Klarna swipes Zip Co marketer as new director of marketing A/NZ

Next-generation payments and shopping services vendor, Klarna, has recruited rival Zip Co’s marketing chief as its new director of marketing.

Katrina Ang joins the Klarna business this month to spearhead marketing and brand strategy in Australia and New Zealand. She comes from Zip Co, where she spent three-and-a-half years, initially as brand and communications manager before rising to head of marketing, then director of marketing last November.

Ang’s resume also includes group marketing and customer experience roles across the Scentre Group and Westfield businesses, where she commenced as a marketing manager in 2004.

Klarna chief expansion officer, Camilla Giesecke, said Australia is a key market for the Swedish-based fintech, which now has nearly 1 million users across its payments options and shopping experiences locally. Klarna is also reportedly seeing strong growth in the US as one of the 10 most downloaded shopping apps and continues to chalk up growth in Europe. It’s also kicking off a buying spree, acquiring social shopping startup, Hero, this month, and reportedly also purchasing German shopping card, Stocard.

“This accelerated growth reflects the evolving needs of the Australian consumer. Bringing yet more great talent onboard means accelerating our efforts in providing Australians the best shopping experience,” Giesecke said.

As director of marketing, Ang, will be responsible for creating engaging brand activations for Australian and New Zealand consumers and partners.

“Klarna has made a name for itself as the world's most popular shopping service with celebrities like Celeste Barber, Snoop Dogg and more recently A$AP Rocky establishing a global brand that’s redefining the very way people shop,” Ang said.

“I’m very impressed with the tremendous growth Klarna has shown in the short period of time since its launch in Australia and the unmatched focus on what consumers need. I’m incredibly excited to be joining such a disruptive, consumer centric and high-growth company. I look forward to helping build on the company’s fantastic growth and forward momentum.”

Read more: How Klarna managed its brand launch in a pandemic

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