Kambukka scales worldwide with creative collabs and community-driven campaigns

About Kambukka: Belgian design with a purpose

Founded just five years ago in Belgium, Kambukka has quickly become a global name in drinkware, with presence in more than 60 countries. The brand is known for its smartly designed water bottles and travel mugs — leak-proof, durable, and made to fit seamlessly into everyday life. With a strong commitment to sustainability and its recent B-Corp certification, Kambukka stands for more than hydration: it’s about combining function, style, and responsibility in one sleek product.

The strategy: always-on ambassadors, bold campaigns, authentic reviews

When Kambukka first dipped its toes into influencer marketing two years ago, the approach was mostly tied to the calendar: Valentine’s Day gift guides, Christmas campaigns, or a new colour launch. 

That strategy has since evolved. Today, the brand runs a layered, strategic influence model that combines always-on ambassadors with creative campaign spikes. 

“We realised that short peaks created nice visibility, but it wasn’t enough to build long-term brand love. So we created an ambassador layer that runs continuously in our key markets, and then activate campaign waves on top,” explains Femke Van de Werf, Marcom & Product Design at Kambukka.

This shift gave Kambukka more consistency, more diverse content, and a stronger connection with communities across Belgium, Germany, the UK, and beyond. Campaigns still play an important role — whether for seasonal gifting or brand partnerships with brands like L’Occitane — but they now sit within a wider, always-on ecosystem. The result is a strategy that keeps Kambukka present in conversations year-round, while still allowing for creative spikes that grab attention.

On top of this, Femke introduced what she calls review campaigns — an innovative third layer that has become a cornerstone of the brand’s influence playbook. The idea is simple but powerful: identify people frustrated with poor-quality bottles — leaky lids, broken seals, clumsy designs — and offer them a Kambukka as a solution. 

“Instead of dictating a script, we focus on solving a real problem. The result is authentic content, because it comes from their own experience,” Femke explains.

The strategy works because the content isn’t staged. A mum tired of her child’s bottle leaking in a schoolbag or a coffee lover fed up with lukewarm drinks now has a genuine story to tell. It creates an emotional hook: the product fits into their lives in a way that feels useful and personal. And by running review campaigns quarterly, Kambukka generates a continuous stream of user-led content that feels more like word-of-mouth than marketing.

Mango Maniacs: a cross-brand campaign with L’Occitane

One of Kambukka’s most eye-catching initiatives in recent years was the Mango Maniacs campaign with French beauty brand L’Occitane. Both brands share a love of colour, lifestyle, and daily rituals, making the collaboration a natural fit. The idea was to show how Kambukka’s vibrant bottles could slot into the same moments of self-care and joy as L’Occitane’s new Hydrating Essentials skincare line.

“The message was about more than just drinking or moisturising — it was about savouring everyday routines,” explains Femke. “We wanted to show that hydration and beauty are both small rituals that can make people feel good. Together, the story became more powerful.”

The joint campaign enlisted 28 influencers who collectively produced over 70 pieces of content, generating a reach of 68.38K. Their posts blended skincare with lifestyle: a matching mango bottle on the desk alongside hand cream, or a bathroom counter shot pairing the products like natural companions. The crossover created synergies for both brands, exposing L’Occitane’s beauty community to Kambukka’s stylish bottles, while giving Kambukka access to a fresh audience of skincare and lifestyle enthusiasts.

It also gave the team a chance to discover new creators outside their usual pool. By cross-referencing L’Occitane’s preferred profiles with Kolsquare’s data, Femke was able to identify additional influencers whose audiences overlapped perfectly with both brands. “The campaign opened up a new segment of lifestyle creators we wouldn’t have thought of before. It really broadened our view of what Kambukka content could look like,” says Femke.

The result was a campaign that felt seamless, joyful, and genuinely collaborative — proving that cross-brand storytelling can create a bigger cultural moment than either brand could achieve alone.

“Working with another strong brand gives us an extra hook. It creates a story that goes beyond just a bottle — it’s about lifestyle, beauty, and wellbeing combined,” Femke explains. 

Kolsquare’s role: clarity, credibility and campaign control

Behind the creativity and community feel of Kambukka’s influencer marketing lies a need for structure — and that’s where Kolsquare comes in. While Femke often starts by spotting potential creators directly on Instagram or TikTok, every shortlist is run through Kolsquare to validate the fit.

“Kolsquare gives me the reassurance that we’re working with the right people,” says Femke. “I can see audience credibility, filter by country, and double-check that a creator really has the reach and engagement they claim. It saves me hours of second-guessing.”

For international campaigns like Mango Maniacs or collaborations with Polar Box in Spain and Germany, the platform allows Kambukka to segment by market and audience location — crucial for a brand active in more than 60 countries. 

“When we ran a campaign in Germany, I could check L’Occitane’s list of suggested profiles against Kolsquare, and then identify similar lookalike creators to strengthen the casting,” Femke explains.

Performance tracking is another major advantage. With dozens of influencers posting across different time zones and weekends, Kolsquare centralises all campaign content and KPIs. “Without Kolsquare I’d be chasing screenshots and manually checking feeds. Instead, everything is tracked automatically in one place, and I know I won’t miss a single post,” Femke adds.

The platform has also proven useful for experimenting with new campaign styles. With review campaigns, for example, Kolsquare helps track which creators turned a gifted product into authentic content and what impact it had on their community. Over time, that data builds into a clear picture of which profiles are worth reactivating as ambassadors.

For Femke, it’s the mix of creativity and control that makes the difference: “We can focus on making our campaigns more fun and authentic because Kolsquare handles the operational side. It’s like having a second pair of eyes on everything.”

Authentic content, global resonance

Kambukka now works with 30 – 40 influencers monthly, depending on the season. Back-to-school, Christmas, and gifting periods are major peaks, generating a constant stream of authentic content across markets.

One standout moment came when UK creator @hannahanniex posted a spontaneous review of the Lagoon water bottle. The video went viral, generating over 3 million views and sparking a whole series of user-generated content. 

“She loved the product so much we made her an ambassador. That’s the kind of authentic success story you can’t plan for, but you can nurture,” Femke recalls.

Campaigns like the L’Occitane partnership underline Kambukka’s ability to blend lifestyle storytelling with product utility, while review campaigns show the power of empathy-led marketing. Across the board, engagement and content quality remain consistently high — a testament to the brand’s authentic, problem-solving approach.

By combining strategic ambassador management, playful brand collaborations, and an authentic, problem-solving mindset, Kambukka has built an influencer strategy that matches its smart design philosophy. With Kolsquare powering discovery, vetting, and performance tracking, the brand has the confidence to scale globally while keeping its community feel intact.

As Femke puts it: “For us, influencer marketing isn’t about volume. It’s about creating content that resonates and communities that care. Kolsquare helps us do exactly that.”

Want to see how Kolsquare can help your brand fuel growth through authentic influence? Book a demo today.