Craig Narveson – Director of Partnerships at Kahoot! – on crafting educational content with brands like Hello Kitty, SpongeBob and Peanuts

Craig, for anyone new to Kahoot, how would you describe the company and its values?
At Kahoot!, our mission is to make learning awesome for all learners, regardless of age, background or location. We are playful, curious and inclusive. We are dedicated to developing a platform that is safe, free, and accessible for everyone.

Our platform offers educational content curated by industry-leading organisations and publishers such as Disney, TED-Ed, National Geographic Society, McGraw Hill, Barron’s, DK, Cambridge University Press, NASA and Wikipedia, to name only a few.

Our apps and offerings are designed to support presenters in multiple settings, including teachers, educators, students and professionals. For example, when a presenter is in front of an audience, they need to engage, entertain and ensure all voices in the audience are heard. The magic of Kahoot! lies in the fact that presenters interact and engage better with their audience, creating a memorable experience for everyone in the room as the audience actively participates in the presentation.

This leads to higher information retention, open discussions and the development of critical thinking. The result is a more engaged audience, inviting people to lean in instead of zooming out from a presentation.

When it comes to brand partnerships, what makes a brand right for this kind of educational content?
We partner with forward-thinking organisations that are equally passionate about engagement and learning. The right partner for Kahoot! thrives on positive and transformative improvements in learning and education. We invite companies and organisations that share our vision of making learning accessible and engaging for learners of all ages.

We also collaborate with brands dedicated to fostering long-term relationships with us. This is important for us as education is a constantly evolving field, and it is approached differently all around the world. Therefore, we appreciate partners who are willing to innovate, adapt and refine our offerings together with the goal of improving the learning experience of our users.

Can a brand that isn’t known for having an ‘educational side’ jump into this space? If so, how can they get ‘education ready’?
We’ve partnered with many brands and organisations outside of the education field, and these partnerships have created unique and exciting opportunities to spark engagement and amplify learning. For example, by launching learning content featuring popular characters – such as Hello Kitty And Friends, SpongeBob SquarePants, Peanuts and many others – we’re inviting learners to build knowledge and skills alongside characters they already know and love; supercharging their engagement in learning.

Brands outside the education sphere can get ‘education ready’ by first considering the needs of the audience they want to reach, and how the brand’s offerings could be uniquely positioned to meet those needs. Take stock of the expertise held by the brand, and what the brand is best known for. Creating learning content that fits the brand’s identity will make audiences more likely to choose those learning resources, as they see the brand as a trusted and reliable source in that subject area.

For example, people searching for financial literacy resources would be more apt to choose content from a financial services company than from companies in unrelated industries. When companies play to their strengths, they can maximise their credibility with educators and learners.

You recently partnered with Sanrio on a slate of educational games. What appealed about Sanrio’s slate of brands?
The most important consideration for us in pursuing brand collaborations is always our users – educators and learners of all ages around the world. We knew that a significant number of our users love Sanrio characters, such as Hello Kitty, so we were confident that learners would be excited to explore knowledge alongside these characters in engaging Kahoot! experiences.

“Kahoot! is used in 200 countries and regions by eight million educators and millions of learners worldwide.”

This collaboration gave us a unique opportunity to develop engaging learning content for young learners around the world – leveraging globally loved, trusted and family friendly characters from the Hello Kitty and Friends franchise, in full collaboration with the skilled and highly professional Sanrio team.

We have also launched this learning content in Japanese as part of our investment in accelerated growth across the Asia-Pacific region. With the popularity of Sanrio characters in Japan, this launch presented an exciting new way to connect with Japanese learners and provide relevant, accessible and engaging resources to bring joy to learning.

Can you talk us through the development of the games? How do you ensure they remain faithful to the brands, while also doing what they need to do educationally?
At Kahoot!, we have a content team that is responsible for developing a good amount of the content in collaboration with our partners. This team collaborates closely with our partners to create globally accessible content for our users.

From the beginning, the team receives the partner’s brand guidelines, ensuring that the content aligns with the partner’s identity, tone and values. This collaboration enables us to create high quality learning content showcasing the partner’s trusted offerings within the interactive and engaging learning experience of Kahoot!, making it a reliable resource for educators and presenters. It also allows educators to use it in their classrooms confidently and enables presenters to deliver relevant, engaging content to users worldwide.

The kahoots and other learning experiences we develop with our partners cover a wide range of topics, including science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM), communication skills development, culture, social-emotional learning (SEL), and so on. Together with our partners, we ensure that the content published on our platform delivers valuable knowledge and engaging experiences that improve learning outcomes.

Finally, we put a strong focus on making content that is safe for audiences of all ages, entertaining, and relevant for learners regardless of their location. Some of these kahoots are also released in different languages.

As mentioned, with the latest launch of our collaboration with Sanrio characters, we created together with them a collection of free games that are available in both English and Japanese. Currently, we are exploring the possibility of localising these kahoots in more languages. We know there is a large fan base of Sanrio and Kahoot! in other countries and regions, and we expect to add more content available in more languages.

As a global platform, Kahoot! is used in 200 countries and regions by eight million educators and millions of learners worldwide, so language accessibility and cultural relevance is a key priority for Kahoot!. The Kahoot! platform is now available in 20 languages and counting, and strategic partnerships and content localisation have been an important aspect of our expansion in different regions globally.

What are some of the benefits of this kind of interactive learning compared to more traditional methods?
Kahoot! is designed to enhance audience engagement. This means that the audience actively participates rather than passively listening to a presenter. Our platform promotes game-based learning, helping participants focus on the topic being presented while keeping them energised and attentive, rather than distracted or disengaged.

Teachers, for example, enjoy using Kahoot! in the classroom because it effectively captures their students’ attention. While playing Kahoot!, students have fun without realising that they are actually learning.

Additionally, teachers receive reports from their classes, which can help them identify students who may be experiencing learning gaps or struggling with specific topics. This assessment feature from Kahoot! provides teachers with a valuable tool to address students’ mistakes and support their success in mastering concepts and for exams.

Recent research has shown that utilising Kahoot! as an educational tool has a significant positive impact on students’ academic achievement. In two recent meta-analyses, Kahoot! was found to increase students’ performance on a typical test by a full letter grade.

The interactive platform not only enhances knowledge retention through engaging quizzes and immediate feedback but also fosters a sense of competition and excitement in the classroom. This gamified approach boosts student motivation, encouraging active participation and collaboration among peers.

Additionally, the use of Kahoot! has been found to help reduce anxiety levels associated with traditional assessments, creating a more relaxed and enjoyable learning environment. Overall, integrating Kahoot! into educational settings can lead to a more effective and enjoyable learning experience for students.

Terrific. Looking ahead, what are some exciting things to come from Kahoot! the rest of this year?
Innovation is in our DNA, and we’re committed to continuously adding value for all our users worldwide. Kahoot! saw an opportunity early on to collaborate with partners, enabling us to regularly provide users with new and engaging learning content and experiences from trusted brands.

In 2025, we plan to expand a number of our existing partnerships to offer even more exciting ways to learn. This will not only include collections of Kahoot! learning games but also features designed to enhance the playful learning experience.

Additionally, we look forward to announcing new and industry-unique partner collaborations to elevate learning across all audience segments – at school, work, and home.