David Yurman in motion: How Emplifi helped reimagine luxury for a social-first world

Moving beyond the old luxury formula

For years, David Yurman relied on high-gloss visuals and curated campaign imagery to express its elevated brand. But across the luxury category, engagement rates on Instagram and TikTok were among the lowest in any industry. Consumers were signaling a desire for something more personal: behind-the-scenes stories, relatable content, and a touch of spontaneity.

Shifting in that direction was an exciting opportunity for a founder-led brand rooted in heritage and craftsmanship to connect with a new generation of luxury enthusiasts.. The social team needed to prove that creativity could coexist with measurable business impact. During peak retail seasons, they posted multiple times a day while juggling two expectations: maintain an aspirational image and create content that felt approachable and human.

The challenge wasn’t creativity, it was clarity, insight, and the ability to act on data rather than instinct.

Emplifi as the Intelligent Copilot

When the team adopted Emplifi, it quickly became their central hub for publishing, reporting, and insight. Custom dashboards gave them a fast, visual way to track performance around key retail moments like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and the holidays, clearly showing what worked, what didn’t, and where to optimize.

“Customizing our dashboards is my bread and butter,” said Ariana, “Reporting really is our backbone.”

Each campaign briefing and creative ideation cycle now starts with Emplifi data, turning analytics into action instead of guesswork.

AI summarization added another layer of efficiency, helping the team surface insights faster and communicate them clearly.

“It helps us get insights faster, saving roughly 50% of the time we’d normally spend drafting summaries manually when sharing quick listening recaps with leadership or creative partners.”

With Emplifi powering their workflow, the team can blend luxury polish with social-native storytelling, running high-end campaign visuals alongside lo-fi, personal content designed specifically for social. Listening and AI insights complete the loop, helping them react faster to audience signals and understand the why behind each trend.

“If I’m seeing the same keywords pop up, that’s huge,” Ariana said. “The AI summarization tells me whether it’s a care issue or a content issue, so we can answer the need instead of guessing.”

Market leadership through authentic connection

With Emplifi as its foundation, David Yurman achieved measurable gains in agility, creativity, and performance. The brand reached the number one engagement rate, like rate, and comment rate across its competitive set, and ranked second in follower growth, proving that luxury can stay elevated while feeling connected and real.

The social team now operates with both creative confidence and strategic clarity, blending aspirational imagery with social-first storytelling that feels personal and emotionally relevant.

“It’s all about making things feel new and exciting while still honoring the brand,” Ariana said. “Emplifi helps us do that—and helps us prove the impact behind it.”