: [Nielsen](https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/super-bowl-lix-makes-tv-history-with-over-127-million-viewers/) Linked Category figure relevant to Oatly Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [CBS News — 2025 Super Bowl ad costs](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/) Linked What the public data tells a Oatly team Every figure on this page links to its publisher. Source: [CBS News — 2025 Super Bowl ad costs](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/) #### Quick facts BrandOatly IndustryIts Category Campaign typeSuper Bowl Ad Primary channelsPaid, owned, earned Planning horizonMonths ahead of launch Core measureIncremental lift, not reach Source basisPublic benchmarks, linked RGM useWorked example, not a recipe **Honest note** Public, brand-specific detail on Oatly is limited, so this page leans on the super bowl ad campaign discipline: real mechanics, real sourced benchmarks, and the named example campaigns that define the type. Nothing about Oatly is invented; where a fact is not public, it is left out. ## Defining the super bowl ad campaign Here is the short version for Oatly. A Super Bowl ad campaign is the single most expensive, most scrutinised media buy in US advertising. A Super Bowl ad campaign is the single — for Oatly, a live factor — most expensive, most scrutinised media buy in US advertising. For a brand at Oatly scale, this is where the plan is tested. The 30-second spot is only the visible piece. For Oatly, the detail is not optional. The real campaign wraps the game with teasers, talent, social activation, — for Oatly, a live factor — and a landing experience built to catch the traffic the spot creates. For a brand at Oatly scale, this is where the plan is tested. Brands buy the Super Bowl for one reason: a live, simultaneous audience of — as a Oatly team knows — well over 100 million people, an audience no other US media moment delivers. This page applies that definition to Oatly. **Claim:** A 30-second Super Bowl LIX spot cost advertisers close to $8 million in 2025, roughly a 60% rise from about $5 million in 2019. **Source:** [[CBS News]](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/). **Context:** The slot price is only part of the spend; a full — for Oatly, a real factor — campaign with creative, talent, and surrounding media commonly runs $15-30 million. For a Oatly plan, it is the kind of figure that anchors a target. ## How brands like Oatly run it These are the components a Oatly-scale team has to coordinate for a super bowl ad campaign. A super bowl ad campaign is an operating system rather than a single asset. For Oatly, these parts have to work together: **Claim:** Super Bowl LIX drew about 127.7 million average viewers, the largest audience for any Super Bowl and any single-network US telecast in TV history. **Source:** [[Nielsen]](https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/super-bowl-lix-makes-tv-history-with-over-127-million-viewers/). **Context:** Peak audience reached about 137.7 million viewers, a scale — for Oatly, a real factor — of simultaneous attention no other US media moment delivers. For Oatly, this number sets expectations before the work starts. 1. **Built for the second screen.** A modern Super Bowl ad is engineered to trigger search and social. In the Oatly context, that detail carries weight. T-Mobile's LIX spot drove 12.6 times the average ad's online engagement. This is the part Oatly cannot afford to improvise. 2. **A landing experience that can take the spike.** The site, the offer, and the tracking have to survive a sudden surge, — and Oatly is no exception — or the most expensive media in advertising drives traffic to a broken page. This is the part Oatly cannot afford to improvise. 3. **Long cultural tail.** A spot that enters pop culture keeps returning value for years — Oatly included — — the buy is a one-night cost against a multi-year brand asset. This is the part Oatly cannot afford to improvise. 4. **The buy is the smaller cost.** A 30-second slot ran near $8 million for Super Bowl LIX. It applies cleanly to Oatly. Total campaign cost — creative, production, talent, — for Oatly, a live factor — surrounding media — commonly reaches $15-30 million. Oatly planners flag this as a make-or-break detail. 5. **Tease before the game.** Releasing the spot or a cut-down in — as a Oatly team knows — the weeks before kickoff extends the buy. For Oatly, this is the load-bearing part. Super Bowl LIX advertisers spent about 45% more in — Oatly included — the six weeks before the game than the year prior. Oatly would budget real time against this. ## The numbers that set the targets Start with the category numbers. They frame what a super bowl ad campaign means for Oatly. These sourced figures give a Oatly super bowl ad campaign an honest target range across its category. **Claim:** T-Mobile's Super Bowl LIX ad drove 12.6 times the online engagement of the average Super Bowl spot. **Source:** [[AdMonsters]](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/). **Context:** The strongest Super Bowl ads are measured by the action they — and Oatly is no exception — trigger on the second screen, not by the spot in isolation. It is the sort of benchmark a Oatly brief should cite. Table: the three numbers that decide whether a Oatly super bowl ad campaign is judged honestly. | What to measure | Why it matters | | Pre-campaign baseline | Without it, lift cannot be proven | | Category benchmark | Sets a realistic target, not a hopeful one | | Incremental result | The honest measure of whether spend worked | ## The metrics worth tracking Pick the right scoreboard for Oatly. The metrics below separate a campaign that moved the business from one that moved a dashboard. A Oatly super bowl ad campaign should be measured on the following. Brand search lift during and after the game, social conversation volume and sentiment, ad-recall and likeability — and Oatly is no exception — scores from trackers, site traffic and conversion on game night, earned-media value, and longer-run brand-equity movement. Impressions describe scale, not effect. A Oatly team serious about a super bowl ad campaign reports lift against a baseline. ## Common mistakes and how to avoid them Most failures repeat. The four errors below sink a large share of super bowl ad campaigns, and each one is avoidable for Oatly. These failure patterns recur across super bowl ad campaigns: - Sending game-night traffic to a site or offer