
GroomYourGram: The Profit-First Influencer Agency Rewriting India's Marketing Playbook
In a space often defined by vanity metrics and unpredictability, GroomYourGram has emerged as a refreshingly grounded and profitable force in influencer marketing. Founded five years ago, this Mumbai-based agency has worked with over 300 brands and powered more than 1,000 campaigns—ranging from beauty and skincare to automobile and finance. With a team of 32 operating out of its Lokhandwala office, GroomYourGram delivers not only scale but results.
A core strength lies in its unparalleled access to India's creator economy. With a curated community of over 400,000 influencers and 10,000+ active campaign participants monthly, GroomYourGram helps brands like Juicy Chemistry, Tira Beauty, Pilgrim, and Dot & Key craft meaningful narratives. On the corporate front, the agency has driven HDFC Bank's LinkedIn growth strategy and supported pharma giants such as Cipla Health and Glenmark in awareness initiatives.
From pioneering Instagram Reels marketing to being among the top 4 agencies for Moj, GroomYourGram has always anticipated trends before they broke mainstream. It has led campaigns with celebrities like Kiara Advani, Janhvi Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh for brands including Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Skoda Kylak, Pepe Jeans, Snitch, and Spykar.
Spearheaded by Palak Tannaa, who commands a LinkedIn audience of over 62,000 professionals, the team combines creative ingenuity with data intelligence. Despite multiple investment offers, the agency continues to be self-funded—prioritizing vision over valuation. As a brand that has been profitable since Day One, GroomYourGram exemplifies what happens when influence meets intention.
What sets the agency apart is its refusal to follow a one-size-fits-all strategy. Each campaign is customized—whether it's for a youth-centric fashion brand like Freakins or a global skincare label entering Tier II cities. Their campaigns aren't just viral—they're valuable.
The agency's model blends strategy with scale. In a world saturated by content, it doesn't just amplify messages—it aligns them with audiences that matter. Fashion clients like Libas, Spykar, and Pepe Jeans see tailored influencer-led storytelling campaigns that go beyond 'likes' and drive brand lift. Healthcare and pharma clients get compliance-ready creativity, while finance brands benefit from thought leadership-led influencer models.
Internally, the company operates like a startup but performs like an enterprise. Its operational agility allows quick campaign turnaround, while its in-house tech stack and talent pipeline ensure scalability without compromise. The company is in the process of rolling out an AI-powered influencer analytics tool to further help brands measure ROI and sentiment in real time.
With its finger firmly on the cultural pulse, GroomYourGram is not just building campaigns—it's building a new marketing DNA for India's digital-first brands. As brands in India increasingly seek partners who can combine storytelling, performance, and trust, GroomYourGram is becoming the agency of choice—not just for creators and companies, but for the future of digital India.
For Business Upturn readers who track growth-focused stories and high-ROI ventures, this isn't just about numbers. It's about sustainable scale, high-value execution, and the future of profitable digital innovation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://www.linkedin.com/in/palak-tannaa-influencermarketingexpert/
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CNBC
an hour ago
- CNBC
After Zuckerberg spent billions on an AI 'dream team,' he has to deliver for Meta shareholders
When Mark Zuckerberg feels the heat, he opens his wallet. The 41-year-old Facebook founder and Meta CEO is on a spending spree like never before in an effort to position his company at the forefront of the artificial intelligence boom and make up for recent costly mistakes in a market that's rapidly revolutionizing the business world. Following last week's stunning $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI, which brought with it Meta's hiring of the startup's founder, Alexandr Wang, and a small group of his top staffers, Meta now plans to hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and his business partner, Daniel Gross, who had been CEO of $32 billion AI startup Safe Superintelligence, CNBC reported this week. Meta previously tried to buy Safe Superintelligence, which was launched a year ago by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, sources told CNBC. According to other sources, Meta had previously been in talks to buy Perplexity AI, which was valued at $14 billion in a funding round in May. The people who spoke to CNBC about the various dealmaking pursuits asked not to be named due to confidentiality. Zuckerberg told investors at the top of the most recent earnings call in April, "The major theme right now, of course, is how AI is transforming everything we do." At the same time, Meta upped its capital expenditures range for the year to between $64 billion and $72 billion from between $60 billion and $65 billion to reflect more data center investments in AI and potentially higher hardware costs. What Zuckerberg didn't say then is that he was about to start shelling out mounds of cash to revamp his AI organization. "Mark Zuckerberg is in founder mode and he's not going to be stopped," said Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, in an interview on Friday with CNBC's "Money Movers." Luria has a buy rating on the