Lessons From An Omnichannel Leader

So now we are going to hear from an omnichannel leader. As the CMO of David Yurman, she is helping to steer America's foremost luxury jewelry brands. Please welcome Carolyn Dawkins. Thank you so much for joining us, Carolyn. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for having me. It's great to see a few familiar faces as well. So excited to be here. Of course. So, Carolyn, you became CMO of David Yurman at the beginning of this year. Just to kick us off, can you tell us a little bit about your background and what attracted you to the brand? Sure. I hope that most of you in the room know David Yurman. If not, I'm going to bang on about it for the next 30 minutes. If you don't know about this brand, I mean, when this brand kind of comes knocking, you're like, why not? Like, what an amazing opportunity. I think the thing that excited me the most is, I grew up in consumer packaged goods. So this idea of consumer is the center of everything and really unlocking a brand story. So you can then amplify and evolve those to really pick up the next generation of consumers. I grew up in P&G and Colgate and Kellogg's and then spent a long time at L'Oreal, the masters of innovation and storytelling, and then went across to Google, to really understand the power of digital platforms and data. And I think what's so exciting about David Yurman is this brand is in hyper growth phase. It may not be obvious to everybody in the room, but the growth rates are exceptional. I've worked on a lot of brands and I'm pretty proud of what we're seeing, and I think that means there's still so much opportunity to sharpen who is the consumer, what are the stories that we're telling, and how are we connecting back to culture in order to to fuel that next phase? And I think what's exciting is the organization is so willing to make some exciting and bold moves to achieve that. And I have a pretty amazing team who's here as well. And you mentioned this period of hyper growth, but unlike so many of the other big jewelry brands, David Yurman is still a family-owned business. In what ways do you think it gives it a competitive edge? Yeah, I think, you know, I was talking to someone about this the other day. Because a lot of the brands that I've worked on, it's so hard to eke out the story, like, what is the story and what are the different chapters of this story that I can connect with the consumer? This brand has got more stories than we know what to do with because it's come from two phenomenal artists who are, acclaimed in their own right. It was their creativity, their artistry that led to the birth of this beautiful brand. I think what's beautiful about family-led organizations as well is what birthed this brand continues to drive this brand. This commitment to artistry, this commitment to creativity, this beautiful quality and the craftsmanship is just still kind of the bedrock. And I think what's exciting is today's consumer is voting for that. They want more of this longevity, they want more of this timelessness. So whatever is sitting in your roots, really finding the way to pull that through is so important because consumers want something that has longevity and something that they can believe in. And when I spoke to you earlier and I said, how are things going at David Yurman, you said we are killing it. So, I would love it if you can just talk to us about some of those strategies that you have in place to really build brand love and keep loyal customers engaged and on board. Yeah. So I think like most luxury brands, your loyal consumers are the lifeblood of the organization and they are so important to foster. I think one of the things that's beautiful and unique about, maybe it's our category or it is very specific to our brand. Every time I ask someone, "Do you know, David Yurman?" "Oh yeah, I got this when I turned 30" or "my mother bought this for me." We're a brand where our loyal consumers act almost as brand ambassadors with their friends and family. They bring in this next generation all on their own through these moments of significance. So whether it's a bar mitzvah or a birthday or a first paycheck, etc., we see our loyal consumers doing so much of that work for us. So we actually foster that quite a lot. So I think understanding who your loyal consumers are and how you can kind of use them as brand ambassadors is kind of a really important thing that we focus on. The other piece for us is because our founders are so focused on relationships, they know a lot of our VIC clients by name. That's kind of permeated how we run our loyalty strategy. So we are very focused on high touch, hyper-personalized. So whether it's personalized outreach, whether it's the gifting, whether it's the events, that intimacy that's unique to our brand really bleeds throughout all of those programs as well. You'll see a lot more of that from us next year. I think some of the other things that we do that foster loyalty is we have a really strong philanthropic background in our brand, and unlike other brands where it sits at a very kind of macro global level, it all sits at a community grassroots level for us. So we are actually doing it store by store, geo by geo. So we're tapping into what that community cares about most and so we see that's another way to foster relationships with that loyal consumer. And you mentioned the VICs. I'm just wondering how you define who your very important customers are. The usual, how much do they spend? Okay, and I know when you were at Clinique, you were behind their 'Metaverse Like Us' campaign. So I'd love to know what you're doing at David Yurman to really tap into that new generation of consumers. Yeah, I think like most of you who are working on brands today, I mean we know right, like demographic targeting is no longer