Case Study · Effortless Swimming

In 6 months, we generated $150K+ in creator-driven affiliate sales for Effortless Swimming. From a zero start.

We didn't chase big-name influencers. We worked with 950 people who actually use the product — swimmers, triathletes, coaches. They posted. We turned the best content into Meta ads. Six months in, Effortless Swimming had an always-on ad pipeline and an affiliate line tracking to $600K+ a year.

Brand
Effortless Swimming
Niche
DTC · Swim goggles
Markets
AU · NZ · US
Timeline
6 months
$150K+
Creator affiliate sales · total
Over 6 months · started from $0
10M+
Organic creator views
No paid boost
640+
Pieces of creator content
~107 per month
5M+
Aggregated followers reached
100% organic

Where they started.

Effortless Swimming had a real audience. Years of Brenton's coaching content built trust inside swim and triathlon communities. The goggles worked. The brand was credible.

But swim is a category dominated by Speedo and Arena — giants Effortless Swimming can't outspend, and shouldn't try to.

The play had to be different. Brenton's own content was strong — some of his videos pushed big numbers. But every new ad meant his team had to film something. You can't scale a brand on one founder's content alone. There was no steady stream of fresh creative, and the goodwill in the community wasn't turning into scalable revenue.

The job: build something that produces authentic creator content faster than the brand can use it, keeps the best creators long-term, and turns community love into real revenue — without burning founder time.

What we did.

Three steps. Designed to keep working, not just to run once.

STEP 01

Find people who actually use the product.

We didn't chase big-name influencers. We went deep into the niche. For Effortless Swimming that meant swimmers, triathletes, and coaches who train every week — people who use goggles in real conditions. Training, race prep, underwater, open water. In any DTC category, real users beat reach. Every time.

STEP 02

Brief them. Don't script them.

Every creator got the same kit: a short brief with hooks that work, a quick brand deck, examples of videos that crushed, and a few storytelling tips. After that — they made it their way. We guided. They owned the voice.

STEP 03

Use the best content as ads.

When a video performed, we got rights to it. Then it ran as a paid ad. Whitelisted. Collab posted. The strongest creators became long-term partners. One-off gifting turned into a steady pipeline.

What happened.

In six months, Effortless Swimming had more real creator content than most brands make in a year — and a new revenue line to go with it.

250K+
Likes generated across creator content
$600K+
Annual affiliate revenue run rate at month 6
~107 / mo
New videos posted — feeds paid ads on autopilot

The smaller creators went bigger. The best-performing content didn't come from big names. It came from real swimmers most agencies would have skipped.

894K+
organic views on the top-performing creator post
720K+
views on the second-best — no paid boost
🏅
Top-tier athletes — unpaid

An Olympic gold medallist and multiple World Champions posted Effortless Swimming content organically. Zero paid placement. They use the product, they posted about it. That kind of social proof can't be bought.

30+ creator videos. Millions of views. Cost: product + shipping.

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It wasn't just the views. KoLabs gave us a content library our team uses every week for ads. The creator side has become one of the biggest growth pieces in the business.
Brenton Ford
Brenton Ford
Founder, Effortless Swimming
This works for any DTC brand

If your product is used in real life, this works for you too.

We didn't get lucky. We ran a system: find people who actually use the product, send it to them, keep the best ones, turn their content into ads. The category doesn't matter. Skincare, food, fitness, apparel — same playbook.

Content that keeps working

Every month adds videos you can use for ads later. The library grows. It doesn't expire.

You stop filming

Creators shoot it. You pick what runs. Founder time goes back into the business.

Sales, not just views

Affiliate links, Collab Posts, paid ads — creator content turns into actual revenue.

We did the same for other DTC brands.

Different categories. Different markets. Same KoLabs playbook.

Aspire Nutrition
Aspire Nutrition
Wellness · ADHD · family communities

Aspire Nutrition serves ADHD, autism and family communities. Totally different niche to swimming. Same system. Same result.

$70K+
Creator-driven affiliate revenue
350+
Creators in the partnership program
180+
Instagram Collab Posts published
Maison El Nabil
Maison El Nabil
Luxury fragrance · French-Arabian perfumery

Maison El Nabil sells premium French-Arabian perfumery — niche audience, premium price point. We seeded 360 creators in 2 months. 200+ posted.

