How Wellness Pet removed the payment barrier to scale always-on influence across six European markets

Selling premium pet nutrition in Europe means building trust market by market, one dog lover at a time. Wellness Pet, the American pet food company behind Wellness CORE and WHIMZEES, has made always-on creator partnerships the engine of its European brand awareness strategy. But as its KOL roster grew across six countries, one unglamorous detail threatened to slow everything down: actually paying creators.

About Wellness Pet

Wellness Pet Company is a US-based pet nutrition company that opened its European hub a little over a decade ago. In Europe, it markets two brands: Wellness CORE, natural food and treats for dogs and cats, and WHIMZEES, vegetarian dental chews for dogs in playful shapes, from toothbrushes to alligators. Sold through pet specialty retailers and online marketplaces rather than its own e-shop, the brand relies on credibility and visibility to grow its share of a competitive European market.

Professionalizing influence across six markets

When Emma Biver, Influencer Marketing Manager at Wellness Pet, joined in January 2025, influencer marketing existed but was not yet structured to scale. Today she runs an always-on program spanning France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and the UK, built deliberately on quality over volume.

"We want partners with strong statistics who create great content and genuinely love the brand. If you don't love the brand, we won't work with you," says Biver. Kolsquare data anchors every selection: the credibility score is the first filter (below 70 is a no), followed by audience country split and interests. "Before any negotiation, I always check the stats. A creator can tell me whatever they want, but the numbers show whether the audience is right. Without that data, you're in the dark."

Removing the payment and VAT barrier to scale internationally

Growth exposed a structural problem familiar to many European brands: paying creators is an admin burden nobody budgets for, with tax hurdles on top. Often, finance departments can only pay creators registered with a VAT number. This either limits agility in choosing and paying creators or increases costs through the workarounds required.

In Wellness Pet's case, creators without a VAT number had to be paid through local social media agencies in countries like Germany, which redistributed the funds for an extra management fee.

"The more creators we signed, the more often they had no VAT number, and every additional payment through the agency meant more cost and more organization," Biver explains.

Kolsquare Payments, which Wellness Pet adopted as one of the first three clients, dissolved the bottleneck. The brand makes a single payment to fund its wallet; Kolsquare's payment partner Gigapay pays each creator, collects their invoices and handles tax documentation and compliance across countries and currencies. Creators without a registered business, previously impossible to pay, are now simply part of the roster.

"Now we make one payment to the platform and I manage everything myself. I do the payments every month, and it's done in two clicks. Honestly, it's really simple and fast," says Biver. The result: lower agency costs, no VAT barrier blocking new partnerships, and one less dependency as the brand recruits creators in new markets.

Proving business impact, without losing time or content

Biver builds her quarterly leadership reports entirely on Kolsquare data: EMV, reach, engagement rate, content split, paid versus gifted partnerships and per-KOL performance.

Kolsquare's automatic content collection is particularly useful when having to build and update stakeholder reports under time pressure. "Without Kolsquare, I don't know how I would even do my reporting today. I'd have to chase every creator for screenshots," says Biver.

The approach is paying off. Wellness Pet's current German campaign for the new WHIMZEES trial pack, five macro KOLs blending fun unboxings with educational dog trainer content, has generated a 179% ROI in under a month, agency fees included.

Make sure to follow Wellness CORE (@wellness_core_petfood) and WHIMZEES (@whimzees_dog_treats) on Instagram and TikTok to see the partnerships in action.