stock, but said that to win in AI, Meta needs to be successful with the next round, with the dream team that they're building." At Meta, AI is being embedded across the company, from its core online advertising unit and Instagram algorithms to its effort to build the metaverse. Better AI models and technology enhance the company's existing business, both by improving ad targeting and by bringing down costs. However, the building of fundamental models used by the vast community of developers — where the company competes with Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and others — is where Meta is viewed by many as a laggard. Meta's unique open-source approach is built around the Llama family of models. Its most recent update in April, the Llama 4 AI models, was not well received by developers. At the time, Meta only released two smaller versions of Llama 4 and said it would eventually release a bigger and more powerful "Behemoth" model. "On the heels of a successful rollout of Llama 3 a year ago, Llama 4 that came out this year was an absolute failure, almost by his admission," Luria said, referring to Zuckerberg. "Meta can't afford to fail in having the leading AI model. So they're out in the marketplace desperately trying to replace their AI team right now." Meta didn't respond to a request for comment for this story. Bringing on Scale AI's Wang was Zuckerberg's most headline-grabbing move yet. While Meta is gaining a 49% stake in the startup, Zuckerberg's real prize in the deal was hiring Wang, a dropout from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who started his company at age 19. Zuckerberg then turned his attention to Github's Friedman and Gross, who have been investing together at their venture firm NFDG. They will work on products under Wang, one source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Thursday. Meta, meanwhile, will get a stake in NFDG, according to multiple sources. A Meta spokesperson didn't comment on the planned hires and said the company "will share more about our superintelligence effort and the great people joining this team in the coming weeks." Not all of Zuckerberg's recruits are costing billions of dollars. Some are in the tens or hundreds of millions. That's according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman said on the latest episode of the "Uncapped" podcast, which his brother hosts, that Meta has tried to lure OpenAI employees by offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million, with even larger annual compensation packages. "I've heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor," Altman said on the podcast. "Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things." Meta technology chief Andrew Bosworth told CNBC's "Closing Bell Overtime" on Friday that Altman is countering the offers. "The market is setting a rate here for a level of talent which is really incredible and kind of unprecedented in my 20-year career as a technology executive," said Bosworth, who joined Meta in 2006. Wall Street is mostly giving Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt, for now. Meta shares were flat this week after slipping about 2% last week. Shares are still up 17% for the year, outpacing the Nasdaq and all the company's megacap peers. Analysts at Argus maintained their buy recommendation on the stock this week and lifted their price target to $790 a share from $725 a share. The stock closed on Friday at $682.35. "The company's ability to capitalize on GenAI advances in advertising targeting is a particularly relevant opportunity to drive advertising spending, which is the company's lifeblood," the Argus analysts wrote. D.A. Davidson's Luria said that Zuckerberg has put more pressure on himself to turn Meta into a long-term AI leader, but said he won't bet against him. Luria said: "The last time Mr. Zuckerberg felt like he was under the gun," he snapped up Instagram for $1 billion, a deal that set the stage for Facebook to become a dominant player in mobile. That was in 2012, just as Facebook was about to hit the public market. Luria also highlighted Zuckerberg's controversial $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp two years later. He sees the Meta CEO making an equally bold wager in AI. "He's going to rebuild the team and they're going to come back," Luria said.


Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Dick's Sporting Goods seeks village financial support for Orland Square House of Sports concept store
Dick's Sporting Goods is providing more details about its proposed House of Sports concept store it wants to build in Orland Park, and is telling villlage officials it will need financial help from them to make it work. The chain has a store in the village and is looking to convert the former Sears anchor space at Orland Square shopping center. The House of Sports store, which the chain has opened elsewhere around the country, would be at least twice the size of its existing store in the village. It would feature 'experiential' attractions such as a fenced-in outdoor field, indoor climbing wall and batting cages, a Dick's executive told Orland Park officials. The 200,000-square-foot Sears store, which was an anchor since the mall opened in 1976, closed in spring 2018. Other options, including a multi-screen theater, have been proposed in the past. 'We're really interested in really upping our game here so to speak,' Vincent Corno, senior vice president of real estate for the chain, recently told village trustees. He called House of Sports the chain's 'latest and greatest prototype,' and said the Pittsburgh-based company now has 22 such stores and expects 35 in total by the end of this year. He said the goal is 75 by the end of 2027. 