Something different on the podcast for this episode: Meet Ariela Nerubay, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Curacao retail stores, a fellow 2024 ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert and leader in ethnic and modern marketing strategies and tactics. You might not recognize the LA-based retail stores she leads, but the insights, challenges and opportunities translate well on the mic and across the border.
Something different on the podcast for this episode: Meet Ariela Nerubay, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Curacao retail stores, a fellow 2024 ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert and leader in ethnic and modern marketing strategies and tactics. You might not recognize the LA-based retail stores she leads, but the insights, challenges and opportunities translate well on the mic and across the border.
About Ariela
As the EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Curacao retail stores, Ariela Nerubay has
been instrumental in driving the company's business strategy, brand positioning, and
online expansion efforts. Since joining, the company has experienced an impressive 10-
30% YoY growth in both customers and sales. Over the past five years, Ariela has led
the charge in repositioning the Curacao brand and expanding its target audience,
resulting in the attraction of new customer segments and increased scalability.
Ariela's efforts have included designing programs aimed at improving customer
experiences, streamlining creative production processes, and promoting a culture that
prioritizes customer-centricity, data-driven decision-making, and agility. Drawing from
her extensive experience in entertainment, startups, and retail, Ariela has played a
pivotal role in transforming Curacao from a traditional retailer to a digital-forward brand.
Currently, Ariela is focused on designing and implementing Curacao's marketing
technology stack, which aims to provide hyper-personalized customer experiences
through first-party data enrichment. Additionally, she has created and leads the
company's first Customer Advocacy Group, which is dedicated to evaluating and
improving both on and offline customer journeys. Ariela also serves as the leader of
Curacao's Community Foundation.
With over 20 years of experience in marketing, Ariela is an award-winning executive
who specializes in targeting the multicultural consumer. She has worked with several
esteemed brands, including Wal-Mart, Comcast, Allstate, Univision Communications,
The Walt Disney Company, Fox Studios, and Sony Pictures. During her tenure at these
companies, Ariela has been responsible for spearheading marketing efforts aimed at
reaching the U.S. Hispanic customer.
In addition to her role as CMO at Curacao, Ariela also serves as an adjunct professor at
USC's Marshall School of Business and Annenberg School of Communication and
Journalism. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Boys and Girls of
America, where she is involved in the Impact and Youth of the Year Committees.
Prior to joining Curacao, Ariela served as Vice President of Multicultural Marketing at
The Walt Disney Studios, where she led the multicultural strategy for several films
including the re-launch of the Star Wars franchise. She also spent 12 years at Univision
Communications, where she held multiple senior executive positions, including General
Manager of Univision Cable Networks. In this role, she built the marketing department
from scratch and was responsible for leading channel distribution sales, public relations,
advertising sales promotions, B2C and B2B advertising, and marketing efforts for five
Spanish language music and movie cable networks.
Under Ariela's leadership, her marketing departments received more than 24 industry
awards, including NAMIC's (National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communication)
Excellence in Multicultural Marketing Awards, The Cablefaxies, and CTAM's (Cable and
Telecommunications Association of Marketers) Golden Palm and CTAM Mark Award.
Ariela herself has been recognized for her work with a "Luminary" award by the National
Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communication, a "Successful Latinas in Business
Award" in the Media and Communications category by the National Latina
Businesswomen Association and was selected as one of the Most Influential Minorities
in Cable by Cable Fax Magazine.
Before joining Univision, Ariela worked for six years on the agency side of U.S. Hispanic
advertising and PR efforts for several Fortune 500 companies, including Miller Brewing
Company, Allstate Insurance, Washington Mutual Bank, Comcast, Adelphia, Cox,
Charter, Time Warner, and HBO. Prior to that, she served as a marketing specialist for
Wal-Mart headquarters in Mexico City, where she was a member of the team that
launched Walmart's first private label credit card in Mexico.
Ariela's broad expertise encompasses the entire marketing landscape, from client and
agency to media.
Ariela lives with her husband and three daughters in Long Beach, California.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
Welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. My name is Michael LeBlanc, and I am your host. This podcast is produced in conjunction, Retail Council of Canada.
