New Klarna campaign and raffle focuses on true sneaker lovers

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 30, 2020

Buy now, pay later payments specialist Klarna is launching a new campaign targeting sneakerheads in which it will see five of the last decade’s most sought-after sneakers raffled off to “true sneaker lovers, who will enter using their heartbeat”.

It’s a clever idea in a sneaker world that has seen the most in-demand items becoming out of the reach of some fans.

The Heartbeats 4 Sneakers campaign debuts on July 2 and is claimed to be “the world’s first sneaker drop using heart-rate technology, empowering real sneaker fans to get what they love and ensuring only those with a heartbeat (aka humans) can enter for their chance to win one of the iconic pairs”.

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The company said that while the sneaker market sees huge demand, “shopping for [the sneakerhead] community often leaves a bad taste in the mouth, particularly when it comes to online sneaker raffles”.

It said sneaker bots “have long been the bane of” the community as they increase the chance of success in a raffle by creating numerous accounts, and can check out items in as little as 0.2 seconds. This stops true fans having “the chance of getting a pair of limited edition sneakers when they are released”.

The Klarna raffle, by contrast, is only open to those “who can prove their passion for sneakers” via their heartbeat. It uses new technology that sees the entrant’s heart rate being measured when she or he places a fingertip on the camera lens of a smartphone or computer.

The company has linked up with Highsnobiety to create the raffle sneaker edit, which includes the Adidas Originals Yeezy Boost 750 OG from 2015; Acronym x Nike Presto Mid from 2016; Virgil Abloh x Nike Air Jordan 1 Chicago from 2017; Sean Wotherspoon x Nike Air Max 97/1 from the same year; and Daniel Arsham x Adidas Futurecraft 4D from 2018.

The raffle will be accompanied by a special event running from 18:00 to midnight on July 2 on sneakerbeats.tv. This will feature back-to-back DJ sets and exclusive video content.