DARLING 

A woman smiling outdoors with green trees and sunlight in the background, wearing a blue striped shirt.

STRATEGIES

ARIELLE KOUFFMAN

Brand & Growth Strategist

Hi, I’m Arielle Kouffman — a brand & growth strategist for consumer brands ready to scale profitably.

I unite brand, product innovation, subscriptions, retail, Amazon, and DTC into one growth system. With the scrappiness of a startup and the discipline of a Fortune 500 marketer, I know which levers to pull—and when—to drive revenue, retention, and lasting brand impact, without losing the heart that makes your brand a darling.

Agencies --> Grow your Bench
Founders --> Grow your Brand

It all started with bees. When my backyard honey didn’t sell, I redesigned the label, rewrote the story, and unknowingly ran my first brand refresh. That spark led to an MBA and a pivot into marketing.

I started my post-MBA career at Clorox, first in sales analytics, then in brand management — where I led cross-functional teams, managed P&Ls, and launched national campaigns — including Clorox Wipes during COVID, the brand’s first compostable wipe, and Kingsford’s challenger strategy on Reddit. At The Washington Post, I overhauled the subscription go-to-market strategy during the election cycle, driving acquisition and retention with a new messaging framework.

Today, I run Darling Strategies — a brand and growth consultancy. I partner with companies like Brita, Burt’s Bees, Fresh Step, and Lata Shop to build brands, unlock growth, and turn ideas into impact.

MY JOURNEY


From backyard honey to household names, I bring the structured discipline of classical brand management — paired with the scrappy, test-and-learn mindset of a founder. My career spans brand, retail dynamics, performance marketing, DTC, and subscriptions, giving me a cross-functional view and a full-funnel lens — from insight to positioning, pricing to go-to-market, acquisition to retention.

I’m a growth generalist with a systems mindset. I’ve scaled legacy brands and built challenger ones, always balancing brand love with business results. I’m as comfortable digging into data as I am trusting a strong consumer gut. Across it all, I bring the same mindset I had with that first jar of honey: stay curious, turn insight into action, and find the lever that unlocks growth.

MY VALUE ADD

Problems I Solve

Fragmented Growth

Channels and agencies work in silos. Campaigns, media, and pulse periods create activity but don’t ladder up to a repeatable growth model.

Weak Brand & Product Foundations

Positioning isn’t sharp enough to fuel growth or innovation. Launches happen ad hoc, without a systematic process.

Disconnected Revenue Streams

Retail, DTC, and subscriptions operate in isolation, leaking revenue at key funnel moments across acquisition, engagement and retention.

Brands I’ve partnered with

Clorox logo with red, blue, and yellow diamond shape background
Burt's Bees logo with red text on a yellow background.
Close-up of Clorox Scentiva product label showing the Clorox logo and product name.
BRITA logo with water droplet icon
The word 'data' written in white lowercase letters with a stylized font on a black background.
Logo for Fresh Step cat litter with blue shield and yellow border.
Logo of The Washington Post newspaper.
Camp Chef logo with a flame over a fire pit and red and black text
King Ford logo with blue text on a white background, outlined in red and blue.
Estée Lauder logo with a stylized 'E' and 'L' in a square, gold and navy colors.

My Areas of Expertise

  • A woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a gray sweater and carrying a black shoulder bag, standing in front of grocery store shelves stocked with canned soup and other canned goods.

    Brand Strategy & Messaging

    Clarify your edge. Cut through the noise.

  • A person holding a brown subscription box wrapped with a string, labeled "Subscription Box" on a purple and white paper.

    DTC & Subscription Strategy

    Make it sticky. Make it scale.

    Not sure where to start?
    Take the Subscription Maturity Quiz

  • Aisle in a grocery store with shelves stocked with chocolate, sweets, biscuits, cereal bars, and other snacks, and a sign overhead indicating aisle 16.

    Product Innovation & Sell In Strategy

    Launch with purpose. Win at retail.

  • Young green seedlings sprouting in a tray of dark soil, placed on a wooden surface.

    Revenue & Growth Strategy

    Price with precision. Grow profitably.

Previous Work

I built a Subscription Maturity Quiz to help founders and marketers benchmark their business, uncover blind spots, and identify the most impactful levers for growth.

Do you know where your subscription business stands?

Take the Quiz

(it’s free)