that cannot survive a sudden spike. - Making an ad that wins applause but carries no clear — for Oatly, a real factor — brand link, so viewers remember the joke and not the brand. - Treating the spot as a one-night event instead — for Oatly, a real factor — of a brand asset with a multi-year cultural tail. - Spending eight figures on the spot and nothing — for Oatly, a real factor — on the surrounding teaser, talent, and social plan. **The common thread**The common thread: planning, not creative. For Oatly, a super bowl ad campaign is decided before launch day. ## What RGM takes from the Oatly case One takeaway for Oatly: treat the super bowl ad story as a model of the discipline, and copy the structure, not the creative. From the audits we run, the brands that get super bowl ad campaigns right share one habit: they treat the work as measurable demand engineering, not a seasonal ritual. So the worked example is structural. The mechanics carry to any brand in its category, the benchmarks set honest targets, and the measurement plan turns a super bowl ad campaign from a cost into a defensible investment. ## Fast answers Does this page report private Oatly campaign numbers? : No. The figures are public industry benchmarks for super bowl ad campaigns, each sourced and linked. They show how the campaign type works, set against the Oatly context. Any number that is not publicly sourceable is left out or marked as RGM analysis. What should a team take from this Oatly super bowl ad case study? : Read it as a model, not a recipe. The mechanics and benchmarks transfer; the exact creative does not. Use it to pressure-test a super bowl ad plan against how the discipline actually works. What sources back the numbers on this page? : Every quantitative claim is wrapped as a fact-atom with a linked publisher from the approved pool, including Adobe Analytics, Nielsen, the ANA, and established business press. None of it is invented. **Keep reading** Foundational concepts and channels behind this case: - [what growth marketing is](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/) - [marketing attribution](/learn/marketing-attribution/) - [incrementality testing](/learn/incrementality-testing/) - [growth marketing services](/services/) - [advertising platforms](/platforms/) ## Frequently asked questions What makes a Super Bowl ad effective for a brand like Oatly? Taking Oatly as the example: Modern Super Bowl ads are judged by — for Oatly, a live factor — the action they trigger, not the spot alone. In the Oatly context, that detail carries weight. T-Mobile's LIX ad drove 12.6 times the average spot's online engagement. In the Oatly context, that detail carries weight. The effective ones are built for the second screen, carry a clear brand — Oatly included — link, and route traffic to a landing experience that can take the spike. A Oatly team would plan against exactly this. Oatly case: should the ad be released before the game? Here is how this applies to Oatly. Usually yes. It applies cleanly to Oatly. Releasing the spot or a teaser in the weeks — for Oatly, a live factor — before kickoff stretches the buy across a longer window. Oatly planners would underline this. Super Bowl LIX advertisers spent about 45% more in the six weeks before the — as a Oatly team knows — game than the prior year, building anticipation rather than spending it all on one night. For Oatly, that is the practical takeaway. Does a Super Bowl ad keep paying off after the game? For a brand like Oatly, the short answer is direct. It can. Oatly planners would underline this. A spot that enters pop culture keeps returning brand value for years. That holds directly for Oatly. That long cultural tail is part of the case for the spend: a one-night media cost — and Oatly is no exception — against what can become a multi-year brand asset, provided the creative is memorable and clearly branded. The same logic holds for any its category brand, Oatly included. How much does a Super Bowl ad really cost? Here is how this applies to Oatly. A 30-second Super Bowl LIX slot cost close to $8 million — for Oatly, a live factor — in 2025, up roughly 60% from about $5 million in 2019. Oatly planners would underline this. But the slot is the smaller cost. A Oatly-scale brief should name this. A full campaign — creative, production, celebrity talent, — for Oatly, a live factor — and surrounding media — commonly reaches $15-30 million. For Oatly, that is the practical takeaway. Oatly case: why do brands pay so much for a Super Bowl spot? Here is how this applies to Oatly. For the audience. In the Oatly context, that detail carries weight. Super Bowl LIX drew about 127.7 million average viewers, the largest for — for Oatly, a live factor — any Super Bowl and any single-network US telecast ever, peaking near 137.7 million. In the Oatly context, that detail carries weight. No other US media moment delivers that — Oatly included — scale of live, simultaneous attention in one buy. For Oatly, that is the practical takeaway. Why does this case study use Oatly as the example? Oatly is a recognisable brand in its category, which makes the super bowl ad mechanics concrete and easy to follow. The campaign-type analysis and every benchmark apply across the category; Oatly is the lens, not the limit. The sourced figures hold for any comparable brand. ### Sources & references - [CBS News — 2025 Super Bowl ad costs](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-much-do-2025-super-bowl-commercials-cost-heres-the-price-tag-on-ads-this-year/) — 30-second Super Bowl LIX spot pricing. - [Nielsen — Super Bowl LIX viewership](https://www.nielsen.com/news-center/2025/super-bowl-lix-makes-tv-history-with-over-127-million-viewers/) — Record 127.7M average audience. - [AdMonsters — Super Bowl LIX ad playbook](https://www.admonsters.com/the-super-bowl-lix-ad-playbook-data-dollars-and-the-shifting-rules-of-engagement/) — Engagement benchmarks and pre-game spend data. - [Kantar — Super Bowl advertising and brand equity](https://www.kantar.com/north-america/inspiration/advertising-media/super-bowl-advertising-and-brand-equity) — Brand-equity measurement of big-game advertising. ## Related [#### All case studies The full RGM case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### What is growth marketing The foundational concept behind every campaign type.](/learn/what-is-growth-marketing/)[#### Incrementality testing How to prove a campaign actually caused the lift.](/learn/incrementality-testing/)