What happens when you remove the marketing department and put a bunch of creatives at the center of a company?

Monique van Dusseldorp welcomes John Schoolcraft: Hear why John Schoolcraft (Global Chief Creative Officer, Oatly) thinks the traditional agency-client model is fundamentally broken. Which is why, when he joined Oatly – a Swedish food company that produces alternatives to dairy products from oats – in 2012, he famously axed the marketing department. He often says, half-jokingly, that his motivation was to stick a finger up at all the marketing directors who’d in the past ruined his best work. In his current role, he isn’t the CMO but the chief creative officer, and now Oatly doesn’t even have a CMO. Instead, he leads an elite internal team of creatives at the trailblazing food company. How does this work?

Watch the conversation and discover how Oatly has thrived without a marketing department.

About John Schoolcraft: 
In 2012, together with CEO Toni Petersson, John began to turn a 30-year-old maker of oat drinks, Oatly, into a global movement focused on the development of a more sustainable, plant-based lifestyle. By eliminating the marketing department and replacing it with the Oatly Department of Mind Control, his team of creatives has created a voice that often questions the role of companies and brands and has become instantly recognisable for its consistently inconsistent approach to encouraging people to take small steps in order to upgrade their lives and the sustainability of the planet.

We have also summarised this episode on our blog.

John Schoolcraft: why creativity beats marketing

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