diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 988553e..be36ea1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ uninstall: manifests kustomize ## Uninstall CRDs from the K8s cluster specified
 .PHONY: deploy
 deploy: manifests kustomize ## Deploy controller to the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config.
 	cd config/manager && $(KUSTOMIZE) edit set image controller=${IMG}
-	$(KUSTOMIZE) build config/default | $(KUBECTL) apply -f -
+	$(KUSTOMIZE) build config/default |sed -e "s|<OPERATOR_IMG>|$(OPERATOR_IMG)|g" | $(KUBECTL) apply -f -
 
 .PHONY: undeploy
 undeploy: ## Undeploy controller from the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config. Call with ignore-not-found=true to ignore resource not found errors during deletion.