The MythBuster Challenge
- Brand
- Klarna
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Finance
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- Installation
- Agency
- Makemepulse
Objective
Klarna was fighting misinformation, not obscurity — UK shoppers already knew the brand but repeated the same false claims about who used it and how the fees worked. Rather than issue corrections, Klarna set out to put its facts in front of the seven most common myths and win back trust with 25-44-year-old shoppers.
Solution
The game opens in a mythical pink-sky gallery where seven painted scenes hang side by side, each one built around a myth about Klarna. Tapping into a painting hands the player that myth as a challenge and drops them into its illustrated world, where they scan and tap through the scene hunting for the hidden detail that disproves it. Finding it reveals the real fact behind the myth and unlocks the next painting. Clear all seven and the session ends with entry into a prize draw, with rewards spanning a weekend at Claridge's to a £10,000 donation to hygiene-poverty charity Beauty Banks. Out on the street, the same seven paintings appeared as murals with a QR code hidden in the art, so passersby could scan straight into the same gallery — though the game played just as well cold, starting from the URL alone.
Results
Over four weeks in May 2021 the campaign drew 160,000+ visits to the mobile experience, with 45,000 players dispelling all seven myths. Brand trust rose from 58% to 67%, positive sentiment climbed 52% across 2021, and Klarna's app monthly active users grew 7.3% between May and July 2021.
- 1
The experience launches from seven large murals painted across London (Shoreditch, Notting Hill), Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, each depicting a Klarna myth with a QR code hidden in the artwork; scanning it, or visiting mythbusterchallenge.com directly, opens the game on the player's phone.
- 2
The player arrives in a real-time 3D sky gallery: a pink baroque sunset with surreal floating objects and ambient sound, framed as an invitation to 'discover the truth.'
- 3
The player moves freely through the sky, where the same seven Monreal paintings hang like exhibits, and chooses one to enter.
- 4
Entering a painting first states the myth it represents, such as 'Klarna is a scam' or 'Klarna is only for fashionistas.'
- 5
The player is drawn inside the artwork itself, immersed in a version of the painted scene where its figures and objects are animated, and is set a mythbuster challenge specific to that painting — searching and interacting with the scene to find a hidden answer.
- 6
Finding the hidden item busts the myth and surfaces the real fact behind it, for example that the average Klarna customer is 33 or that the retailer pays the fee, not the shopper.
- 7
The player returns to the sky gallery and repeats the choose-enter-search loop across the remaining paintings until all seven myths have been tackled.
- 8
Busting all seven myths enters the player into a prize draw, with rewards ranging from a weekend stay at Claridge's to a £10,000 donation made in the winner's name to the charity Beauty Banks.
