What do Issa Rae’s “Awkward Black Girl” series, Peloton and TLC’s self-titled fifth album have in common? They all got off the ground thanks to Kickstarter.

However, recently instated CEO Everette Taylor, told Adweek the crowdfunding platform hasn’t been shouting loud enough about these success stories. So, as part of his ongoing mission to put the legacy brand back on the cultural map, he’s hired two ex-Twitter execs to help spread the word.

Joining as VP of brand marketing is Twitter’s former head of global brand Courtney Brown Warren, who will oversee all marketing functions and initiatives across brand creative, content, social, partnerships, and communications and public relations to accelerate the growth of Kickstarter.

Prior to Twitter, Warren headed creative strategy for Amazon-owned Audible’s emerging business and international division. She has also held senior creative roles at the Madison Square Garden Company and Time.

Reporting to her is Nikki Kria, also coming to Kickstarter from Twitter as its new head of communications. In her most recent role, she was responsible for increasing awareness of Twitter’s advertising products—its top revenue lever. She has a history in public relations, with tenures at Red Havas and Wunderman Thompson.

Both Warren and Kria (who departed Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover) will support Taylor’s strategy to breathe new life into the Kickstarter brand. They will also be tasked with helping the business cultivate a better relationship with the creators and communities who use it, from gamers to writers to entrepreneurs. Part of their remit will also be ensuring the platform is more inclusive and equitable for creators of color.

“Because they already know each other, it was like they came as a package deal,” explained Taylor. “It’s been beautiful to [bring on board] people that have worked together in the same room before.”

Dusting off a stale brand

One of the original crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter has helped people, pilots and businesses raise $6.9 billion for over 228,000 projects since 2009.

Taylor made the unusual leap from CMO of art marketplace Artsy to Kickstarter CEO in September 2022. “I’m still a marketer at heart,” he asserted, saying his new seat at the top was all about “getting people excited” about the brand itself, which he is the first to admit had gone slightly “stale.”

“It felt like a legacy brand that wasn’t a legacy brand,” he said. “We were still one of the largest in our space, but we needed a boost.”

He was right. Before Taylor’s arrival, and just as the dust settled from the peak of the pandemic in 2022, the business had lost its way amid increasing competition from rivals like Crowdfunder, Patreon and Gofundme.

It’s PR had also been unfavorable; dogged by years of frustrations from white-collar employees who wanted to – and eventually did – unionize, in 2020, it laid off 40% of its workforce following a major drop in projects and, thereby, revenues in the early days of Covid-19. By 2022, then-CEO Aziz Hasan stepped down following months after criticism from creators over plans to transition the platform to blockchain technology, an idea that was ultimately halted after creators vowed to take their business elsewhere.

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