How AI is quietly rewriting the rules of luxury advertising

November 3, 2025

AI is transforming advertising and marketing, thus impacting luxury retail. Image: Shutterstock

Luxury has always lived in the details. The quilted leather of a Chanel bag, the smooth clasp of a Cartier bracelet, the embossed initials on a Louis Vuitton trunk. But online, those details rarely translate. What once felt crafted becomes flat and transactional.

Somewhere in between the retail boutique and the web browser, luxury loses a bit of its luster.

You might not think of luxury as a leader in innovation, but it should be. Few industries understand intentionality such as this one, where every stitch, setting and story serves a purpose. And as AI reshapes how people discover and decide, that same technology can be used to extend the human touch that defines luxury at its best.

To explore how, I sat down with Purva Gupta, cofounder/CEO of Lily AI, a company that helps brands bridge the gap between how retailers describe their products and how people actually search for them. We discussed why luxury is perfectly positioned to lead the next wave of innovation in the retail space.

Purva Gupta

Luxury brands are known for controlling every detail of their brand story. In a world where AI is shaping how people find and evaluate products, how can it complement that level of intentionality?

Luxury is built on craftsmanship, the pursuit of perfection. AI gives brands new ways to apply that same level of care to the digital experience. It helps them understand what the customer wants and the emotion behind it, then shape discovery around that intent.

If someone searches for a dress to wear to a summer wedding in Cannes, AI can recognize the mood and setting, surfacing perfectly relevant and inspirational options that feel as bespoke as a boutique experience.

What do marketers often misunderstand about AI’s role in discovery, especially for premium or niche products?

We often think of AI discovery as ChatGPT or Gemini, but that’s only part of the story. Paid search, social and retail media are all powered by AI now.

The real question is, how do we use those systems more intentionally? Too often, marketers “set it and forget it.” The smarter approach is optimizing every signal, every word, attribute and phrase to help consumers find what they love and, hopefully, what they’ll actually buy.

Today’s luxury consumer has higher expectations than ever. Where do you think brands are underestimating them?

Consumers expect context. They know these systems can understand nuance, so when a luxury experience online feels thin or generic, it breaks the spell. And that’s where luxury actually has an advantage: smaller catalogs mean brands can go deeper. They can personalize more precisely, experiment faster, and involve their creative teams in shaping truly bespoke digital experiences.

You’ve described a shift from “automated” to “intelligent” advertising. What does that mean in practice?

It’s what I call metadata marketing, continuously optimizing how a product is described, discovered and understood across every channel.

In luxury, that precision matters even more. Every detail, from the color, texture, and silhouette to the mood itself, has to align with how people actually search and what they mean when they do. You can’t do that manually anymore. AI makes it possible to maintain that level of care and consistency at scale.

How is AI changing the pre-purchase phase before someone even reaches a brand’s site?

AI has completely redefined the pre-purchase phase. Before someone ever lands on a brand’s site, they’re asking natural language questions like, “Which Hermès sandals are most comfortable?” or “Is Coach’s City Tote too formal to use for summer events?” That’s the new digital associate. It’s where preference and intent start to form.

For brands, that means every product needs to be able to answer those questions. Your descriptions, attributes and imagery have to be complete, consistent and structured so AI tools can interpret them. It’s almost impossible to hide bad or incomplete data now. If your product content isn’t clear, current or helpful, you simply don’t show up.

For luxury brands, this is the new white-glove moment. The opportunity is to make even those early search interactions feel curated and thoughtful, ultimately delivering an extension of the brand experience.

You’ve talked about bringing creatives into the process. Why is that important?

Creativity has always been luxury’s advantage. These brands know how to tell stories, build emotion, and make people feel special. That’s what sets them apart, and it’s exactly why luxury should be leading the conversation around AI.

When creative teams work alongside technologists, you get digital experiences that feel intentional. But the key is to start with the problem, not the tool. Don’t adopt AI for the sake of it – use it to solve something that actually improves the customer experience. We all know this to be sage advice, of course, yet too often, leaders forget and can be distracted by the shiny object syndrome.

That’s why it’s important to return to first principles, solving real problems with purpose, not chasing novelty. Luxury is built for this kind of thinking.

Smaller catalogs, more curated assortments and strong creative direction make it easier to experiment, refine and scale what works. AI can take care of the scale, but creativity gives it soul. That balance of art and science is where luxury has the chance to lead and where the industry as a whole can learn.

How can luxury leverage AI to build trust rather than erode it?

Trust comes from accuracy and transparency. The moment an experience feels off with the wrong recommendation or the wrong tone, the consumer pulls back.

AI can build trust by ensuring that what’s shown is relevant, consistent and aligned with the brand’s promise. When used thoughtfully, AI should be invisible. It’s not the focus – it’s simply the reason every interaction feels effortless.

What’s next? How do you see AI reshaping luxury marketing in the next few years?

The biggest shift will be in relevance.

Discovery will become feedless, no endless scrolling or guessing. The systems will surface exactly what aligns with a shopper’s intent, style and occasion context.

The brands that control their own product content and language will be the ones who show up. That’s why we tell our partners: own your data, own your destiny.

Luxury has always been about mastery, knowing exactly what to elevate and what to hold back. Now, that mastery shapes how your products appear across every digital touchpoint.

Mack McKelvey

Mack McKelvey is founder/CEO of SalientMG, a Grand Isle, VT-based marketing agency for business-to-business tech companies. Reach her at [email protected].

Hear Purva Gupta, cofounder/CEO of Lily AI, speak at Luxury Roundtable’s AI in Luxury Summit in New York on Thursday, Jan. 15. Click or tap here to see the agenda. Join us!

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