Situation: Sneaker shopping is a massive industry, estimated to reach a global value of USD$77Bn in 2020.

Brief: How can Klarna - one of the world's leading fintech brands, with a mission to reshape the shopping experience and become the world's favourite way to shop - tap into the sneaker community in an authentic way?

Objectives: Drive awareness and engagement within the (European) sneakerheads community, in a way that also generates spillover effects to the larger sneaker community (i.e. everyone who likes to shop sneakers).

Klarna created the world's first bot-free sneaker raffle, where people had to join with their actual heartbeat.

We leveraged innovative BPM technology that uses the camera on smartphones or laptops to detect changes in color under the skin caused by the flow of blood. Those who took part simply held their finger to the lense on their device to prove they have a heart that beats for sneakers, and in just a few seconds we could tell if they were human or not.

The drop (collection) consisted of the most hyped sneakers of the last decade, curated in collaboration with the sneaker experts at Highsnobiety.

Following the raffle we launch a “Sneaker Deal Week”, using the same innovative tech but this time to create a gamified deals experience. Based on how much their hearts beat for sneakers, passionate shoppers could generate unique deals from Klarna’s best sneaker merchants.

Data gathering: we conducted qualitative interviews with avid sneaker shoppers in the UK, Germany and Sweden, as well as 25 of our sneaker merchants, in order to find shopping related pain points.

Primary target audience: Passionate sneakerheads in the UK and Germany

Secondary target audience: Sneaker shoppers in UK, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and Australia

Tertiary target audience: Businesses/brands selling sneakers, i.e. existing and/or potential Klarna merchants

Relevance to platform: Sneaker lovers tend to be avid shoppers and thus valuable users for Klarna to acquire.

Approach: Create a joyful and unexpected digital experience for sneaker lovers that clearly proves that Klarna elevates the shopping experience, and do it in an authentic way that can travel within and beyond the community.

Phase 1, Tease: 29.06-01.07

We started to build hype by revealing the drop in collaboration with Highsnobiety and Sneakerhead influencers.

Placements:

- heartbeats4sneakers.com (countdown)

- Highsnobiety editorial + social

- Influencers

- Paid social

- Klarna owned channels

- PR

Phase 2, Engage: 02.07-06.07

We launched the Smoooth raffle that premiers passion over bots by only allowed humans with whose heart beats for sneakers to enter. We amplified engagement by collaborating with influencers from the sneaker community.

Placements:

- heartbeats4sneakers.com

- Highsnobiety editorial + social

- Influencers

- Bought social

- Klarna owned channels

- Paid social

- Online video

- PR

Phase 3, Scale: 07.07-13.07

We launched 'Sneaker Deal Week' to demonstrate at scale that Klarna offers the best sneaker shopping experience.

Placements:

- heartbeats4sneakers.com

- Influencers

- Klarna owned

- Paid social

- Online video

- Display

- Merchants

650.020 visitors to campaign site during the 2-week campaign

185.094 signups on campaign site during the 2-week campaign

1m 54s average session duration on campaign site

+700M earned impressions

+75 articles featured the campaign

+60% increase in traffic to participating sneaker brands (deal week)

41% increase in Klarna orders at participating brands (deal week)

26.7M impressions on Youtube

12.8M reach in relevant audiences on Youtube (across UK, DACH, Sweden)

+10.2% lift in brand awareness on Youtube

+36% view rate on Youtube vs. average campaigns in the industry

57% of viewers on Youtube reached call to action, outperforming avg campaigns in the industry

+90% impressions in Highsnobiety channels vs. benchmark

+82% engagement in Highsnobiety channels vs. benchmark

+520% CTR in Highsnobiety editorials vs. benchmark

+107% engagement rate in our "sneaker ambassadors" social posts (IG Story) vs KPI

+162% increase in likes on Klarna Instagram (2-week campaign period vs previous 2 weeks)