How to Create a World-Class Brand: Kill Your Marketing Department

Date: 29 May 2025

Twelve years without a marketing department. How stupid is that? Back when the world had no idea that oatmilk even existed, Toni Petersson became CEO of the Swedish food science company Oatly, the original maker of oatmilk. The first person he called was his friend John Schoolcraft, who went to work turning everything you learned in business school or during a career at a big food company upside down. His approach was to create a world-class brand by eliminating everything that gets in the way of creating a world-class brand—like brand awareness studies, target group analysis surveys and short-term ROI reports for the Board.