Something different on the podcast for this episode: Meet Ariela Nerubay, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Curacao retail stores, a fellow 2024 ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert and leader in ethnic and modern marketing strategies and tactics. You might not recognize the LA-based retail stores she leads, but the insights, challenges and opportunities translate well on the mic and across the border. Let's listen in now.
Ariela, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast, you fellow top retail influencer from the ReThink Retail people. How are you?
Ariela Nerubay 00:48
Thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited, Michael, I really, really appreciate the invitation to speak with you today.
Michael LeBlanc 00:54
Well, thanks for joining me on the mic. Where am I finding you today?
Ariela Nerubay 00:58
I am here in Los Angeles, sunny California for a change because it's been really cold.
Michael LeBlanc 01:03
I was gonna say, is it that sunny? Well, you know, we hear about this, what was it the rivers or something?
Ariela Nerubay 01:08
The rains have like almost wiped us out of the map, but I am happy to report the sunshine is out and were happily dry.
Michael LeBlanc 01:18
That's fantastic. Well, glad it didn't stand in the way of you and I getting on the microphone and as I said in the opening, we were connected because both of us are part of the ReThink Retail folks and their, their identification and it's one of the things I liked the most about that group and it's kind of third or fourth year, fifth year before me, is it-, I get to meet people like yourself that I might not ordinarily get a chance to meet just, you know that bringing us together and it's fantastic.
Ariela Nerubay 01:42
Absolutely, it's a phenomenal group and especially a group of really amazing minds. So, I am humbled to actually be able to speak with you today.
Michael LeBlanc 01:53
The humbling is all mine, so to speak. Why don't we start from the beginning, who are you, tell me about your background, your personal professional journey, I can see what you did from LinkedIn, but you, you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do for a living?
Ariela Nerubay 02:06
Absolutely. Well, I'll tell you everything in like three sentences. So, one, I’m status quo challenger, I am the kind of marketer and I am a marketer. That is-, that is how I define myself, as a marketer that is an expert in multicultural marketing, but I am just a marketing lover, I have, my entire career, devoted myself to create new ideas, disrupt existing ideas. As I said, challenge the status quo. I am passionate about never doing the same thing twice. I do find value in to, if it's not broken, why fix it, but I think that if you follow that mentality throughout your life, then you're never going to experiment and even if it's not broken today, doesn't mean it's not going to break tomorrow. So, I think that we should constantly iterate, evolve and optimize and so I am not one person that will ever say oh, this is how I do-, how we do things here.
Ariela Nerubay 03:10
I hate that. I'm like, Well, if that's how you do things here, then you clearly have an explore avenues of progress because you, you should always challenge every year, what do you do, what do you need to, discard that no longer works, and what you need to keep that is still functioning but then once you choose what you keep. You still need to look at it under the microscope and say, ‘how can it make it better?’ and that is pretty much my philosophy in, in life and in general.
So I just I just find opportunities where no one else is looking and that's also part of my career story because I am constantly working with either new brands that are starting out that need to find a place in the world, or I am working with brands that are established and need to be helped a little they have been banged up a little bit, that need a little bit of fixing and a little bit of love because you know, audiences are not too keen and too fond of them and that's a sad story, actually.
So, this was a brand that six years ago I took in the middle of a big DOJ lawsuit that then six years later you know, it became the nominated and awarded the best shopping destination by the LA Times. So, for turnaround circle marketer, so I'm very proud of that.
Michael LeBlanc 04:36
Now let me take a step back and change gears a little bit. You were talking to in LA, have you always been in LA and, and did you always want to be in business and tell me a bit about your personal side, like talk about that a bit what drives you and how did you get to, you know, how did you get to these, these great principles that you've articulated?
