Most brand marketers spend years perfecting their craft before they get the chance to build something from scratch. Anita Rane spent nearly two decades mastering brand narratives for Kingfisher Beer, Gameskraft, and MPL before she got her shot at Cult Store, a new D2C vertical from Cure.fit that needed to go from concept to launch in record time.

The result? A brand foundation built in eight months that's now scaling across equipment, accessories, footwear, and apparel.

Meet the Builder Behind the Brand

Anita Rane is Head of Brand at Cult Store, where she's building and establishing a brand foundation for Cult Products across equipment, accessories, footwear, and apparel. But her path to this role wasn't linear, it was strategic.

With 18+ years across brand and content marketing, Anita cut her teeth managing 30-member teams at 22feet Tribal Worldwide, where she led marquee accounts like Kingfisher Beer and Tata Tea Jaago Re. She later moved into gaming and esports at Gameskraft and MPL, where she learned to navigate high-velocity GTM cycles in emerging categories. Her experience spans everything from award-winning beer dispenser campaigns to mobile esports tournaments generating 8 million+ views.

Now, she's channeling all of that into building Cult Store from the ground up.

The 0-to-1 Playbook: Building a Brand Without a Blueprint

When Anita joined Cult Store in May 2025, the brief was simple but daunting: establish a brand foundation for a new D2C fitness vertical with no existing playbook, no legacy brand equity to lean on, and an aggressive timeline.

"We had to build everything, positioning, messaging, visual identity, while simultaneously launching products across multiple categories," Anita shared. "The challenge wasn't just speed. It was ensuring that whatever we built was scalable and authentic to what Cult already stood for in the fitness space."

The strategy? Start with clarity, not creativity.

Anita and her team began by mapping out what Cult Store wasn't. They didn't want to be another generic fitness gear brand. They weren't trying to compete on price alone. Instead, they focused on what made Cure.fit's Cult brand unique: community, performance, and an obsession with helping people move better.

This positioning became the north star for everything that followed, from product naming conventions to campaign tonality to the way they structured their content GTM.

The Content-First GTM Machine

Here's where Anita's background in content marketing became a competitive advantage. Instead of treating content as an afterthought, Cult Store built it into the core of their GTM strategy from day one.

"We're not just selling products. We're selling a fitness lifestyle, and content is how we bring that to life," she explained. "Every product launch is supported by editorial content, influencer collaborations, and community-driven storytelling that reinforces why this product exists and how it fits into your fitness journey."

The team developed a modular content system that allows them to move fast without sacrificing quality. Each product category gets its own content arc, educational pieces on why equipment matters, expert takes from trainers, user-generated content from the Cult community, all orchestrated to build credibility and drive conversions.

And it's working. Cult Store's early traction isn't just coming from performance media. It's coming from the brand equity they've built through storytelling, which is driving organic discovery and repeat purchases.

Why Brand Marketers Make Great 0-to-1 Builders

Anita's story challenges a common assumption in the startup world: that brand marketers are better suited for scale-stage companies, while growth hackers are the ones who build from zero.

The reality? Building from scratch requires brand thinking.

"At the 0-to-1 stage, you don't have performance data to optimize against. You don't have customer insights to lean on. You have to make strategic bets based on intuition, market understanding, and brand vision," Anita said. "That's exactly what brand marketers are trained to do."

Her approach at Cult Store proves the point. Instead of rushing into paid acquisition, they invested in brand foundations, positioning, messaging, content architecture, that now compound over time. Instead of optimizing for short-term conversion, they built a brand narrative that creates long-term affinity.

This is the kind of strategic thinking that AI-powered creative intelligence platforms like Hawky.ai are designed to amplify. When you have a clear brand foundation, tools that analyze creative performance and generate insights become force multipliers. But without that foundation? You're just optimizing noise.

The Mindset Shift Every Marketer Needs

One of the most striking things about Anita's approach is how she balances speed with intentionality. She's not precious about perfection, but she's relentless about coherence.

"You can move fast and still be strategic. You just have to be clear on what matters most," she said. "For us, it was brand coherence, making sure every touchpoint, every campaign, every product story felt like it came from the same brand world."

This mindset, prioritizing coherence over perfection, is something more marketers need to embrace, especially in fast-moving D2C and startup environments. It's not about getting everything right the first time. It's about building a system that allows you to learn, iterate, and scale without losing your brand's voice along the way.

Key Takeaways

Brand thinking is a 0-to-1 advantage. Building from scratch requires strategic intuition, not just performance optimization. Brand marketers bring the frameworks to make smart bets before the data exists.

Content is GTM infrastructure, not a marketing tactic. Cult Store's content-first approach isn't just driving awareness, it's building brand equity that compounds over time and reduces customer acquisition costs.

Coherence over perfection. Moving fast doesn't mean being sloppy. It means having clear brand foundations that allow you to execute with speed while maintaining strategic consistency.

Cross-functional experience accelerates growth. Anita's background across brand, content, gaming, and esports gave her the toolkit to build Cult Store's GTM from multiple angles, not just one discipline.

AI amplifies strategy, but doesn't replace it. Platforms like Hawky.ai help performance marketers optimize creative decisions faster, but they work best when paired with strong brand foundations and clear strategic direction.