How do you transform a brand into a household name, especially when that brand has a lot of regulatory restrictions?

Steven Kalifowitz is doing just that right now with  @CryptoComOfficial . When he came on board as the Crypto.com CMO in 2020, he brought years of experience as an Emmy-winning production manager for HBO and lessons from being a Director of Brand Strategy for Twitter.

Along with discussing his strategy for transforming Crypto.com into a household name, Steven and Tim also discussed:

00:00 Intro
01:29 Managing million-dollar marketing budgets
05:58 The importance of continued awareness for established brands
13:05 Understanding and nurturing casual vs heavy customers
19:02 Buying the Crypto.com name
21:24 Becoming CMO of Crypto.com
24:58 Are brand strategy blueprints necessary?
34:44 Marketing a brand vs a commodity
53:57 Using live sports as a marketing tool
56:29 Are competitor pages useful?
58:56 How the Crypto.com marketing team is structured
1:05:42 What does Steven do as CMO of Crypto.com?
1:10:43 Leadership and management skills
1:18:48 Advertising at the Sphere and getting around advertising restrictions
1:26:35 Sports partnerships
1:33:45 Celebrity brand films
1:41:54 Are NFTs dead?
1:45:53 Outro

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ahrefs Podcast! As always, be sure to like and subscribe (and tell a friend).

Where to find Steven:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skalifowitz/
X: @skalifowitz

Where to find Tim:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timsoulo/
X: @timsoulo
Website: https://www.timsoulo.com/
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Referenced in this episode:

Byron Sharp - How Brands Grow: https://brandgenetics.com/human-thinking/how-brands-grow-speed-summary/
CPG/FMCG: https://cdp.com/glossary/cpg-marketing/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fastmoving-consumer-goods-fmcg.asp
Fortune Favors the Brave ft. Matt Damon: https://youtu.be/9hBC5TVdYT8?si=qrj6nOB-VDY1yY5W
David Oglivy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy_(businessman)
Andy Gove - High Output Management: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Output_Management
Patrick Lencioni - Five Dysfunctions of a Team: https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and-resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/
Dale Carnegie - How to Win Friends and Influence People: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People
Andy Gove - Only the Paranoid Survive: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66863.Only_the_Paranoid_Survive
Inevitable ft. Eminem: https://x.com/Eminem/status/1783859123614052845
The Moment of Truth ft. Lebron James: https://youtu.be/xynQFsPBE3w?si=5Xxr_Q3qacsR6BpV