360+
Creators seeded
200+
Creators posted about the brand
2 months
From kickoff to full velocity
Brands we've worked with
Qure Skincare
Effortless Swimming
Elite Supplements
Glo Melanin
Filippo Loreti
Two Tags
Système 41
Sketch & Etch
Mountaindrop
Xstance
Qure Skincare
Effortless Swimming
Elite Supplements
Glo Melanin
Filippo Loreti
Two Tags
Système 41
Sketch & Etch
Mountaindrop
Xstance
By the numbers

Built on real reps, not theory.

10+
DTC brands running this system
7,500+
Creators seeded across categories
50M+
Organic creator views generated
$75M+
Meta media buying experience
Why us

We've been doing this for a while.

Before KoLabs, we ran the influencer and paid sides of brands doing real revenue. This isn't our first creator program.

Katarina
Katarina
Founder & Owner · KoLabs
  • Currently Head of Influencers, Partnerships & Community at a category-leading 8-figure DTC brand
  • Part of the Qure Skincare influencer team from Day 1
  • Built and ran a brand community Facebook group from 0 → 25K members — became one of the brand's top traffic + sales channels
  • Grew an affiliate program for a beauty/wellness brand from $0 → $1.2M/year in 2 years
Kristijan
Kristijan GeekOut speaker
Growth & media buying
  • $75M+ spent on Meta media buying across DTC brands
  • Co-owner of Qure Skincare at launch
  • Part of the growth team that scaled a skincare brand from $2M → $12M in 12 months
  • Head of growth across multiple 7- and 8-figure DTC brands
The shift happening right now

With Meta's Andromeda rollout, the algorithm decides who sees what — not your targeting. Creative quality wins. The brands beating their competition right now are the ones with deep libraries of authentic creator content. That's exactly what we build.

Family-run business

A family-run agency. Built on our own software.

KoLabs isn't a big agency. We're a small family team running on tools we built ourselves — so every brand we work with gets senior attention, not a junior account manager.

Kristijan
Kristijan
Husband
Katarina
Katarina
Wife
Tin
Tin
Wife's brother
Mislav
Mislav
Cousin #1
Josip
Josip
Cousin #2
Who this works for

You're in the right place if...

01

You're hitting a creative wall

Your Meta ads are dying. You need a steady pipeline of fresh, authentic creative — and your team can't film fast enough.

02

You want to scale beyond paid alone

You're hitting CAC ceilings. You need organic distribution + an affiliate channel that compounds — without burning ad spend.

03

You're in a niche category

Big-name influencers don't fit your category. You need real users — and the system to find, brief, scale and retain them.

The offer

Add an extra $100K+/month in revenue through creators.

A creator engine that drives organic views and fuels your Meta ads with content that actually converts. Built and run by people who've spent $75M+ on Meta and scaled creator programs to 7 figures.

Launch cohort · 3 of 10 spots open
Who this is for
Revenue
Any size
Business model
DTC e-commerce
Markets
Global
Plan 01
Influencer Seeding
The full creator engine — gifting, content, affiliate. No paid partnerships.
  • Creator search & discovery (we find them)
  • Outreach + follow-up emails, end to end
  • Order management + post-delivery reminders
  • Custom creator briefs written for every campaign
  • Snowball / affiliate tool fully managed by us
  • We manage creator payment workflows (brand pays direct)
  • Internal + media-buyer coordination on creatives
  • Weekly + monthly reports
  • Dedicated account manager
Optional add-ons
UGC for Meta ads
We manage dedicated content creators to feed your Meta ad creative pipeline. Continuous fresh ad assets.
TikTok Shop management
Setup + ongoing TikTok Shop creator partnerships and product seeding.
When you sign — included free

Plus $5,500+ in bonuses on top.

Real value. Not fluff. Each one stands alone as a service we'd charge for.
$1,500Value

Meta ad account audit by Kristijan

Personally done by someone who's spent $75M+ on Meta. Andromeda-ready creative diagnosis included.

