Hi, I'm David
I've spent my career where luxury meets digital. I started at Google, in the advertising division, and later moved into teaching. Today I'm a professor of luxury marketing at NYU. Before that I taught the same subject at HEC Paris and Institut Français de la Mode, and lectured at Columbia. I'm a born and raised Parisian, now living in New York.
I'm also the founder and CEO of Submarine.ai, a marketing intelligence platform that tracks how thousands of brands perform on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Luxury and beauty brands use it to see exactly where they stand against their competitors. It's also the engine behind a lot of what I write here: when I tell you a trend is real, it's usually because I can see it in the numbers.
What this newsletter is
What The Luxe is a briefing on luxury, beauty and fashion marketing. One email, no fluff, written for people who do this work: CMOs, CDOs, brand and digital leads. More than 4,700 of them read it.
Each issue covers what actually moved in the industry, why it matters and what I'd do about it. Premium members also get Special Reports, longer deep dives on one topic at a time. You can see the full list here.
Why I write it
There's a line I love from The Leopard: everything has to change so that nothing changes. That's luxury and digital in one sentence. The codes stay, the channels don't. Luxury brands need marketers who understand both, and there are still far too few of them.
This newsletter is my contribution to fixing that. If you work in or around luxury, it will make you sharper. That's the whole promise.
Prefer video?
I also make short videos on the same topics: breakdowns of what luxury brands get right and wrong, trends worth acting on, campaigns worth studying. Find them on the What The Luxe YouTube channel.
Interviews
I also get invited on other people's shows to talk about luxury, AI and data. A few conversations worth your time:
Some Future Day
How AI impacts the luxury fashion industry
A full hour with Marc Beckman on which maisons are ready for AI, and what the ones that aren't should build first.
Some Future Day
My first fully robotic massage
Four minutes on what happens when the hands doing the kneading belong to a machine.
Beyond Luxury
AI as a tool that sharpens creativity
With Carlota Rodben, who wrote the book on where high-end brands are heading.
Beyond Luxury
A practical guide to generative AI for creative teams
Second round with Carlota Rodben, this one about tools and daily process.
Marketing Square, in French
The three anti-laws of luxury marketing
Kapferer's rules, applied to brands that have to sell something this quarter. With Caroline Mignaux.
Marketing Square, in French
What Web3 changes for brands and creators
Tokens, communities, and the part most brands got wrong on the first try.
Marketing Square, in French
Five Web3 opportunities for luxury, with examples
The follow-up episode: what a maison can build, and who already built it.
The AI Drop
Why AI startups are bad at marketing
Plus the question everyone in the room wanted answered: can one person build a billion-dollar company?
Le Tech Show, in French
The geekiest luxury brand
Four minutes with Taig Khris for European Digital Group. I stand by my answer.
Get in touch
Reply to any issue, it lands in my inbox. You can also find me on X and LinkedIn, or email info@what-the-luxe.com.