Ariela Nerubay 04:55
Thank you. So, I think I am definitely an incredibly curious person. I am from Mexico City, you can hear it on my accent. So even though I've been here three decades, I still honor my Mexican background. I am actually a self-defined you can see me but I myself defined EEAL, I made up that acronym which is Eastern European, American Latina because if you see me physically I am extremely Eastern European white but if you if you get to know me, you will see that I am as Latina as it gets. I am extremely passionate. I love Mexico, which is my country of origin. I grew up there, I was born, raised and educated, I went to college there, but then there is something about America that was always present in my life and that American Dream is very real to many of us outside of America.
Ariela Nerubay 05:52
So, I grew up with that fantasy about living the American dream and then apply to UCLA came to pursue a postgraduate degree in business and never went back. This was home, it just was a place that I immediately felt I belong to something about California is that it feels very cosmopolitan and very close to home. It's-, it's close enough to home, that I feel comfortable but far enough that I can feel independent and that is actually what drives me I am a fearless independent woman that likes to take life with my own hands and that was part of my journey coming to America was my independence and my-, my-, my thrive to become my own self. Outside of the shadow of potentially my father, my family, my background, a husband, I wanted to be my own self first before I became somebody else's wife, mother or you know.
Michael LeBlanc 06:55
And you've-, you've-, you've brought that-, that background around again, your-, your-, would you describe yourself as, as a you know, sitting in LA as a really-, having a really good grasp on, on the Latin American consumer that-, that I'm
Ariela Nerubay 07:09
Sure.
Michael LeBlanc 07:10
That-, that's really where I see it as I look to your background, you've really kind of defined yourself a little bit I don't know if you want to be you know, the so to speak, pigeonhole, does that or, you know-
Ariela Nerubay 07:19
I have no problem with that.
Michael LeBlanc 07:20
Yeah.
Ariela Nerubay 07:21
So, as I said, originally, yes, I am a marketer, and I mark it to any segment, not necessarily the Latino, but as, you know, as a person that comes from Latin America, I am very proud of the career that I have built, servicing the Latino consumer, I think there is niche for everything, there is an opportunity to you know, kind of position yourself as a digital marketing expert or as a PR executive.
Michael LeBlanc 07:48
Sure. You got to find yourself some way, right. A good-, a good marketer segments in some way, shape or form including yourself, right?
Ariela Nerubay 07:53
There a segments for everything, but for me, I, you know, being from Mexico City have an expertise working in different parts of Latin America, that was a unique value proposition that I was bringing to the table and honestly, that's kind of what I will speak to you at towards the end, which is how do retailers differentiate themselves, right, you are a brand, my brand and my unique value proposition is my deep understanding of segmentation and specifically, the layer the Latino consumer. So now, how are you as a business having a unique value proposition? What differentiates you from 10,000 other retailers out there selling the exact-, the exact same stuff that you're selling, right?
Michael LeBlanc 08:33
Yeah, let's-, let's talk about the business. Curacao, so tell me-, tell me but you already you already kind of hinted at a six-year journey and tell me about the business that you know, start you know, what is it and what's your value proposition and who's your customer and how do you-, how do you compete in the space that you compete in?
Ariela Nerubay 08:50
So this is an interesting business because on the outside you think Curacao is a retailer, but on the inside Curacao is a Bank, 90% of our sales are done on our private label credit card and this private label credit card really is the basis for our success because it provides us with a gigantic amount of first party data that enables us to properly target customers and build products and select services that are catered to our unique set of needs, right?
Michael LeBlanc 09:27
And you own the book of-, I mean, I've done a similar thing, you know, it looks like you and the business not you personally but own the book of business, right, it's not co-branded with a bank or financial institution, right?
Ariela Nerubay 09:37
That is the difference between the us and every other retailer out there that offers buy now pay later.
Michael LeBlanc 09:42
Sure.
Ariela Nerubay 09:43
Or that offers label-, you know not-, not white label credit cards, not even private label. That's the difference between white label and private label is that white label you just use a Visa, MasterCard logo is really under a different bank where you just slap your, your logo on it, it's in your branding, and pretend that it's yours, but it isn't and this one is 100% ours, we do the financing, we determine the interest rates, we determine who we-, who we offer credit and who we don't offer credit. So, depending on your FICO brand, depending on your behavior score, that is also a, you know, an algorithm that is proprietary, that we have been developed over 40 years in the market.