the win. And I think what we've found is we've tapped into identifying segments. So we look at customer cohorts. Even inside of different demographic chunks, we are now very much focused on who is that cohort? What matters to them inside of the category, but more importantly outside of the category? Because our product moves in and outside of our category. So really getting sharp on who they are and then how are you prioritizing those. So that was number one. Number two was, we know that our consumers, they're looking for these timeless products and timeless designs, particularly in luxury. They want something that they can invest in. And so one of the most timeless icons that we have in our portfolio is the cable motif. So we've really focused on how do we evolve that motif to attract that next generation of consumers? How do we use that to keep telling the consumer this is something that we believe in and it will have you know, it will have the testament of time? But how do we tell it in a way that really engages that next consumer? So I hope you've seen our sculpted cable campaign with Sofia Richie. I'm seeing some nods. That's good. So that was a really big focus and it's a very different go-to-market model than what we've done in past. I think one of the other things we do a lot is we've also got a panel of talent that sit underneath that, that's once again really correlated to those cohorts. So we leverage that panel of talent across a number of different tiers, whether it's on Instagram, whether it's on TikTok and/or across site email, etc.. So we kind of migrate those through the brand. I think the other thing is like every other brand, we are very hot on TikTok and we've been moving, but I think we're about to just pour all the gasoline on and light it up. So that's pretty exciting. So just to pick up on your latest campaign with Sofia Richie, what was the thinking behind that? Because it's a quite a surprising move for the brands and how has it performed? Yeah, so I think the first thing was, obviously starting with a really clear objective: what are we trying to achieve here? And I think we know that cable is such a strong performer. It's such an icon for our business. But like any icon, you have to keep them fresh. You have to keep them relevant. You have to keep them current without divorcing the history. You've got to balance the two. So we knew that we needed to attract the next generation in and we needed to show that we have evolved this design to feel more contemporary and to feel more connected to how consumers are wearing jewelry today. It's a little more refined. It's a little bit more effortless. It's something that you can wear at multiple moments throughout the day and you can pair it with multiple other brands that we know consumers are wearing. It's a little bit more fluid than maybe some of our other cable expressions had been. So that was kind of number one. How do we tell this new consumer that we've got them? We understand them with this new design. The second piece is where do consumers go? This consumer that we were looking for, where do they go to be influenced? We know the number one and the number two search engines for what to wear, you know, how to style something, it's Instagram and TikTok. So if that's the case, we had to be really specific around, well listen what talent would resonate with them. And there was no one that dominates style on TikTok or Instagram more than Sofia. So Sofia Richie Grainge was, you know, a phenomenal choice because, yes, she is the definition of style to the majority of female consumers, particularly that within our targets. But she's also super authentic and she has this unique charm or this genuine charm that also it allowed us to tell some of our relaxed American luxury codes in the background. So I think that was really powerful. I think the other piece that we know today is just putting a campaign out there, will only go so far. And I think we had a really robust 360 strategy around this. In order for your paid media to work hard, your earned media better work even harder. So we were very focused on how do we win press? So we had a lot of activations with very different press platforms as well. So yes, we had the normal press platforms that we normally work with, but we were out there pushing in business platforms as well. Different cultural platforms to win owned media there. The other piece was we partnered with an enormous volume of influencers, both just at the launch of the campaign, but then we also ran a really interesting event. We all know event marketing doesn't do much, but the content sure does. So we were really focused on extracting as much content as we could pre, during, and post the event. And that event content actually became really powerful ads for the brand as well. So, through this campaign we've had four of our top performing assets of all time since the brand's kind of birth through this campaign and you'll see they're actually a mix of yes, some of them are our ads, but a lot of them are content that you would never have expected to be ads. So those were the ones that that we were boosting and then continued to live on, both on-handle and off-handle. Wow, that's incredible. You talked there about the importance of Instagram and TikTok and really doubling down on those platforms. So I'd love to know how you strike that balance between your bricks-and-mortar stores, e-commerce and those social channels? How are you creating a frictionless customer experience? Yeah, I think they work so well together. I think we see different things and I'm sure like most other brands, it's not really different. We are able to recruit an enormous amount of consumers through e-comm. It just continues to be a flagship destination for new consumers, both to learn about the brand and to