$1,500/mo value

Monthly strategy time with Katarina + Kristijan

Direct strategy time every month with both founders. Whatever you need that month — creative direction, community questions, growth blockers, donations & social-impact strategy.

$1,000Value

Direct Andromeda guidance from Kristijan

Direct access to Kristijan's take on Andromeda — what it actually means for your brand, which creative concepts are winning, how to position your ads now that the AI does the targeting. From someone who's spent $75M+ on Meta.

$1,000Value

Direct community-building guidance from Katarina

Direct access to Katarina's approach for building community — exactly what she did to grow a brand community from 0 → 25K members. What works across FB, Discord, WhatsApp. Where the conversion happens.

$500/mo Value

Partner discounts on Snowball + creator tools

Exclusive partner rates on the affiliate + creator tools we run for you. Compounds every month.

Total bonus value
$5,500+FREE when you sign
Our guarantee

If we don't seed 100+ creators who accept your collab within 60 days, you get your money back.

We guarantee what's in our control — sourcing, outreach, getting product accepted. We won't promise what's not (creators posting, view counts, product appeal) — those depend on your brand and the creators themselves.
What you do

Review the monthly creator selection. Sign off on the brief once. That's it. We handle outreach, briefing, content collection, paid setup, reporting, payments — everything. No junior account manager picking who represents your brand.

Ready to add $100K+/month through creators?

15-minute strategy call. We'll show you exactly how the system maps to your category — and walk you through month 1.

FAQ

Questions before you book.

Is this for my brand?

If you're DTC and your product has real users, yes — the playbook scales. Creator seeding is run by every winning DTC brand on the planet, from 7-figure newcomers to 9-figure category leaders. Same system, just different volume.

We work with brands globally and disqualify hard on the intro call. We'd rather tell you upfront if we're not the right fit than waste a month proving it.

How long until I see results?

First creators seeded within 14 days. Content starts going live in week 3–4. 100+ creators accepting your collab by end of month 2 (guaranteed). Affiliate revenue starts compounding from month 2 onward. Effortless Swimming hit $150K+ in 6 months from a standing start.

What if it doesn't work for me?

If we don't seed 100+ creators who accept your collab within 60 days, you get your money back. We guarantee what's in our control — sourcing, outreach, getting product accepted. What we won't promise: views, posting rate, virality. Those depend on the creators and your product, and we won't pretend otherwise.

On top of that, we disqualify hard before you sign — half the brands we talk to we tell to wait or go elsewhere. We're not in the business of taking money and failing.

How is this different from a typical creator agency?

Honestly? We don't even like calling ourselves an agency. We're a family-run team that's been operating this exact playbook for years — across our own brands and as operators inside scaling DTC.

Kristijan has spent $75M+ on Meta and led growth across multiple 7- and 8-figure DTC brands. Katarina runs influencer + community at a category-leading 8-figure DTC brand and built one of the most active brand communities in her space. Neither of us are new operators learning on your account — we're running the same playbook that's already worked.

What platforms do you cover?

Instagram and TikTok are the core. We handle Collab Posts, whitelisting, Reels, TikTok partnerships, and TikTok Shop as an add-on. YouTube when it fits the niche. Meta ads pipeline is built into the workflow — every winning organic post becomes a paid ad.

What do I have to do each month?

Sign off on the monthly brief once. Review the creator selection. That's it. We do everything else — discovery, outreach, briefing, content collection, payments, reporting.

How much does it cost?

Pricing starts at $2,000/month. Final number depends on creator volume, paid partnerships and any add-ons — quoted on the 15-minute intro call. No inflated retainers, no surprises.

For context: a decent influencer manager in-house costs $80K+/year before tools, training, and turnover. We're more experienced, faster to start, and built on real reps across 10+ brands.

Do I sign a long-term contract?

No long-term lock-in. We run month-to-month. If we're not earning the retainer, you walk — no contract penalty, no claw-back. We'd rather keep clients who want to be there than chase brands trying to cancel.

What happens after I book the call?

15 minutes. We diagnose where your brand is, walk you through what month 1 looks like for your category, and tell you honestly if we're a fit. No high-pressure pitch. If we don't think we can move the needle, we'll say so.