Klarborg turned a Christmas live into 99,854 comments and a record-breaking charity fundraiser

A brand built on stories

Behind every Klarborg Christmas elf is a story. And behind the brand is a family who genuinely loves telling them.

Etly designs every single elf herself, each one handcrafted in ceramic, inspired by a real person she has met or knows. A child with chubby cheeks. A neighbour. A friend's baby. The inspiration is always human, and it shows.

Mads is one of Etly's three sons, and has been part of the business from the start.

"Our products come with stories and details that are hard to capture in an email or ad. Live gives us the space to tell them."

From newsletter to living room

Before Live Shopping, the options were limited. A newsletter. A social post. An ad.

All fine. All with a ceiling.

"There is only so long a newsletter can be," says Mads. "And people are not going to sit and read a five-page story about how Etly started. But if you talk to them, if you actually sit there with them, they get it."

Klarborg first went live in 2020. No script. No programme. No real plan. Just a camera, a microphone, and 4.5 hours of Mads and his siblings talking about what they do.

The fans loved it.

"They had never really seen who we were before," says Mads. "They did not know Mathias. They did not know Martin. And after that first show, everything changed."

Making their own holiday

When Klarborg sat down to think about what to do around Christmas, Black Friday was the obvious peg. It was also the obvious problem.

Klarborg sells through Imerco, Bahne, Salling, and other major retailers. Going hard on Black Friday meant competing directly with the partners selling their own products. That felt wrong. And more than that, it felt boring.

"We have never really liked Black Friday," says Mads. "So we just decided to make our own day."

Klarborgnissens Dag was born. Their own holiday. Their own rules. And a proof point that Live Shopping does not have to follow the retail calendar, it can create its own.

The concept started simple. Etly and the family sat together, made a Christmas decoration, and streamed the whole thing. Viewers watched them work. They laughed at jokes. They asked questions. It ran from 10am to 11pm.

"In the end it is very down to earth," says Mads. "We sit and paint Christmas elves. We tell stories. People tune in like they would have the radio on. It just creates a mood."

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A show built for everyone

The format has grown every year. But the logic behind it has stayed the same: build a programme where there is something for everyone.

The day now runs as something close to a talkshow. Santa Claus reads aloud to children. The director of Julemærkefonden comes on to talk about their work. Etly tells the stories behind her designs. The family paints Christmas elves live on screen, competing against each other.

"We have children watching from the age of three," says Mads. "Santa Claus reads to them in the evening. And we thought, if they grow up knowing Klarborg, that means something."

The Christmas elf that crashed the website

The commercial centrepiece of Klarborgnissens Dag is the annual limited-edition Christmas elf, designed specifically for the day, sold only during the show, never restocked once it sells out.

The first time Klarborg launched one, in 2022, demand was so high it took the website down for five hours.

"We had never done anything like it before," says Mads.

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"We learned very quickly that Live Shopping with some urgency works extremely well for us"

Mads Klarborg

Creative Director

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Each year the launch Christmas elf sells out faster. Once it is gone, it is gone. That combination of a story, a live reveal, and a hard deadline creates something no ad campaign can replicate.

And this year the results were no different.

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Their results with only two shows

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99,854 comments means the audience was not watching passively. They were asking questions, placing orders, and participating instead of just watching.

Not only that, more than 9,000 people watched the show for over a minute, and the average watch time was 20 minutes. In a world where brands are fighting for every second of attention, it really shows the power of Live Shopping.

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These results did not happen by accident

Behind Klarborgnissens Dag is a full production setup handled by Sprii's Turnkey solution. The crew arrives on the day with everything: cameras, lighting, sound, and the full stream setup. Klarborg's job is to know their products, know their stories, and show up.

Sprii runs the commerce layer in the background. Product listings, orders, the messaging list, checkout, all of it handled in real time while the show is live.

The show itself is carefully structured to hold attention across a full day. Different segments serve different audiences: storytelling for long-time fans, product launches for buyers, Santa for the children, and the charity auction for everyone.

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What Live Shopping does that nothing else can

Klarborg now plans live events into their annual calendar as a core channel, not a supplement to their marketing, but a pillar of it.

"It is not a small thing," says Mads. "Print advertising is a big investment. Email is a big investment. Live is the same. It belongs at the same level."

Alongside the storytelling format they have built, they want to try a dedicated Live Shopping event, purely commercial, built around product and conversion, to see what that channel can do on its own terms.

"We can clearly see the effect," says Mads. "On revenue. On reach. On how close our customers feel to us. Live Shopping is going into our annual planning. It is not going anywhere."

The impact on brand awareness has been significant.

"Our viewers feel like they know us because we have been in their living room during the live shows," says Mads. "That authenticity is the whole magic. It is why people stay with us for hours."

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Their advice to any brand thinking about going live

For brands considering Live Shopping, Klarborg's experience is a strong case for just getting started. The format does not need to be perfect. It needs to be real.

"If you are thinking starting. Sprii makes it easy, you focus on your brand and story, and the platform handles the rest.

"The authenticity is what people come for. And once they feel that, they keep coming back," says Mads.

The format does not need to be complicated. People want to see the real you. And with the right platform behind you, getting started is simpler than most brands expect.