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GRIN Unboxed

Unboxed 2025 1

The 2025 influencer
marketing
year in review

2025 is in the
books!

Let’s take a look back at everything that made 2025 a truly unforgettable year for influencer marketing.

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The Creator Economy

In 2025, the creator economy stopped “emerging” and just became…the economy.

Yes, it’s official.

The Creator Economy:
By the Numbers

📈 $32B

The current global influencer marketing market size (UP FROM 24B IN 2024!)

📈 95%

Of marketing leaders are keeping influencer budgets in 2025.

📈 45%

Of brands say they are increasing spend year-over-year. Signaling more selective investment.

The Creator Economy

Brands are on track to spend over $32B on influencer marketing alone, with the broader creator ecosystem worth more than $200B and climbing. But unlike the wild growth years, budgets aren’t limitless.

Most marketers are maintaining or slightly increasing creator spend, not throwing money at every trend.

The bar is higher: campaigns have to prove revenue, not just reach. That shift is pushing brands toward affiliate-first plays, always-on creator programs, and AI-powered optimization instead of one-off, vibes-only partnerships.

Social Media Highlights

Here is what we took away from a year of being extremely online.

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Screenshot of Sargent Doakes in Dexter

WHAT WE DID

We had a Jet2Holiday.

#jet2holiday

Video by @bben9450

WHAT WE DID

We wore butter yellow.

#butteryellow

Video by @thatgirlstyl

WHAT WE DID

We ate Dubai chocolate.

#pistachio

Video by @tasha_tries_it

WHAT WE DID

We felt nostalgic.

#kingkylie

Video by @kyliejenner

WHAT WE DID

We got engaged.

#bridalera

Video by @amandachristine_1

WHAT WE DID

We drank banana lattes.

#wentbananas

Video by @bronezz

WHAT WE DID

We were in group 7.

#group7

Video by @sophiajamesmusic

WHAT WE DID

We made action figures.

#barbiebox

Video by @meili_zzz

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Labubus

2026’s emotional support toy.

Video by @averyywoods

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Breville Coffee Machine

Latte art on point (ish).

Video by @tannercolson

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Hanes Tank Top

Gym fits were never the same.

Video by @monica_dunlap

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Glazing Milk

Glazed donuts vibe.

Video by @kristynhoffman96

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Rugby Shirts

Minus the rugby.

Video by @satoriatejas

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Ninja Slushi

Froze all day.

Video by @sabrinamgraves

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Owala Water Bottle

Consider us hydrated.

Video by @yourstrulymds

WHAT WE BOUGHT

Loafers

Channeling grandpa core.

Video by @stephyschiller

WHO TEAMED UP

Denim Collabs

They were everywhere.

Video by @gap

WHO TEAMED UP

Doja Cat x Mac

The glam collab we manifested.

Video by @cbsnews

WHO TEAMED UP

Hugo x Liam Lawson

Formula 1, but make it fashion.

Video by @hugo

WHO TEAMED UP

Sabrina Carpenter x Dunkin’

Sweet, just like her.

Video by @dunkin

WHO TEAMED UP

Gymshark x Sam Sulek

Because it’s bulking season.

Video by @gymshark

WHO TEAMED UP

Wednesday x Wendys

Drive-thru, but make it emo.

Video by @audreyeatzz

WHO TEAMED UP

Wicked x Everything (Swiffer, Chilis?!)

Defying gravity… in retail.

Video by @popculturebrain

WHO TEAMED UP

William Sonoma x Wishbone Kitchen

Content you can serve up.

Video by @wishbonekitchen

Customer Stats

Our customers absolutely OWNED 2025.

And we couldn’t be more proud. 🥹

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Photo by Arturo Holmes (Getty Images)

Total conversion revenue

$245,659,407

🤳🏻 Creator content delivered

1,543,648

📧 Emails sent

3,261,402

📦 Products sent

458,153

Customer Stats

Why GRIN?

The GRIN platform streamlines workflows to help brands get more done in less time.

More creator content + more products + more communication + more active campaigns = massive revenue growth.

Huge shoutout to all the GRIN power users for an incredible 2025.

Customer Wins

Some of our customer wins this year were just too good not to share…

Unboxed 2025 6

Photo by Arturo Holmes (Getty Images)

Esponjabon boosted sales by more than 120% with GRIN.

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Esponjabon wanted to reignite a passion for their soaps online. They used GRIN to identify the right creators, streamline the entire collaboration process, run creative campaigns, and generate buzz around the world.

In just about 6 months, GRIN helped Esponjabon generate:

12 million+

video views 👁️

1 million+

engagements 💍

1.1 million+

in IMV 💵

Read the full story

“GRIN gives us all of the tools we need to execute national and international influencer marketing campaigns with ease. It has helped us find and recruit amazing talent around the world and communicate with them effectively, no matter what time zone they are in.”

