Hey Community,

I had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan Latham, Senior Director Brand & Creative (Global) at Nothing, to discuss the evolution of creative strategies in tech, and how Nothing is reshaping the narrative in the industry. We met in London for an engaging conversation about his creative philosophy, global brand building, and the art of storytelling in technology.

During our conversation, Ryan shared insights on his journey from chemistry to creative direction, highlighting how his passion for music and technology shaped his career path. He discussed Nothing’s distinctive approach to creative storytelling in the tech industry, emphasizing how the team builds unique brand worlds while staying true to product design principles. Ryan also provided fascinating perspectives on adapting Nothing’s creative direction for different markets, from India to Japan, while maintaining the brand’s core identity. Throughout our discussion, his passion for combining creative expression with technological innovation was evident, particularly in his vision for building authentic brand experiences.

I hope you find this conversation as interesting as I did!

Rohit (CBO): Ryan, thank you for joining us today. Your journey through creative direction and brand strategy has been quite unique. Can you share what drew you to the tech industry and specifically to Nothing’s mission?

Ryan: I started with a background in chemistry and physics. When I went to university, I realized my real passion was music. So I ended up leaving chemistry and switching to a business & marketing degree, thinking it would be a more creative space, more entrepreneurial, where I could promote events and eventually be involved in the music industry.

Music was my first passion, and because of that, I’ve always loved audio equipment and music production equipment. My father had an amazing Hi-Fi system growing up in Saudi - this real-to-reel tape machine with B&W speakers and a bunch of amplifiers that I wasn’t allowed to touch, but it was his real passion. Growing up, that became part of me. I was always trying to buy the latest Sony Walkman or building my own Hi-Fi system. Later on, I got into DJing and music production.

Later on, I ended up getting offered a job at Dyson in marketing. They’re more in the product design engineering space, focused on solving problems through engineering. I found their passion for engineering, R&D, and how the product designers worked really fascinating. When I first discovered Nothing through their first audio product, I didn’t realise they were going to be in the mobile phone industry at all - I thought it was going to be around audio products, and they just had a very fresh, unique approach. That’s what drew me in: their innovative approach to design and technology perfectly aligned with my interests in both the practical and creative aspects.

Rohit: The creative landscape in tech often feels all the same, all brands have similar narratives. How does Nothing approach storytelling differently, and what’s the creative process?

Ryan: Generally, looking at the tech industry, there’s a lot of people following one big player, or focusing on cold, hard specs of the product. If you look at retail stores, they’ve all started to follow a particular narrative. Take Apple, for instance - if you look at Apple stores and all the other brand stores, they all look exactly the same because it’s a very mature industry, and there is a lack of new ideas. A lot of the products end up looking and being the same because they’re optimised for usage, like the size and shape of phones.

Unfortunately, I think a lot of the creative branding has also gone into that same place where it’s all about specs, showing the product with people living their best lives, giddy happy, and it’s become so marginalised that it’s become kind of sterile.

At Nothing, we start with the product. There are two levels to our creative process: building our brand identity and then creating worlds for individual product launches. These run in parallel, but with product launches, we’re often a bit behind the designers’ thinking. Our first step is to sit with the design team and understand the product more deeply - why they made certain choices, what they found interesting. One thing I find fascinating with our design teams - whether software, hardware, or R&D - is they often ask themselves, “What do we find interesting?” This enables them to create unique products because they’re trying to innovate and do things differently, following their instincts.

Rohit: Different markets have unique cultural nuances. How do you adapt Nothing’s creative direction and storytelling to specific regions like India or Japan, while maintaining the brand’s core identity?

Ryan: We can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to creative storytelling in different markets. To really break through, we have to live there and understand what drives brand choice and purchase decisions. In India, for example, which is a very Android-driven and saturated market, we work with local teams, creators, and agencies to get closer to the reality on the ground. We conduct market visits and rely heavily on community feedback.

In Japan, which is a global leader in design, we engage with design communities and organize design talks and pop-ups in the fashion areas of Tokyo. The key is maintaining our DNA while adapting to local nuances - people should always recognise it’s Nothing, but it might be expressed differently.

We worked with Ranveer Singh and Rashmika in India, and it’s been a fantastic process because by partnering with them, it helps to build trust rapidly in the market - they’re people that the audience trusts. When people then get the product in their hands, they suddenly get it - this is actually a really fantastic quality product.

Rohit: And also brands within a company portfolio have different personalities. How do you approach building and maintaining distinct brand identities for CMF and Nothing, while ensuring each maintains its unique voice?

Ryan: We started with a really open mind about the roles between Nothing and CMF. CMF began as a first step toward exploring bringing great design to a more accessible price point. Nothing remains the master brand, and CMF is part of that - it’s “CMF by Nothing.” Nothing focuses on premium design with the best user experience, while CMF aims to democratize great design at a more affordable price.

From a creative perspective, CMF is more direct, bold, and playful, while Nothing steps into a slightly more elevated world, focusing on transparency and using design as a way in. It’s very ambitious for a brand that was only three years old to launch a sub-brand when we’re still building the mothership, as it were. Over the next couple of years, we will refine these identities.

Rohit: You mentioned brand stores earlier. Given your experience with the Soho Store project, how do you see retail spaces evolving as part of Nothing’s brand expression? What role do physical spaces play in your global brand strategy?

Ryan: The Nothing Store was our first physical space where people could meet the brand in person. Instead of creating just another tech store, we focused on representing Nothing’s design philosophy. While the store has been successful and we really love it, if we did it again, we’d most likely do it differently - it wasn’t meant to be a blueprint for all future stores, it was the store we wanted to build at the time. Just like our products, we hope to keep exploring trying new approaches.

Physical spaces are crucial for getting direct feedback from customers and providing technical support. We hope to launch more stores step by step in key markets, but we won’t rush into having hundreds of stores. The basement in our Soho store was designed as a community hub, and we’ve enjoyed plenty of events and meet ups so far.

Interestingly, some community members were actually the first to see the store. The night before the launch, when we were working late, some community members who were having dinner in Soho came by and saw us setting up. It was chaos! They were the very first people who visited the store, even before it was ready, the next day we opened.

Rohit: Thank you, Ryan, for sharing your insights with the community. These are some fascinating perspectives on creative leadership in tech. Any closing thoughts you’d like to share?

Ryan: For the community, I’d say stay super curious and ask yourself what you find interesting. Creativity is like an R&D process - you don’t always get it right, but when you stay close to the product and that initial idea, you can do brilliant stuff. We’re in an interesting place now with co-creation, as seen with the community edition project. I’m always interested in hearing our community’s feedback and ideas about our creative direction . While my DMs are turned off at the moment, they can tag me in a new post with their ideas and feedback.