Michael LeBlanc 10:28
And you have, you know, I've run a book of business like yours for a retailer and it's interesting because you, you start to put different lenses on who you can extend credit to, or give a little bit of breathing room to because you know that they'll-, they'll come back as a customer, and you've got to balance two relationships there, financial relationship and a retail transactional relationship, yeah.
Ariela Nerubay 10:50
That is incredibly important and we're in a challenge that we're now looking to fix to be quite frank, because sometimes the-, the retail experience is-, is on point and then the financial experience, we may fall short, because of the onboarding process. A lot of our customers are brand new to credit and need to be handheld, a little bit more and that's part of the initiatives that I am driving today. So, as a shopping destination, we turn it around, and we're thriving, but then on the-, on the finance side, we are seeing a lot of our customers starting their customer journey, buying, paying, and then not coming back and that is in that is not all of our customers, clearly. Obviously, we're driving and growing every single year, but there is a sub segment of those who made me realize, wait a minute, why are they turning, why are they not coming back, what where did we miss and that's part of, again-
Michael LeBlanc 11:49
It's not from a lack of assortment, I was on your website, I mean, you've got a tremendous assortment of products. It's not like they can't find what they're looking for broadly speaking, right. Is that right? Is that fair? Yeah.
Ariela Nerubay 12:00
That is absolutely correct. So we have what they want, because as I said, we use our first party data to really understand their buying behavior, desires, needs and wants, and satisfy them, but then like every other business, sometimes we fall short in certain communications in certain experiences that could be on our banking site, for example, where we onboard them, we invite them to buy, we start offering them credit to make their first purchase, but these are audiences that really need a lot of financial education and I've run a lot of surveys lately, where I have specifically asked our customers, hey, is, is financial education important to you because we're truly looking to revamp our entire program and financial education, it's a big investment of time, resources and effort. Is this something you care about and 90% of them said, yes please.
Michael LeBlanc 12:51
90%, you clearly-, you clearly tapped into something. Let me-, let me transition into a question. Tapping into your background. Just, for my listeners, talk a little bit about the Latin American consumer, how are they as a segment, I mean, it's a very big number and you know, you, you know, as a marketer, sometimes we paint with a very broad brush but, you know, if you had a couple things that would stand out to you, as behaviors or as a consumer and retail, what are they about the Latin American consumer?
Ariela Nerubay 13:20
So, for starters, a Latin American consumer is a 3.4 trillion with a T, trillion dollar purchasing power that you just cannot afford to ignore period. So that's the first thing you need to know, the second thing you need to know is that we as a population are about 62 million people in America. So if we're 62, to almost 63 million people in America, of which 38 million we're talking about more than half are Latinos who are Gen Z and millennial, then you're talking about a population that is incredibly profitable, young and ready to make their first purchases, because that's the other thing about the Latinos, differently from other groups, especially the general market, you know, non-Hispanic, white.
Michael LeBlanc 14:15
Sure.
Ariela Nerubay 14:16
We are all about firsts, the first to go to college, the first to be-, to buy a house, the first to buy a car. So, there are a lot of firsts, the first credit card, a lot of firsts that really shape who we are in the relationships that we established with the retailers that provide us with access to that first that then become an important part of who we are.
Michael LeBlanc 14:40
Is there loyalty there? Would you describe loyalty better than equal to like an again, an average consumer.
Ariela Nerubay 14:47
Better than, and so the Latino consumer is known for being extremely loyal if you treat them right, if that first experience ends up being a positive one. Otherwise, they'll try you once and then leave, you're never come back.
Michael LeBlanc 15:02
That gets to your that gets to your concerns about are we doing all the right things and-
Ariela Nerubay 15:06
Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 15:07
And the financial communication piece, right, that it's even more, it's even more imperative that you get that-, get that right, yeah.
Ariela Nerubay 15:15
That's exactly right and very importantly, I'll tell you something that is also a misconception is that Latinos are all immigrants. Would you have any sense, if I were to tell you, seven out of 10 Latinos are, how would you fill in that sentence, in terms of immigration status?
