Luxury jewelry brand David Yurman has tackled the sports marketing opportunity through new partnerships with professional basketball stars.
David Yurman’s new partnerships, announced July 9, mark the brand’s first long-term collaborations with NBA players. They include Kyle Kuzma of the Washington Wizards, D’Angelo Russell of the L.A. Lakers, Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, Jaime Jacquez Jr. and Kevin Love of the Miami Heat, Josh Hart of the N.Y. Knicks and Seth Curry of the Charlotte Hornets.
“Our brand focuses a lot on our relentless pursuit of creativity and our commitment to time on our craft,” said Carolyn Dawkin, CMO of David Yurman. “We wanted [to work with] talent who embody the same New York mindset: They’re committed to their craft, always seeing possibilities and pushing toward their goals. And style is embedded in how they approach it.”
The athletes are featured in a three-part docuseries produced by David Yurman and directed by Jeredon O’Conner — the athletes are wearing David Yurman jewelry in the video. Additionally, the athletes will be featured in the brand’s spring and fall campaigns, which will run across its marketing channels.
The series delves into the athletes’ career journeys, their style as a form of self-expression and their passion for basketball. On July 9, the documentary launched on the brand’s website, plus snippets were posted to the brand’s and the athletes’ Instagram accounts.
“We wanted to give the [athletes] the space to speak authentically so that people could see a more personal side of them,” said Dawkin. “This is content they can’t access elsewhere.”
Ensuring connectivity between the athletes’ and David Yurman’s fan bases was also important. “We use different data tools to understand which consumers are interacting with our brand and where the next potential group of consumers is, what they’re engaging with and where that crossover is,” Dawkins said.
The brand’s new partnerships play to the rapidly expanding men’s jewelry market. According to Euromonitor, the men’s luxury fine jewelry market, valued at $7.3 billion in 2023, is growing at an annual rate of 7.3%. It’s outpacing the women’s market, which is seeing 4.6% annual growth. Major retailers including Zales and Kay Jewelers have reported robust growth in men’s jewelry this year owed to evolving preferences and a societal shift towards gender-fluid expression.
NBA stars have long influenced men’s jewelry trends. Players including LeBron James and Kevin Durant have popularized wearing elaborate jewelry, from gold chains to diamond earrings, both on and off the court, including as lucky charms. Allen Iverson, who popularly wore diamond studs and hoops, helped set the trend in the early naughts.
The chosen talent has a history of partnering with fashion brands: Kuzma (4.8 million Instagram followers) has worked with Puma, Fear of God and GOAT, Russell (3.9 Instagram followers) has collaborated with Adidas and Versace, and Green (1.4 million Instagram followers) has partnered with Adidas, streetwear brand Bbc Icecream and nail varnish brand Un/Dn Laqr.
Since its 1980s debut, David Yurman has sold over 1 million units of its popular Cable design. The company, which is privately owned by David and Sybil Yurman, declined to disclose its annual revenue, but a May 2022 Forbes article noted that it was on track to double 2019 sales by the end of 2022. The company also declined to share its investment in the new campaign.