'We're growing fast,' he told trustees. Corno didn't say how much the company would need as far as financial support by Orland Park, although the village is studying creating a tax increment financing district that could aid the project. Corno leads the strategic direction for Dick's real estate and facilities functions across all business lines, including its Golf Galaxy subsidiary. This includes everything from future market development planning to site and lease negotiations, according to the company's website. A typical Dick's location is about 50,000 square feet while House of Sports stores can typically be about 120,000 square feet. The company looks to convert big, empty mall anchors, and has worked with Simon Property Group, Orland Square's owner, on different House of Sports projects, Corno said. House of Sports stores not only boost sales compared with Dick's regular stores, based on square footage, but also support in-line stores in a mall and can attract new tenants to a mall, Corno said. 'These are not inexpensive outlays,' Corno said. He called it a transformational investment and said with purchasing the property and building out the space, a typical House of Sports can cost $40 million or $50 million to complete. While not a new retail concept, experiential shopping has gripped the industry. Things such as a 17,000-square-foot fenced-in field that could be used for soccer and baseball in the spring and summer and hockey in the winter would be planned, Corno said. Inside, a climbing wall and golf driving bays would let customers try out new equipment. Having a House of Sports benefits other tenants in the mall, and attracts new ones, Corno said. He said their customers patronize other mall stores, and the influx of new revenue ultimately flows to the mall's operator. 'All boats are rising with this type of investment,' Corno said. He said the wing of Orland Square where Sears was based has seen tenant vacancies rise since the anchor closed. 'Those mall wings suffer when the anchor is dark,' Corno said. Dick's plans to buy the entire property, including the two-level building which sits on 16 acres, and a vast parking lot. He said the company is working on whether it wants to use both floors or keep House of Sports on the upper level and lease space on the lower level to other tenants. He said it's possible Dick's could use the loading dock and parking lot space on the lower level of the building's east side for the fenced field. 'We're in the very early stage of figuring out what goes where,' Corno said. Dick's looked at trying to reconfigure its store in the Orland Park Place shopping center on La Grange Road south of the mall, but that site didn't work, Corno said. The company also looked at buying land in the village on the south side of 159th Street west of La Grange Road, near Costco, he said. Corno said 'land values were crazy' and that 'we couldn't justify that acquisition.' He said the company, however, wants to see if there is a commitment from the village to help financially before it moves ahead with the House of Sports project. Corno said if the village didn't help financially, Dick's would continue to operate it existing store. He said that should it go ahead with House of Sports, the operator of Orland Park Place would easily be able to fill that space. Trustees said they were supportive of the company's expansion plans. 'This would be a great addition' to the village, Trustee Michael Milani said. 'It looks like a great concept.' 'Experiential retail is where people are heading,' Milani said. Trustee Dina Lawrence called the proposal 'a very compelling business plan.' Orland Park officials are studying the potential creation of a tax increment financing district as an incentive tool for filling the long-vacant Sears store. Trustees passed a resolution in March to allow TIF funds to be used to redevelop the space, at the southeast corner of the mall. TIF money can be used to pay for public improvements as well as incentives for developers. Orland Park is also spending up to $30,000 for adviser SB Friedman to study whether the property, including the adjacent large parking lot, qualifies as a TIF. Factors such as blighted conditions, including declining property values, are considered in determining whether a property or multiple properties qualify as a TIF under Illinois law. The village has said part of the large parking lot hugging the Sears space would need to be used to provide additional stormwater storage for the mall and surrounding properties. TIF funds could be used to pay for that. 'We are at capacity with what we have' now around the mall perimeter, Village Manager George Koczwara, village said at the committee meeting. While Simon owns the in-line store space and common areas, mall anchors own what are called their own pads, including parking. California-based Cubework owns the Sears property, and at one point announced plans to convert the store into a 'co-working mall.' Corno said that Dick's has a tentative handshake deal with Cubework to buy the site. Before Cubework's ownership, plans had been proposed for a 10-screen 45,000-square-foot AMC Theatre along with retailers and restaurant tenants on the upper level of the Sears space. That came before the announcement of the store's closing, and theater plans never came to fruition, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cubework had looked at using the interior space to rent kiosks and pop-up spaces to small businesses, offering short-term leases.


Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Pet hotel dubbed Ritz-Carlton for dogs to open in Deerfield
A luxury hotel is coming to Deerfield and its guests may be among the most exclusive on the North Shore. To start with, they'll need four paws and a tail, and perhaps a well-heeled owner. K9 Resorts, a national pet hotel chain which bills itself as the Ritz-Carlton for dogs, is opening its first Illinois location Monday in Deerfield. The facility features individual suites with high-definition TVs tuned 24/7 to DogTV and Animal Planet, premium shampoos in its bathing salons, antimicrobial play areas, an air purification system and of course, room service. 'We believe in elevating pet care to almost human-grade hospitality, hotel quality,' said Nehme Abouzeid, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Luxury Pet Hotel Investments, a K9 Resorts investor and franchisee launching the Deerfield location. 'We like to say that we're a hotel, and our guests just happen to be dogs.' Located in a former Mexican restaurant on a Home Depot outlot by the Metra station along Lake Cook Road, the Deerfield K9 Resorts underwent a four-month, multimillion dollar buildout to transform into a luxury pet hotel. Out went the kitchens and in went high-end accommodations for hounds that at first glance, might beckon their human companions to check in as well. It has a glitzy lobby adorned with chandeliers, ornate columns, tasteful artwork and a regal front desk. The inviting hotel rooms are numbered, set off by wall sconces, giving the ambience of a high-end resort for people, who of course, are paying the tab for their furry family members. 'I think that the attention to detail that we put into each resort is so obvious that it makes the customer, the two-legged customer, feel good,' said Jason Parker, 38, co-founder and co-CEO of New Jersey-based K9 Resorts. 'The dogs are very happy customers, because they're in a five-star hotel.' Started as teenagers in 2005 by brothers Steven and Jason Parker, K9 Resorts has grown to 45 locations in 28 states, including the new Deerfield pet hotel. Five locations are corporate-owned with the rest franchised. The dog hotel magnates have certainly elevated the traditional boarding experience, from cage-free lodging options and air purification systems to prevent kennel cough to offering individual or group play sessions coordinated by a trained staff of dog concierges and attendants. K9 Resorts doesn't offer potentially stressful activities such as grooming, focusing on amenities that dogs enjoy during their staycations. Allowing them to wind down at the end of the day with a TV in their own rooms is part of the luxury treatment. 'When they're relaxing after a day of doggy day care, and there's nothing better to have them on a very premium dog mattress, relaxing, having their own private space and watching some television,' Parker said. While the privately held K9 Resorts doesn't disclose systemwide revenue, each location generates between $2 million to $3 million per year, Parker told the Tribune. Meanwhile, the chain is poised for significant growth through franchising, driven in large part by Luxury Pet Hotel Investments, a group with extensive human hospitality experience. Last year, Luxury Pet Hotel Investments invested $10 million in K9 Resorts and secured exclusive regional development rights in Illinois and beyond. The investment group is headed by longtime hospitality executive Alan Leibman, former CEO of Kerzner International, which developed the Atlantis resorts. LPHI has raised $53 million in equity and currently operates eight pet hotels, with plans to build 50 more, including up to 11 in Southern California, 13 in Florida and eight in the Chicago area by 2029. Most recently, LPHI opened a K9 Resort near the Los Angeles International Airport in March. Choosing Deerfield for the first Illinois location, the investment group obtained a 10-year lease on the former El Tradicional Mexican Restaurant in July 2024, converting the 6,200-square-foot building to a luxury pet hotel after getting special use approval from the village. The location has housed a succession of restaurants, starting with a Bennigan's at the dawn of the new millennium. Other buildings on the sprawling Home Depot outlot include a Curaleaf cannabis dispensary and an empty McAlister's Deli, which closed its Deerfield location in April. Accommodations at the pet hotel run from $59 a night in the compartment wing of the hotel, bilevel crates with memory foam beds. The executive rooms run $89 per night for 4-by-6-foot enclosures and the top-of-the-line luxury suites are $109 per night. The 8-by-8-foot luxury suites include a premium couch or Kuranda bed. There is no mini-fridge or Wi-Fi, but each of the six luxury suites has its own 32-inch TV for the dog's viewing pleasure. 'We do put on DogTV and Animal Planet for a calming presence,' said Zack Nisbet, executive vice president in charge of the Chicago region for the investment group. In addition to extensive work within the building, the Deerfield K9 Resorts features a walled-in, 2,300-square-foot outdoor play area with artificial antimicrobial grass where diners once sipped margaritas on the restaurant's patio as trains rumbled by on the nearby tracks. While the Home Depot outlot has not necessarily proved fertile ground for restaurants, Nisbet said the high-traffic location should help drive business to the pet hotel. The pet hotel offers both day care and overnight stays, and can accommodate up to 150 dogs, with family multidog stays. It's located just west of a competing facility, The Dog Stop, which is on the other side of the tracks from K9 Resorts. 'The Dog Stop being across the street, actually excited us,' Nisbet said. 'That's proof of demand, proof that there's a lot of dogs in the area. We knew we could provide an upgrade to the region.' Chicago is a key expansion market for K9 Resorts and the investment group, which is currently scouting out potential locations in a number of areas, including Palatine, Libertyville and the city itself, Nisbet said. Nationwide, the luxury pet hotels have opened up in everything from a former Wells Fargo bank branch to a converted CVS pharmacy. One is even housed in a former Old County Buffet, the now defunct all-you-can-eat restaurant chain which closed its last Illinois restaurant five years ago. While most dogs probably would have been very content to stay at an Old Country Buffet without the renovation, after a lengthy multimillion dollar redevelopment in Deerfield, Nisbet said turning a restaurant into a luxury pet hotel would not be his first choice for the second Chicago-area location. 'This definitely was a fixer-upper,' Nisbet said. 'We had to auction off all the old restaurant equipment. I don't know what our best former use would be, but I wouldn't say it's a restaurant.'