Michael LeBlanc 15:32
I mean, I would frame it, I think, I mean, I know a little bit of I would say, second or third generation, like-
Ariela Nerubay 15:39
That's exactly right, yes, seven out of 10. Latinos are actually born in the US. So, this is not an immigrant population, it's a reverse. In fact, only 30% speak Spanish only. The majority-.
Michael LeBlanc 15:54
That surprises me that surprise me a little.
Ariela Nerubay 15:56
Right, the majority of Latinos speak English and Spanish. So there, there is a big-, a big, big, big percentage of them that are now college educated, which in the past was not the case, right now, college education has increased in penetration in the community. They, again, English is their first language, but Spanish is the second and this this, there is this notion that, you know, I grew up learning, which is English is the language of the mind, but Spanish is the language of the heart. So, if you-
Michael LeBlanc 16:32
You've got them both going in your job, because you've got the-, you got the financial institution, kind of you know, very practical mind stuff and then you've got the heart and soul of, of being a retail let's-, let's talk about your career a little bit in the context of things as you've been doing what you do for a living what's-, what's the biggest change in how you do your job over the past, you know, decade or a couple of decades, what you know, when you think about and reflect back to the younger version of yourself as a tradecraft as a as a marketer, what, what's different?
Michael LeBlanc 17:05
I love direct mail. It's funny, because there's less of it. So now you have a better chance of actually standing out on the-, on the kitchen table, you know.
Ariela Nerubay 17:05
Well, what's definitely different is data, access to artificial intelligence to help you predict behavior. Back in my early days, as a marketer, we-, we-, we knew that half of our advertising was wasted. Right, that's typical saying, Well, I grew up in a space where the Latino consumer was Spanish dominant, there was a lot of money thrown at agencies to create a lot of campaigns because they were coming and they were buying and then we weren't thriving, but as I grew up in my own craft and trade, then, you know, the Latino change, it became more acculturated, more English dominant, consumed language and media differently, you know, they, that's when you start seeing ratings of Spanish language networks going down and, you know, engagement in digital platforms going up. So, I started to rethink my budgets, my budget allocations, my focus to be more balanced, right, because new marketing channels come to play and some traditional ones like direct mail, I have to say, still subsist and-
Ariela Nerubay 18:20
That's correct and also Latinos tend to be less marketed when it comes to language, or even in a bilingual manner in the mail. So when, when they get something that has one word or two in English, there has been some, actually, studies done for the-, in the brain-, in the Latino brain that look at the waves of the Latino brain and their emotional reactions to certain images or messages and if you throw in literally one or two words in Spanish, the recollection doubles. That's crazy, right, so it's the only way.
Michael LeBlanc 18:55
Brain science, you're doing, I mean, it's a nice segue to my next question. You're-, you're talking about earlier on, you're talking about doing surveys. Now you're talking about brain science, what are the ways that you kind of parse what I call the signal from the noise, you know, consumers say one thing and do another or they or they change all the time and, you know, what's your advice to the, your fellow marketers listening, but the ways to really get a hold of that and understand what is just the noise around us versus what is really impactful when-, when working with consumers?
Ariela Nerubay 19:24
I think at the end of the day, you vote with your money. So, whatever you're paying for is what you are communicating to the business that you're willing to engage with. So, if-, if, and this is very important, actually, that, you know, may segue into some advice to you know, my fellow retailers, is that when you do when you take the wrong step and you alienate customers, or you upset them, they're backlash could really cost you millions of dollars of brand impact. I mean, we saw that with Budweiser very recently, and they're LGBTQ gone really wrong. When you don't know your audience, and then you force them or-, or introduce them to a concept that they're just not ready to absorb.
Michael LeBlanc 20:13
Or you-, or you-, or you underestimate the broader political context.
Ariela Nerubay 20:17
Exactly.
Michael LeBlanc 20:18
There was a lot going on there right in that particular situation.
