Who would have imagined that the connective tissue between the 2025 Grammys Ceremony and Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show would be . . . mustard or should I say Mustaaaaaaaaaaard?
This past weekend, in the midst of Kendrick Lamar winning five Grammy Awards, his album collaborator, DJ Mustard, appeared alongside him onstage to celebrate. The hitmaker was the producer of the Grammy Award–winning song “Not Like Us,” which took America by storm over the past year.
It may have been the first time many viewers were introduced to the talented and popular DJ, whose name has become part of pop culture because of the meme inspired shout-out in the song “tv off” from Lamar’s latest album, GNX.
But a moment outside the show grabbed much of the attention. During a commercial break, Heinz debuted a spot and website (aptly named MustardxMustard.com) showcasing their newly formed partnership with super-producer DJ Mustard—real name Dijon Isaiah McFarlane. And the company teased the release of its first-ever cocreated condiment in the U.S. market, a limited-edition mustard scheduled to be available later this year.
It was match made in condiment heaven, and a perfect lead-in to this week’s Super Bowl LIX, which will feature Kendrick Lamar headlining the halftime show—and an anticipated appearance from DJ Mustard and perhaps more from Heinz.
The idea and timing is so simple, yet so perfect. And it made me wonder: Who comes up with these ideas and brings them to life?
Then I found my answer—a man named Ryan Ford.
The Journey Is Often Times the Destination
Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Ryan Ford currently lives in Los Angeles, CA—a city at the center of culture, cool and commerce—where he develops and designs ideas.
In a world where brands must vie for increasingly scarce consumer attention, Mr. Ford, who recently left Cashmere, empowers marketers, through creativity, to understand how they can shape, influence and harmonize with culture. More specifically, with hip-hop culture.
“As this relationship between consumers and brands grows more and more intimate on social media, clients on both sides need advice,” said Mr. Ford. “From hip-hop artists to brands, the key to success are orchestrating ideas, aligning with specific business goals/opportunities and creating one-of-a-kind products that authentically align with the artist’s consumer-facing image and the internal values within a company.”
Mr. Ford spends a significant amount of time working directly with CEOs and CMOs of Fortune 500 companies who seek—or are at least curious about—consultation on how to prepare for the future, and to help unlock the cultural blind spot so many companies are addressing today.
How big is this blind spot? Over $6 trillion domestically, and over $16 trillion globally.
It’s estimated that Black Americans’ spending power sits between $1.4 trillion and $1.8 trillion annually, a powerful economic bloc that’s comparable to the gross domestic products of Mexico, Canada and Italy. Latinos’ purchasing power in the U.S. reached $3.4 trillion in 2021 and grew over two times faster than non-Latino counterparts. Asian Americans, with $1.3 trillion in buying power, have a median household income of $104,646, well above the average U.S. income. This demographic has grown 314% over the past two decades, the fastest-growing of all ethnicity groups.
And when you step outside the U.S., to discuss global diversity in areas such as accessibility and LGBT+, those with disabilities and their families spend an estimated $13 trillion per year, and the LGBT+ community’s financial strength is estimated to be around $3.9 trillion.
It’s hard to pin down an overall economic number to quantify hip-hop culture’s economic heft, although some estimates say it’s in the $15 billion a year range. One certainty is its impact—from music sales, where hip-hop accounts for 33% of streams, to fashion, where hip-hop accounts for $2 billion in sales, and so many more categories of hip-hop culture. What started as a small idea in the Bronx, NY, in the 1970s has a global impact on commerce today.
Tapping into these consumer markets is not only smart but also necessary for robust corporate bottom lines. For brands who want to increase their capacity for culturally sound decision-making, collaboration may be the way forward.
From The Source to Snoop
As a trained journalist, Mr. Ford moved his way up from intern to executive editor at The Source magazine. In this position, he sat at the intersection of business and culture and was able to build up his contacts with the biggest players in popular culture and connect with the brands and advertisers that supported the publication.
Upon his departure in 2009, Mr. Ford saw an opportunity and started designing collaborations between brands and cultural icons. He’d end up playing a pivotal role in guiding Snoop Dogg’s transformation from rap mainstay to one of the most influential personalities in the brand world.
One strategy leveraged in this process was coauthoring 2018’s From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from Tha Boss Dogg’s Kitchen with Snoop Dogg. During the Covid-19 lockdown, the culinary masterpiece skyrocketed to the New York Times bestseller list and to date has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and is still flying off the shelves in 2025. “It was a unique undertaking to create in the media space. Plus, it was authentic—these are his recipes,” Mr. Ford said.
Reflecting on these collaborations Mr. Ford says, “The average brand has a belief system, but it might not be connected directly the correct consumers or have the correct communication or partner. There’s a huge opportunity to fill that void with cultural strategy and to zoom out to ask “Where do you see yourself resonating the most?”
The Power of Timing
The hardest part of connecting the dots is timing. It’s often out of your control, yet it’s critical in defining success. “People always ask me about the best and worst brand collaborations, and my answer is: it depends on when you ask me. Every deal has its peak and its low point. Some ideas thrive in the moment but don’t always stand the test of time. You can’t control culture itself. You can only control your understanding of it and how your internal strategies allow you to navigate it in real time.
Is it worth the risk?
“It’s not just worth it—it’s absolutely imperative that you are actively partnering with culture. It’s about who you’re working with, what events you’re showing up at and supporting, and where your brand is making a statement,” said Mr. Ford. “Consumers today aren’t just buying products; they’re paying attention to how and where you show up in their world. They want to see you engage in the spaces that matter to them.
So, it’s not a question of whether it’s worth the risk—it’s a necessity to future-proof your brand.”