bring them in. So we are constantly in an evolution and you will see some beautiful things coming, but we are evolving our site to be very focused on that consumer. How do we welcome a new consumer into the brand? And I don't know if we're always as focused, I know maybe I haven't been, on what is the core purpose of your e-comm platform? I think the exciting thing is, I have e-comm in my team as well, which is great. I don't need to influence as many people, maybe as I had in past. I think the other thing we know, though, is there's a really unique relationship where consumers move between e-comm and retail. So they have to be set up to do that. You'd fundamentally want to push consumers both ways. So we do that very deliberately, whether it's through our CRM strategies, whether it's through our clienteling strategies. I think the other piece is, 360 is everything, right? Like whatever is happening in-store is happening on site and the other way as well. I'm curious to know how your role as CMO has changed, particularly over the last couple of years. So what are you prioritizing at the moment and what are your biggest challenges? What's keeping you awake at night? Yeah, I'm sure most of you feel the same, but I think as CMO, the role just continues to evolve, even as marketers. Like, what continues to come under our purview, just continues to span. And it gets bigger and bigger and more complex. What I find as a result is that multiple leaders in the organization will push different initiatives towards my team. And I think the biggest thing that I focus on with my team is "Fewer, Bigger." Like what are the key things that will have the biggest initiatives? Who are those critical consumers that we need to win? How do we acquire them and how do we retain them? That is number one. And so then I spend a lot of time with my team focusing on how do I galvanize the magic of my entire team around those big moments? How do we ensure that we are really winning those big moments, and we are focusing on those and we're getting the results that we said we would get against those big moments? Because that gives us more… ammunition is not the right word, but it gives us more validation to the organization to say, "Listen, these are our big bets. These are why we're behind these". And it helps us kind of put up a bit of an umbrella to bounce off a lot of the smaller initiatives. I don't know about you guys, but they come at us all day, every day, so how do you balance more of those? I think one of the other things is this idea of agility versus long-term planning. I think I've worked in such big organizations that are so process-oriented and they're very slow sometimes as a result. There's amazing things to process, but it has slowed new thinking down a lot. David Yurman is one of the most agile organizations I've ever worked for and it is so fresh and inspiring. I mean, this Sofia campaign, if I told you the number of months it took to get this to market it will, I don't know, curl your eyelashes. It was something that wouldn't have been able to have been done in other organizations. So protecting the teams' ability to have that agility is so important because it means that you will catch cultural moments or you will catch critical strategic initiatives with the right answer in the right moment. But you also have to offset that, right? Like you have to find the right balance between long-term planning because too much agility can also burnout the team. So that's another piece, now that I have the magic of agility, I've got to try and find the right balance. I think the third thing for me, early on in my career, I was like, I'm too busy to network. I'm too busy to meet anyone. I've got too much work to do. It'll be better if I focused on the work. I spend more time interacting with peers or thought leaders than I ever have before. And it helps so much. It helps unlock answers to problems that you might have. I tapped into, there's a couple of CMOs that are here today, that when I have a problem like, "Hey, have you had this problem before?" or "How do you think about it?" It's so helpful to have that network of peers that are not inside of your organization because the difference in thinking is so rich and just different thought leadership events. I went to an amazing breakfast yesterday and we think we know what we're doing with measurement and this just completely changed everything. And I think as CMOs, you have to stay so hungry and so willing to keep changing yourself and your own patterns and your own beliefs and your own methods, because I think that's what keeps you at the forefront of the evolution. So it's exhausting, but I'm finding that it's helping me. So I have to ask you, how many months did it take you to get the Sofia Richie campaign to market? We all want to know. Is it true if I said five? Three? Three, three, three. There you go. Three. Very agile. How do you make sure that your team stays innovative and agile? I know you've spoken before about acting with audacity. What do you mean by that? Yeah, I think the first thing is getting the right team. I know we've heard this so many times before, but really defining and structuring your team in the best way and then ensuring that you have talent that have so much diversity of expertise and experience. I also really push for the team to challenge the status quo, like whatever we know and like this idea of like we've done it this way before, you need that. You need that in a couple of places, but really disrupting yourself so that competitors don't disrupt you is really important. I think, having a hunger for the data, having a hunger for the insights and pulling that through the business, like looking for those springboards or those big moonshots, is something that I push on a lot and make sure that you have