Ariela Nerubay 20:21
Yeah, absolutely. So then there's my-, my thought would be that, you know, look at the data, look at what-, look at where they're investing, look at how they're behaving versus it's-, it's not what they say, but what they do is what's more important, so, so surveys help us directionally, but we still utilize behavioral data, what they're doing, actually, with theirmoney and their actions to make business decisions.
Michael LeBlanc 20:49
Well, it's great advice. I mean, what last question for you, if you if you had to say in a couple of minutes, and I'll frame it in the two starts and one stop, you know, and you again, you referred to this earlier on things we should stop doing, or do less of and what's one thing you would advise your fellow marketers to not do and two things they should start doing if they're not doing them already?
Ariela Nerubay 21:10
So, I would say you definitely need to stop thinking of a market as a one size fits all, because it doesn't. So don't, don't think as a one size fits all and what you should start doing therefore, is a lot of segmentation testing. A lot of companies have a hard time or a fear of doing it wrong with certain segments, like the Latino consumer, especially, you know, why should I invest, I already get them with English-
Michael LeBlanc 21:34
Or even creating the segments themselves. Right, right.
Ariela Nerubay 21:36
Exactly. So just start small, you know, the one segment testing, see how profitable turns out and then do the next one and do the next one and start growing from there or start investing also cause related marketing, something that is really important in our community, especially in the Latino community, or any multicultural community. I'm a professor at USC, and I teach multicultural marketing and I tell you, this cuts across Black, Asian and Latino, invest in the causes that matter to them and not just by putting a post on social media saying, oh, Black Lives Matter, or, you know, congratulations, this Hispanic Heritage Month, because we're Latinos all year round and it's not a post-
Michael LeBlanc 22:17
Everybody can do that. Anybody can do that.
Ariela Nerubay 22:19
Anybody can do that, but are you truly investing in education, are you investing in scholarship programs, are you investing in community efforts? So that would be my one start. My two starts are: test the segment's slowly and the second one, test investing-, start investing in the community and really tap into cause related marketing as a strategy.
Michael LeBlanc 22:41
Fantastic. All right. Well, it's been great. I mean, I think, hey, we could have a couple of conversations about this really fascinating stuff. I mean, here in Canada, it's funny, when you sit you talk about the size of the Latino audience. I mean, you know, it's 40 million people in Canada. So it's just it's such a large market and of course, we have all kinds of different segments of consumers with backgrounds here, we've-, you know, everything from, you know, historically, the Quebec customer based in, in Quebec, behaves differently than a Vancouver customer and then you've got a whole-, you know, we've got mil-, literally millions of new Canadians coming in from Southeast Asia, that's where our immigration comes from. So, it's a fascinating conversation very applicable, as we think through the markets on both sides of the border. Now, where can people get in touch with you to learn more, are you a LinkedIn person and where do they go to learn about your business and a little bit more?
Ariela Nerubay 23:32
So, Curacao, you can visit us at icuracao.com. That's our eCommerce platform and you can definitely follow us on social media as well @icuracao, Oh, @curacaoUSA, both on LinkedIn, TikTok. I mean, I'm sorry, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, we're everywhere. And then for me, please feel free to connect with me. My name is Ariela Nerubay and I'm the only one on LinkedIn, you can definitely find me.
Michael LeBlanc 24:00
One of a kind. You're one of a kind. Well, Ariela, thanks so much for joining me in The Voice of Retail, a lot of fun and it was great to speak to such an experienced person and in what you do and-, and with such passion and insight. So, thanks again for joining me on the mic.
Ariela Nerubay 24:15
Thank you so much for the invitation, Michael.
Michael LeBlanc 24:17
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, follow on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically each week and be sure to check out my other retail industry media properties, the Remarkable Retail podcast with Steve Dennis, and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, senior retail advisor, keynote speaker, ReThink Retail: 2023 Global Top Retail Influencer. If you want more content or to chat, follow me on LinkedIn.
Safe travels everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retail, Latinos, marketer, consumer, Latino, customers, retailers, investing, speak, important, segment, grew, LinkedIn, financial education, bit, business, brand, market, year, podcast