Our goal was to introduce Klarna to the North American gaming audience, though gamers are hard to reach in digital channels. Rather than relying on banners and targeted ads that would quickly be forgotten, we wanted to create an interactive experience that engaged gamers on their home turf: livestreaming platform Twitch.

Klarna thrived on giving people the freedom to simplify their online shopping experience. We teamed up with Anomaly to turn the tables once again with Playing for Keeps, a gamified livestream event that gave Twitch viewers the chance to beat influencers KittyPlays and SypherPK (and celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lil Yachty) at their own game. Custom sets for each streamer were furnished with their favorite picks of products on the Klarna platform. In addition to the run-of-show, we produced promo videos and the campaign site.

It's a question asked in every Twitch livestreamer’s chat room: what’s your setup, and where can I get it? Gamers fantasize about their dream rig—but equipment is expensive, and not everyone can afford a sick setup. Klarna had already the rules to online shopping by offering added ease and payment flexibility, and with Playing for Keeps, the idea was to truly change the game by building on the interactivity afforded by the Twitch platform and gamify the viewing experience itself.

Viewers had the chance to compete head-to-head in a live battle against pros Kitty Plays and SypherPK, wagering powerful tech hand-picked by both. Viewers could compete through chat commands that upped the difficulty and putting the pros at a disadvantage. The event put Klarna in front of the gaming community in an authentic way, raising awareness of the products relevant to them available through the platform.

The ultimate goal of Playing for Keeps was to launch Klarna in the US and introduce the brand to the gaming audience. With a budget of $350K, the concept, development and deployment of the live event and supporting marketing materials came to life, fueled by the fans and their connection with the pro livestreamers.

The physical setup of the event was just as important as its interactive elements, drawing on the influencers’ personalities while remaining true to Klarna’s brand aesthetic. Influencers co-created the event by personally furnishing their studio spaces with items available on Klarna, while leading the content of the event through interactions with the audience. To bolster engagement, proprietary Live XP technology allowed the audience to engage directly with the streamers and trigger distractions in the game and studio, turning fans from passive observers into active participants.

The event ran from October 27 – 29, 2020. In the lead-up to the event, a teaser film fired up audiences and drove them to pre-register and participate directly in the event. At go-time, they went head-to-head in a live battle against the pro gamers—while peers in the live chat triggered distractions within the streamers’ studios.

With every loss, the Klarna team pulled each winning item from the studio and packaged it to send to the winner. With one less piece of their epic setup remaining, the challenge increased for the pros and became more enticing for the viewer audience. Excitement came to a crescendo with surprise appearances from Snoop Dogg and Lil Yachty, who dropped by to help them beat the pros—bringing the community together to create the ultimate gaming experience

Between two livestreams broadcast from two unique sets, 26 different prizes were up for grabs. Even when individual viewers didn’t win the studio prizes, a promo code redeemable on the Klarna app was distributed to viewers, driving downloads, signups and purchases on the shopping platform.

The event reached more than 270K live viewers and garnered 1 million live impressions, successfully reaching a significant portion of the gaming audience. Press coverage before and after the event reached both gaming-focused publications (including TheGamer and the niche, competition-focused outlet Fortnite Intel) as well as advertising trades like Adweek and Event Marketer, cementing Klarna’s status as player number-one in virtual event innovation. Furthermore, tweets from Lil Yachty and Snoop Dogg amplified the event to their combined 24 million followers.