the right team to do that. I think the second thing is just creating this culture of ideas can come from anywhere and giving space to multiple ideas and ideas that come from anywhere and saying, "yeah, let's try that". So as a result, we do a lot of A/B testing, a ton. Because we might debate and we might discuss, and listen we sometimes overthink things that it's fine to put it up. It's fine to put it up on the platform. So sometimes if I work with founders who are very particular about the brand, I get it. And every few times I'm like, "Look, guys, let's just run it." Like, let's just run it and let's just see like what's the worst that could happen? And then we get learnings, right? And most of the time it's great. It works super well and it allows us to push a little harder next time. So these are the two areas I focus on. Yeah, so really creating that test and learn culture. So give us a glimpse into the future. What can we expect next in marketing from David Yurman? Lots! I think you'll see a lot more exposure for the brand in '24. We're turning the dial up in a lot of places. You'll see a lot more culture, connectivity from the brand. We have been a brand that's been really deeply embedded in creative culture and I think you'll see that come back to the forefront, but also culture of how consumers wear us and where they take us into culture. You'll see our brand story is really coming to life. So whether that's content, whether that's experiential across all platforms. So really immersing the consumer and the uniqueness that are those stories. And listen, I'd love you to be a VIC customer because if you were one of those, we've got even more exciting platforms coming through as well. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Carolyn. I would love to open this up to the room. You talked about the power of networking and mingling with your peers. Do any of you have questions for Carolyn, just put your hands up and someone with a mic will come to you. Hi, I'm Sarah Jameel. I actually just graduated from the JD MBA program at Northwestern and I'm in the process of starting my own brand and I'm just wondering how you're leveraging AI in your marketing strategy. Yeah, I think we've all been using AI for a while. It's sitting obviously in the backbone of a lot of the platforms that we work with, you know, whether it's Google or Meta. So I think there's only more that will come there. I think the place that we're most interested in is generative AI. I think that there's so much opportunity for content. When you think about personalization across site, across email, there's so much more that can be done there. So that's that's an area that we're focusing on. I think also when you think about high-touch, highly personalized experiences, if you think about how are you interacting with different components of the site? That's another place that AI can play a really magical role for a brand. So there's a couple of early spaces but some of it we're already doing. Do you view AI as an opportunity or threat? it would be crazy to call it a threat. It would. I mean, we would be completely Luddites, I sat on a panel recently with people debating them, like how is this even a debate? It's happening and it's been happening, it's been here, it's fun. It is the backbone of how Google runs search and how, you know, the targeting works and the algorithms on the platform. I mean, TikTok. That is exactly, you know, there's so much of it that's happening already. It's just I think there's so much more advancement, so, yeah, I think it's about finding the right ways in for your brand. Do you think it's also around educating consumers because a lot of them feel threatened by AI and think it's going to negatively impact the shopping experience, not being aware that actually it's already part of it? Maybe, but I think that may be complexifying it for the consumer. I think, you know, I worked at a Clinique for a long time and we had a beautiful experience across our mobile site where you could scan and diagnose your skin, but you could also see the results of the skincare on your skin. So if you use this product for 12 weeks, you could see the results, like that's fundamentally running, yes, it's a bit of machine learning, there was a bit of AI, and it was augmented reality. Consumers found this so beneficial because it took away a need to step into a doctor's office. So I think as long as you're solving a consumer challenge, I just I think it's been there for so long, I don't know if it's just a media cycle. I'm not sure. Hi there. Mercedes Salisbury, I work for a premium plus spirit company, so really excited to hear what other premium luxury brands are doing in the space. You talked a little bit about your VIC clients. That's also something that we are very interested in for my industry. So could you talk to us a little bit more about how you're personalizing those experiences and really thinking about those gifting moments throughout the consumer's journey? Yes, and because we're a private company we always have to be careful about how much I can share. I think that if you come back to the sentiment around customers as cohorts, we think a lot like that. There's there's no such thing… we have a really big male jewelry business. It's huge. Like we are the leader in men's jewelry. Not a lot of people know that about us. So that means we have such a variation of male consumers in the business and a variation of VIC. So we look at them and we look at them as cohorts. And so then we build unique events that are relevant to each of those cohorts. So that's one example. Thinking through their interests outside of the category and in the category is something that's really important to us. Wonderful. Thank you so much for your time, Carolyn. It's been such a pleasure chatting to you.