Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack: The Work That Made Ryan Griffin

Ryan Griffin leads the Nike account at R/GA, a 24-year collaborative partnership between the two entities. His work centres on driving innovation across digital, retail, and brand storytelling, ensuring that R/GA continues to deliver forward-thinking creative solutions for Nike and the Jordan brand.

Ryan’s history with Nike runs deep. He began his career at AKQA London, where he helped shape Nike’s global digital marketing offense by launching Nike’s first social media presence. He worked closely with Nike’s leadership to define the brand’s approach to digital engagement, training teams worldwide and helping to establish AKQA’s Portland office dedicated to the brand.

After AKQA, Ryan moved to 72andSunny in Los Angeles, where he expanded into brand campaigns and traditional advertising. He later joined Beats by Dre, where he oversaw digital and brand marketing, e-commerce, and product integration within the Apple ecosystem. From there, he went to B-Reel to head client services, managing executive relationships with Google, Airbnb, Motorola and nZero, and then to Commotion, where he led marketing initiatives including product marketing, GTM, and brand development for an enterprise e-commerce and AI technology platform.

Now at R/GA, Ryan brings his unique blend of digital expertise, brand storytelling, e-commerce, and deep Nike experience to further evolve the partnership and create impactful work.

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Ryan> Electronic music videos immediately come to mind as influential, including a couple from Michel Gondry for Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers.

But, one that definitely 'stays with me' is that life-sized animatronic of a baby for Massive Attack's ‘Teardrop’. Hard to forget that visual when paired with such an iconic piece of music.

LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

Ryan> For my dissertation at university, I went deep on the impact of technology on dance music culture over the years. It led me to dig into what music fans were doing online – how they shared music, organised raves, heard about releases etc., at a time when forums, blogs and social media were in their infancy.

I'm not sure this made me want to get into the industry specifically, but I have always enjoyed digging into online subculture across my work ever since.

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Ryan> Music is pretty much my go to, so there are always albums I have on repeat. Most recently, ‘Glow World’ by Rod Modell and Taka Noda, as a form of pure escapism and a potion for concentration. Someone described it as “The mood is ‘opiated Erik Satie’ at times: old Paris meets neon Tokyo, both at night, both just after the rain” which is better than I could've ever put it. And Barker’s new album, ‘Stochastic Drift’, a unique and expressive evolution of electronic music.

LBB> My first professional project…

Ryan> My first professional job was in hospitality. Not really a project, but when it comes to working with 'clients' – carrying bags to the top of old London townhouses, checking people in and dealing with eccentric guests late at night – it must've influenced me one way or another. South Kensington's tourist and business travel crowd taught me a thing or two about working with people from all different walks of life.

LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Ryan> Liz Pelly's studies over the years and her new book, 'Mood Machine’, is an insightful look at the state of music streaming today.

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Ryan> Bandcamp. I use it to find and support independent music, labels and artists. I spend a lot of time thinking about how platforms can be improved and built upon, so I am often caught putting my product hat on and getting down thoughts on how I would love to evolve the platform if I was ever given the chance one day.

LBB> The creative project that changed my career…

Ryan> Setting up and managing Nike's first ever Facebook pages during my time at AKQA. Safe to say, that set in motion a domino effect.

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…

Ryan> I'm most proud of keeping a record label alive alongside my ‘work’ for about 17 years now. As part of that, I set up a 24/7 radio station called 9128.live as a side project, which played music from my record label and many others. When covid-19 hit, and we were all trapped inside, the station hosted 48-hour weekend listening sessions with artists providing mixes and live performances around the clock. It was basic in functionality with a retro chat room and app, but seemed to be exactly what many people needed during that weird time.

LBB> I was involved in this and it makes me cringe…

Ryan> While at 72andSunny, I got roped into acting where I had to throw a TV remote in frustration for a sudden burst in volume for a Sonos ad. (Kept talent costs down though).

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Ryan> Despite working in a creative technology industry, I'm still a hopeful analogue romantic. I could be releasing a 7-inch vinyl record with a design inspired by a ‘90s DIY aesthetic at the weekend, and then watching the R/GA team experiment and build custom AI tools on Monday morning. Just being a part of both of those worlds helps keep things in balance and reminds me of the more tactile, human needs in our work today.