Klarna is a Swedish online-payments brand which has grown vastly the last couple of years- in Sweden. However, the brand is nowhere near the other giant banks in the category in terms of awareness on a global scale. Building upon the findings of Binet & Field, Klarna has given us an ever-standing brief; to become a world-famous brand. So, in 2016, we launched a whole repositioning of the brand around the concept of “Smoooth” and disrupted one of the largest industries in the world with quirky what-did-I-just-watch films, afghan hounds and a complete integrated 360-redesign of the brand. After the successful launch, we wrote the brief to ourselves asking: how can we take Klarna and Smoooth to the next level?

In the previous campaign to explain what the brand and products was all about, we created the concept of Smoooth which encapsulated the seamless experience you get when paying with Klarna. Hence, we said “That’s Smoooth”. By now, we had to bring Smoooth from a digital experience out to the real world to make a global, cultural impact. So, we partnered with one of the smooothest persons alive, Snoop Dogg, and had him change name to Smoooth Dogg and become an investor in the Swedish bank. All to show that you, by using Klarna, “Get Smoooth”. We handled everything from SoMe-posts between Klarna and Snoop, seeding to communities and collaborating with influencers to launching an e-shop where you could buy the products from the films. Always with PR at its core, a crucial recipe for fame.

Since Snoop has one of the most engaging accounts on Instagram and a fan-base that knows he has changed name before, we knew we had a good chance to break in press like PaperMag. However, to increase the likelihood of earned, we suggested him to also become an investor. This allowed us to use other angles to use for additional but important titles such as Forbes and CNBC.

We launched the campaign by having Snoop post on Instagram hinting about changing his name. Afterwards, we wrote from Klarnas CEO to Snoop on Twitter saying that Snoop should be “coronated the king of Smoooth”, making it seem as a coincidence. After 5 days using social, influencers such as Jay Versace and Papa Snoop commenting on posts, seeding to communities and press, we followed up with online video and the film where Snoop becomes Smoooth Dogg, confirming the name change and collaboration.

We launched on January 14th by having Snoop post a video and a story on himself thinking about changing name, a post that got 20x more comments than average. Next day, we responded through Klarnas CEO Twitter where he endorsed the idea. Some hours later, we had Snoop repost the Twitter conversation. The day after, while we wrote speculations in forums, Klarna and Snoop posted the same picture from different angles stating that a new chapter was coming and introduced #getsmoooth.

When revealing broad, Snoop posted the Coronation and linked the Youtube channel and changed his name on Twitter to Smoooth Dogg as we had Jay Versace and Papa Snoop (who was in the film) to post in their channels relating back to the Coronation. In the third phase we released new films and Snoop urged everyone to buy the Smoooth products that had appeared in the films on get.smoooth.com.

Organic interactions (likes, comments & shares) from Snoop, Jay Versace and Poppa Snoops Social channels: 1 940 762

Organic views from Snoop, Jay Versace and Poppa Snoops social channels: 8 200 000

Organic interactions (likes, comments & shares) from Klarnas Instagram: 23 600.

+150% increase in follower base on Instagram during campaign period (January 14th and March 23rd).

Youtube (Coronation, Longest toast & Silky bed): 18 400 000 views.

Paid (only online media): 58 000 000 views.