-Amanda Mejia
International Social Media Strategist at Esponjabón

Eternal Water rebuilt its creator program with GRIN.

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Eternal Water knew they needed a better system in place to run influencer marketing. So, they rebuilt its entire creator program, from the ground up, with GRIN as the backbone. And the results speak for themselves.

In the year since teaming up with GRIN, Eternal Water has generated:

53 million+

impressions 👁️

2,000+

pieces of content 🖼️

300+

active creator partnerships 🤝

Read the full story

“Our program wouldn’t work without GRIN. With hundreds of active creators, there’s just no way to manage those relationships or track performance at this scale without it.”

— Audrey Donaldson, Director of Influencers at Eternal Water

Customer Wins

Success stories like these are why we do what we do.

Did you have a huge win this year, too?

Reach out! We’d love to share it with the world.

Share your
GRIN Success Story

Product Releases

By the way, we were pretty busy ourselves this year…

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WE INTRODUCED GIA, HAVE YOU MET?

Your always-on creator marketer

Built directly into GRIN and trained on 10+ years of creator marketing data, Gia helps you:

⚡️ Find the right creators 
⚡️ Automate outreach 
⚡️ Save countless hours  
⚡️ Turn insights into action
  
She’s not here to replace you—she’s here to power your workflow so you can focus on what matters most.

ai creator search image

AFFILIATE MANAGEMENT, SIMPLIFIED

Affiliate Hub

Managing affiliates shouldn’t feel like a full-time job. Our Affiliate Hub gives you everything you need to build, scale, and optimize your program in one place.
  
✔ Assign and track links  
✔ Get real-time reporting  
✔ Customize commissions

No more spreadsheets or guesswork. Just seamless affiliate management.

affiliate dashboard image

NEVER MISS A MOMENT

Social Listening

No more doom-scrolling. With a real-time view of the conversations that matter, you will you never miss a brand mention, hashtag, or even competitor move ever again.

✔ Track tags, hashtags & mentions  
✔ Filter content by relevance  
✔ Monitor sentiment and trends

social listening image

DID YOU JOIN OUR COMMUNITY?

GRIN Community

Hundreds of superstar Influencer Marketers joined GRIN Community and the response was magical.

✨Marketers shared insights
✨Asked smart questions
✨Formed partnerships
✨ Coordinated gifting collabs
✨ Attended Masterclasses
✨ Up-skilled through courses

Want to join? Apply here!

social listening image

YOU ASKED, WE DELIVERED

Audience Reports for TikTok & YouTube

You guys loved our Audience Reports for Instagram, so of course, we had to get you reports for TikTok & YouTube too!
  
🔍 15+ audience data points 
🔍 Smarter creator vetting 
🔍 Deep insights for fast, confident decision-making

Better data. Better partnerships.

audience reports image

WE MET IRL

Events, Events, Events

We hosted IRL our first-ever summit in LA with incredible guest speakers from incredible brands like Fenty, Fabletics, and Colourpop, along with top-tier influencers @stormibree & @meghanqmai. It was magical.

We also hosted intimate Influencer Marketing dinners across the US where no topic was off limits…

And let’s not forget Creator Economy Live, the Influencer Marketing Show, Beauty Connect, and beyond.

We LOVED seeing you all in person.

audience reports image

Product Releases

But the best is yet to come… 👀

We’ve been working on some VERY exciting things that are going to change Influencer Marketing forever.

2026 is going to be our biggest year ever, so stay tuned!

2026 Predictions

🔮

What’s in and what’s out for influencer marketing  in 2026?

Glad you asked.

OUT

One-off deals

IN

Long-term partners

🔒

Repeated exposure to the same creators builds trust, memory, and stronger performance over time. Lock in your fave creators.

OUT

Vanity metrics

IN

Business impact

🤓

Leadership no longer asks “How many people saw this?” They ask “What did this drive?” Aka conversions, revenue, and real influence on the business.

OUT

Celebrity-first

IN

Niche experts

💃

Smaller, niche creators often outperform on relevance, persuasion, and ROI — especially in crowded feeds.

OUT

Demographics

IN

Interests

🚴

Algorithms surface content by topic, not age or gender. Creator discovery should follow the same logic, by interest, not identity alone.

OUT

Post & ghost

IN

Ongoing collabs

👻

Creators prioritize brands that treat them like true partners (not placements) and reward these brands with better content and consistency.

OUT

AI Creators

IN

AI Optimization

🤖

AI scales workflows and creativity, but trust still comes from real humans.

OUT

Demos

IN

DIY

🚀

Modern teams want to move fast. Self-serve tools let marketers explore, test, and get value instantly — no sales call needed…

2025 was incredible and the best is still to come!

Stay tuned! Big news coming from GRIN in 2026.

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