How to Up the Heart and Soul Metric
The untapped potential of the uncommon detail.
The other day I was scrolling as one does for a bit of inspiration or hit of dopamine or both, when my thumb stopped on an interesting post. “Delia Barry, an 83-year-old from County Tipperary has become an international sensation thanks to her knitting work on the Oscar nominated film ‘The Banshees of Inisherin.’”
Delia, who has been nice with needles since age 7, used local Donegal yarn to craft the uniquely beautiful sweaters worn by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in this uniquely morbid comedy. For inspiration, she was handed a 1920s-era photograph taken nearby on Aran Island featuring a group of proud Irish fishermen. She was given about a week to make each sweater. And as all creatives do, she iterated, testing and trying until landing on the exact right shape, and the exact right shade of very blood red.
Now the world can’t stop talking about her, or her sweaters.
The story of an octogenarian rising to pop-culture phenomenon is (refreshingly) sweet. It’s also a lesson about how to use tiny yet important details to bring heart and soul into what you create. Here in 2023 “an AI can make that” et cetera. But this tidbit proves that the right details can never be too human or authentic. That going all the way to support your story and make it truly real and correct is worth it.
Who cares? Your core audience.
It takes a diehard brand fan, someone who’s gotten grass stains from the field, grinded miles out around the track and swilled Coors in the stands to know that the University of Oregon logo, a bold and simple O, is created by combining the outline of two iconic U of O facilities: Hayward Field—the nation’s most storied track and field venue, where Pre ran through records and a little brand called Nike was born; and Autzen Stadium—where the Oregon Ducks have called home for half a century.
The shape of Hayward comprises the interior of the O, the outline of Autzen is the exterior. Do you see it now?
“The players loved it,” said Joey Harrington, UO Quarterback at the time the new logo was unveiled in 1998. The rebrand brief had been to modernize and be distinct. Tough when your interlocking initials aren’t ownable—lookin’ at you, University of Oklahoma. The solution was to own the O.
Going the extra mile to include smart, unique details that gave it character, that gave voice to the history and humans the logo represented, provided meaning and added value to the story. Details like this are gifts to the people who notice and appreciate them. If you get the nuance, it makes a difference.
If you don’t know? Well it’s still a nice O.
Put the work in where it’s worth it.
The thing about going the extra mile is that it takes extra. Extra time. Extra work. Extra dough. Extra planning, research, wrangling. Finding the right place to invest in the details—where they’ll really be seen and noticed within the community you want to reach vs. in a place nobody but you, your team or your client will notice—that’s the key.
When I watch “Nothing Beats a Londoner,” Nike’s tribute to London’s spirit of one-upmanship in sport, I can just see the texts/emails/spreadsheets/scouting trips/dollar bills/late nights racking up as the real-life Londoner cameos stack up (258 in 3 minutes).
As someone who has written my share of treatments and wrangled my share of productions, I can feel the extra work and care that went into making this spot real to the place, authentic to the local spirit and lore. They could’ve just plastered the city with Ronaldo ads or something. According to the fashion search platform Lyst, London searches for Nike products were up 93% following the ad’s launch.
Levi’s could’ve montaged all their ads from over the years to celebrate the 150th birthday of the 501, or linked up with a famous spokesperson—something they had a little more control over. Instead, “The Greatest Story Ever Worn” traces the human stories that have surrounded the cult jean in the past century and a half. The campaign is an exercise in historical research on the level of Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“Nothing Beats a Londoner” stokes a very specific audience. “The Greatest Story Ever Worn” channels a universal audience, anyone lucky enough to be living on this planet together and sharing the human mystery. The urge to express ourselves is written into our DNA. Real life is richer than anything we can make up. And just like your fave pair of faded blues, it’s about the details.
P.S. Got a detail that needs to be humanized, amplified, utilized, or upsized? Nemo Design can help get your community leaning in. Let’s connect.
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Written by Jennifer Sherowski, Associate Creative Director at Nemo Design
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