"Honestly I'm Such a Legend for This"
Stories With Heart – a fortnightly round-up of the best storytelling, for people and organisations wanting to win hearts and minds by telling better, richer stories.
Hello story lovers, Sam Lightfinch here. Welcome to Stories With Heart.
As a strategic storyteller and speaker, I use strategy, ideas, and creative executions to craft and share narratives that resonate with people and drive organisational success.
Are you ready to make the soup of story, by dicing the plot, sautéing the setting, and simmering the character arcs? Then, chop-chop, let us don our aprons, find a decent knife, and begin.
🏆 Story of the week 🏆
“Butts 4 Tour Busses” | OnlyFans | Kate Nash
Let’s celebrate reaching issue 10 of this newsletter by talking about celebrities’ OnlyFans. Kate Nash’s Butts 4 Tour Busses is a story of glute force that’s taken the internet by storm this week.
TL;DR – making a living from music is a slog these days. Lily Allen says she makes more from selling pictures of her feet to 1,000 people than from her 8 million monthly music streams.
There are so many great storytelling lessons in Nash’s illuminating and earnest Instagram post:
So much authenticity and humanness – “I’m Irish Catholic so understand that unlearning takes time.”
A real commitment to values – “My live show has a standard. I want to keep it.”
A razor-sharp social commentary – “Society puts so much pressure on people to be the right amount of sexual.”
And a good dollop of humour – “My arse is shining a light on the problem. Honestly I’m such a legend for this.”
As a side note (and after a conversation with my partner who shone a light on this for me) I’d like to see more men listening, reflecting and choosing to amplify stories like this. It’s important we do our bit.
Takeaway: A little cheek goes a long way if you want to use humour to take ownership of your situation, and start a bigger discourse about a serious point.
Anti-Black Friday campaign of the week
Make Time For Sports | Decathlon | Rethink
My prediction is that Black Friday will become another Christmas in the ad world – a chance for brands to roll out big purpose-driven campaigns that say ‘hey, we do more than sell stuff.’
So here’s Decathlon, out in front of the pack, with this purpose-laden story about creating time rather than deals this week. It’s a sweet idea and a nice bit of execution that doesn’t feel glazed-ham-fisted in the slightest. Rethink have put out some belting work recently.
Takeaway: In an ever-increasing digital sphere, brands need to look for more clever and interesting ways to engage with audiences – like through their calendars.
Newsletter of the week
Naming Your Brand, From Start to Finish | Koto Studio
The witticism goes, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” Imagine if that person had to come up with a company name in modern times. Jesus. Geez. Gz. g-z.
It’s one of the hardest storytelling jobs, naming a thing (I should know – I made up my surname). Thankfully, Koto has unpicked the art of naming brands in pretty granular detail in the latest issue of their OFF Brand newsletter.
This is an essential read for anyone starting a company or working in the creative sector who wants to understand how to create a name that holds power and conveys an idea.
Takeaway: A strong naming process finds the balance between the creative and the practical. That’s good advice for a lot of storytelling, actually.
Archive story of the week
Restaurant of Mistaken Orders | Shiro Oguni
Some stuff is worth looking back at because, like a good sushi vinegar, it gets sharper with age.
With its maturing population, Japan predicts that 1 in 5 of its people will be affected by dementia come 2025. So in 2017, the Restaurant of Mistaken Orders was set up as a social experiment by Shiro Oguni, after he was served the wrong food at a care home he was visiting and realised people didn’t care – the interaction was far more important.
One article from the time of launch ended simply, “Even though 37% of the orders are delivered wrong, 99% of customers are happy, the restaurant says.” This is a really beautiful way to shine a light on a difficult story, but, importantly, it puts people at its heart, rather than feeling tokenistic.
Takeaway: Immersive storytelling connects us on such a visceral and emotional level. Be nice to see more brands giving it a shot.
Article of the week
“Oh I Didn’t Know The Conservative Party Was Selling Lip Gloss Now?” | Design Week | Rob Alderson
Design Week is back, and there’s SO MUCH solid content on the site. There’s something to suit everyone’s palate (a bit like my Auntie’s fridge come Christmas) but for me, this is the jewel in the crown that captures why Rob Alderson (Design Week’s Editor) is such a captivating storyteller.
I don’t want to mention the J-word rebrand, but this article is a knowing wink that whatever the brand, whatever the scandal, the design industry’s reaction is more dependable than my dog’s begging eyes at dinner time.
While the creative ants scurry over each other, adding their crumbs to the pile of regurgitated opinion, Rob is the kid with a magnifying glass, having a little chuckle while roasting the industry with his tongue firmly in cheek.
Takeaway: However nuanced and personal we think our stories are, turns out we can be reduced to seven reactions. Well, hey, they do say that there are only seven types of story. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree with this newsletter.
My story of the week
“You Swear A Lot When You Write Little Red Riding Hood in The Style of Irvine Welsh”
At 8:15am this Friday, a few hours before this drops in your inbox, I’ll be talking at Creative Mornings in Sheffield. It’s been filmed, so I should have a video to share for the next newsletter.
IF I’m back at the studio in time, and IF I remember, I’ll add a photo to the end of this post to whet your whistle.
If not, you’ll just have to imagine me in my bright green leopard-print cardigan talking about stories and threads to a room full of sleepy creatives.
I DID REMEMBER.
THE END(ISH)
Hopefully, you’re here because you like stories and not because the headline about the Tories made you think this was a blue-leaning article.
If it’s the former, I’d appreciate it if you A) share this newsletter with someone who might like it, or B) check out my website.
If it’s the latter, you should know that there’s only one party colour I want to be politically affiliated with… and that’s Brat Green, baby.