Influence agency Better & Stronger crafted an influence strategy to shift iconic boots brand Timberland to social-first, always-on UGC powered by nano creators, driving authentic content, cultural relevance, and standout performance across Europe.
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Timberland is a globally recognised lifestyle brand rooted in outdoor heritage, best known for its iconic Yellow Boot, and commitment to craftsmanship, durability, and culture. With a strong presence across Europe, the brand continues to evolve its identity to stay relevant within modern, style-driven communities.
Better & Stronger is a French social-first agency specialising in influence, content, and brand strategy. With a strong focus on authenticity and cultural relevance, the agency supports brands in building meaningful connections through creator-led storytelling and always-on social ecosystems.
Having collaborated to build and execute a robust influencer marketing strategy over several years, Timberland and Better & Stronger decided the time was ripe to step it up.
The ambition?
Move beyond campaign-based influence and build a consistent, social-first presence anchored in authenticity across key platforms, including Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. (TikTok is managed by the brand HQ.)
“We needed something more reactive than traditional influence. Even when we spotted trends, production timelines were often too slow compared to how fast social moves,” explains Clémence Pluijm, Influence Marketing Manager at Better & Stronger.
The answer? An always-on strategy powered by UGC.
It is a shift reflected in a broader industry evolution. Brands are moving away from one-off influencer activations towards long-term content ecosystems that can continuously feed social platforms.
An always-on UGC strategy is a long-term approach where brands continuously commission and distribute creator-led content throughout the year. The strategy runs in parallel to launch-based or seasonal campaigns.
But scaling UGC introduces new challenges. Finding the right creators, maintaining quality at scale, and producing content that feels native while still delivering business impact is crucial to success.
The strategy Better & Stronger designed was a year-long, always-on UGC programme for Timberland that brought together 10 nano creators from across Europe, each with fewer than 10,000 followers.
Nano creators are typically valued for their authenticity, strong community connection rather than their reach. In the case of UGC campaigns, their ability to also create high-quality content is crucial.
“This was the first year we introduced nano creators into our always-on strategy. The idea was to scale content while keeping a similar budget, and make it more native to the platforms,” says Clémence.
Each creator was commissioned to produce three pieces of content, one Reel and two carousels, resulting in 30 assets designed to feed Timberland’s content engine across the year.
The campaign focused on Timberland’s key European markets, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK, and centred on three iconic products, including the Yellow Boot.
Unlike traditional influencer campaigns that prioritise reach and engagement, this approach prioritised content production and reuse. The goal was not just visibility, but building a consistent stream of high-quality, platform-native assets.
Content was mapped across the year through a detailed calendar, aligning creators, products, and seasonal peaks.
“We built a yearly plan where we placed creators across different months and products. That allowed us to stay consistent while adapting to seasonality and campaigns,” Clémence explains.
Crucially, content was not produced in bulk. Creators were briefed a month before posting, allowing them to react to trends and produce content that felt timely.
“We didn’t want creators to produce everything upfront. We wanted content that feels real. If it’s winter, it should look like winter. If it’s spring, it should feel like spring,” she adds.
Key takeaway: always-on strategies outperform campaign-based approaches when consistency and cultural relevance are key objectives.
The success of the campaign was driven by one critical factor. Creator selection.
“The most important thing is to find creators who genuinely identify with the brand. That’s what makes the content truly authentic,” says Clémence.
Rather than selecting creators based on audience size, Better & Stronger focused on profiles already aligned with Timberland’s aesthetic and values.
This ensured that content felt natural, not forced. Content was lifestyle-driven, trend-inspired, and designed to blend seamlessly into social feeds. No product push. No scripted messaging.
Because the content felt native, it performed more strongly than traditional branded assets.
“That continuity is key. The audience recognises the creators and the partnership feels much more genuine,” Clémence adds.
Key takeaway: authenticity and brand fit drive performance more than audience size in UGC campaigns.
Kolsquare supported the campaign at every stage, from creator discovery to performance analysis and reporting.
One of the biggest challenges with UGC is identifying the right nano creators, who are often not yet structured or indexed.
“I use a mix of tools and methods to identify creators. I also rely a lot on Kolsquare’s Instagram suggested profiles, where you can discover similar profiles,” comments Clémence.
“Working with nano creators means you don’t always have structured data available, so Kolsquare was really useful to centralise profiles, analyse their audience and engagement data, and validate our choices. Even if we are not activating their audience directly, these indicators are useful to assess content quality and consistency. It gave us the confidence that even smaller creators were the right fit for the brand and the campaign.”
This benchmarking capability is key in UGC strategies, where success depends on content quality rather than audience reach.
Kolsquare was also invaluable for supporting paid optimisation. UGC content was first tested organically, then amplified based on performance.
“Kolsquare is very useful for benchmarking. We compare each piece of content against the creator’s average performance to see whether it exceeded expectations. That helps us evaluate both content quality and creator fit,” explains Clémence.
“We let the content live organically first, then amplify what performs best. That’s been key to improving paid efficiency.”
Because content that performs well organically tends to perform even better in paid, this approach maximised ROI.
Key takeaway: testing UGC content organically before boosting significantly improves paid campaign performance.
The campaign results confirm the effectiveness of an always-on UGC strategy.
Across platforms, the campaign generated more than 30 million views and reached 20 million users through combined organic and paid distribution.
On Instagram, engagement exceeded 5%, significantly above industry benchmarks, demonstrating the impact of authentic creator-led content. Content reposted to Pinterest also proved highly effective, with engagement rates above 4% and strong outbound click potential.
The campaign achieved an EMV uplift of over 830% compared to the initial investment.
Compared to traditional branded campaigns, UGC delivered stronger engagement, better performance in paid media, and a more scalable content model.
Brands looking to scale UGC across markets can apply a similar framework:
Better & Stronger’s always-on UGC strategy for Timberland shows how brands can move beyond campaign thinking and build continuous content engines.
By combining strong creator selection, a flexible strategy, and data-driven optimisation through Kolsquare, Better & Stronger created a model that is both scalable and culturally relevant.
Want to build your own always-on UGC strategy? Book a demo with Kolsquare and see how data can power your next campaign.
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