Custom exhibiting challenge
Oatly, a global leader in plant-based dairy alternatives, wanted to refocus its presence at Expo West 2025 around its signature Barista Edition products. The key challenges were designing an immersive experience within a compact 20×20 booth space that featured a disruptive fire-safety column, and crafting a highly detailed “ice shack” theme that strictly adhered to a black-and-white color scheme. With Oatly’s meticulous branding standards and a constantly evolving vision, the booth required exceptional attention to detail and agile collaboration to bring their unique concept to life.
Custom exhibit vision
Oatly envisioned a bold and customer-centric experience that highlighted their Barista Edition offerings and reinforced their commitment to sustainability. Key objectives included:
- Creating a visually striking and thematic environment that stood out amid a crowded trade show.
- Reinforcing brand identity through precise and playful design details, aligned with the tagline, “What’s cooler than cool? Ice cold.”
- Leveraging interactive sampling experiences to drive engagement and brand affinity rather than immediate sales.
STAR’s trade show solution
STAR Exhibits delivered an expertly tailored solution that balanced creativity, practicality, and sustainability, enabling Oatly’s booth to shine on the Expo West floor. Highlights included:
- Custom Ice Shack Theme: Utilizing a meticulously engineered booth structure, STAR designed an impactful “ice shack” environment, featuring realistic icicles, stark black-and-white branding, and a dimensional sign that replicated Oatly’s iconic carton with creamer “pouring” from a sculpted spout. Thin, corrugated galvanized steel provided an authentic yet lightweight appearance, creating a memorable visual spectacle that resonated with attendees.
- Strategic Space Management: STAR skillfully navigated the challenge posed by a central fire-safety column, cleverly incorporating it into the booth layout. The design maximized space for interactions, sampling, and meeting areas, ensuring seamless traffic flow without compromising aesthetics or functionality.
- Reusable & Sustainable Elements: Staying true to Oatly’s sustainability ethos, STAR reused and creatively re-skinned a versatile sampling countertop—previously utilized in various thematic iterations such as delis and bodegas—transforming it into a galvanized steel ice counter that efficiently supported their specialty beverage menu offerings.
- Close Collaborative Process: STAR’s project and design engineering teams worked intimately with Oatly’s branding and marketing teams, maintaining constant communication to accurately interpret and execute detailed client requests. From re-sculpting critical elements like the carton spout to precisely matching brand guidelines, STAR ensured each facet met Oatly’s exacting standards.
Impact on the trade show floor
Oatly’s presence at Expo West 2025 was a resounding success, significantly boosting brand visibility and audience engagement. Notable outcomes included:
- Strong Brand Engagement: Attendees were drawn by the booth’s visually dynamic and interactive elements, increasing traffic and brand interaction. Customized drinks, including innovative creations like an ube matcha beverage, further heightened visitor curiosity and engagement.
- Efficient Space Utilization: Despite spatial constraints, the clever integration of the fire-safety column into the booth layout maximized functionality, providing a seamless visitor experience without congestion.
- Enhanced Sustainability Messaging: Oatly’s sustainability mission was effectively reinforced through STAR’s thoughtful reuse and innovative adaptation of exhibit materials, demonstrating both environmental responsibility and creative flexibility.
- Positive Brand Affinity: Rather than focusing solely on immediate sales, Oatly achieved significant success in strengthening customer relationships and amplifying its core message around quality, innovation, and sustainability in the plant-based sector.
And naturally, a fun and energetic experience was powered not just by design ingenuity but also by enthusiastic baristas serving countless delicious samples, fueling memorable conversations throughout the event.
Conclusion
STAR Exhibits’ thoughtful design, meticulous attention to detail, and deep collaboration with Oatly’s branding vision culminated in an exceptional Expo West 2025 showcase. Through a unique balance of thematic creativity, functional space management, and sustainability practices, STAR effectively elevated Oatly’s brand, creating lasting impressions that resonated powerfully with the plant-based community.
