Hidden Gems: Meet Dawn Moore of Moore About

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dawn Moore.

Dawn, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Ohhh… where to even begin? Well, let’s say marketing was the natural outcome of a decades-long career actually selling things to people they don’t really need.

Growing up, I thought it would be so chic to be a fashion buyer, go to Paris, sit in the front rows with greyhound-esque models prancing past me. So, I skipped college and went straight to the sales floor of a legendary luxury retailer (that is now gone and no one remembers; Bullocks Wilshire) allowing me to truly understand how to handle discerning clients with wealthy tastes.

Over the next 35 years I headed up heritage brands including Harry Winston, Chopard, Mikimoto and Christofle, changing up their relevance through leadership, marketing, and business development. To say it was an excellent education in human behavior would be an understatement. Luxury, in particular, teaches you very quickly that people rarely buy the thing they think they want; they’re buying what they think other people think is acceptable.

As anyone who’s been in corporate retail knows, it is soul sucking. The natural next evolution was Moore About Marketing, which gave me the chance to take everything I had learned about positioning, customer psychology, relationships, reputation and the occasional spectacularly expensive mistake (like losing a diamond earring during a showing to Russell Crowe), and apply it to smaller businesses.

Today my work as a fractional CMO and marketing strategist for design, luxury and founder-led brands. is endlessly sparking my creative side. My job is usually to walk into a business with a lot of good things happening (and some not so great), figure out why nobody can quite explain them clearly, and build a marketing strategy that makes the whole thing make sense.
I’ve worked with interior designers, architects, retailers, artists, authors, luxury travel companies and product brands. The industries change, but the underlying problem is remarkably consistent: smart people are often far too close to their own businesses to see what is actually interesting about them.

At this point in my career, experience is less about having “seen it all” — although there’s that — and more about knowing which problems are genuinely important, which ones are distractions, and when everyone in the room is making something much more complicated than it needs to be.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Dear LORD. Anyone who says, “Oh yes, it’s been a breeze,” is both full of BS and probably not someone I’d want to work with.

You learn very little from the wins. It’s the hiccups, frustrations, firings, lost clients and lost revenue that make you a savvier business person — assuming you’re willing to do the post-mortem and dissect what actually happened.

Over the years, client expectations have changed, and so has corporate culture. I don’t love making sweeping generational pronouncements, but the reality is that people communicate differently now, expectations are different, and understanding an internal culture quickly enough is part of the job – everyone’s job.

A particularly annoying lesson came when I was unceremoniously dismissed from a corporate position while simultaneously being handed a bonus check for exceeding my sales goals. That is a fairly efficient way to understand that business decisions are not always personal, logical, or remotely sentimental. Sometimes total company sales are down, expenses need to be cut, and you become the line item.

Moments like that force introspection. AKA… “WTF am I doing?”

Over the long haul, though, those experiences clarify things. It became very obvious that my moment had come to steer my own ship, build something on my own terms, and use everything I’d learned — including, well especially, the drama.

And here we are.

We’ve been impressed with Moore About , but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Moore About Marketing is, at its core, a strategy business.

I work primarily with luxury, design and founder-led brands that have reached the point where “doing more marketing” is no longer the answer. They have all the stuff… a stagnant website, cursory social media, aging email lists, maybe a publicist, and a lot of tasks — but not always a clear point of view of how to move forward.

That is generally where I come in.

As a fractional CMO and marketing strategist, I pinpoint what a business is actually selling, who they are really talking to, why anyone should care, and which marketing efforts are worth the time and money. Then I make sure the execution actually reflects the strategy on every level.

My background in luxury retail means I tend to approach marketing from the customer outward, not the platform inward. I’m less interested in chasing whatever everyone is currently doing and much more interested in understanding behavior, desire, reputation, relationships and the psychology behind a purchase. Frankly, the psychology of it is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

I’m also known for being fairly direct. My brother-in-law used to say if you want to know the truth about something, ask Dawn. I mean, diplomacy allows people to hear you, but dancing around an issue is a waste of everyone’s time. I don’t believe clients are helped by hearing that every idea is wonderful. Sometimes the best marketing decision is to stop doing something. Sometimes the website isn’t the problem. Sometimes Instagram isn’t the problem. Sometimes nobody has clearly articulated why the business is interesting in the first place.

Honestly, what I’m most proud of is that Moore About Marketing is not formulaic. I work across interiors, architecture, retail, art, travel, hospitality and luxury products, and I like that each business requires a different answer. The strategy should fit the company, and coming up with those unique solutions makes my brain spark.

At this stage, I’m not trying to build the biggest agency in the room. I’m the person an overwhelmed business owner (with a dry sense of humor) calls when they need clarity, judgment, ideas, and someone who is willing to say, “No, that’s probably not where you should spend the money.” And I’m just fun to work with!

What was your favorite childhood memory?
Oh, simple. When I was little, my father would take me to Disneyland every year for my birthday — just the two of us.

He was something of a big kid himself and had a way of making almost anything fun, even eating the dreaded tomato slices. But on those birthday trips, he understood anticipation. More than 30 minutes away, he’d start teasing me: “Do you see the Matterhorn yet?”

Of course I didn’t. Not for ages.

But he kept it going, and by the time we finally got close enough for the tip of the Matterhorn to appear in the distance, I’d be beside myself yelling, “I see it! I see it!”

And that was how the entire day would go.

Looking back, I think what I remember most is that he knew how to make the journey part of the experience. He could make waiting feel exciting.

He was the best.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mooreabout.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mooreabout/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dawn.moore.9461
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn4mooreabout/

Image Credits
Meghan Beierle-O’Brien: Images 1, 3, 5
Elio Tolot: Images 2, 4, 6