For Jared Jacobs, LEGOs are more than just toys; they’re the building blocks of a full-time job. Jacobs, who goes by the name GoldYeller on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, is known for making stop-motion animations that recreate famous sports moments. After first making these videos as hobby, Jacobs has been able to turn his LEGO habit into a career, despite the fact that he counts fewer than 10,000 followers across social media.
How has he done it? It helps that sports brands love him. His videos, full of detail and charm, are easy to digest and hard not to like. When he used his LEGOs to recreate Kris Jenkins’ game-winning three pointer in the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Game, he received press coverage across the web. The NCAA’s official website picked it up, and he and his daughter starred in their own SportsCenter segment.
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Jacobs isn’t sure exactly why his videos seem to resonate so well, but he prides himself on his attention to detail. Each of his animations takes between 30 and 50 hours to complete, with much of that time dedicated to hand-painting pieces and rearranging them in subtle ways. He believes he’s “willing to go the extra mile and take time to do things that most people aren’t willing to take the time to do,” he told Tubefilter. “I think that’s what has set me apart.”
Because of the fine nature of his craftsmanship, his individual videos stick with viewers, even though he “doesn’t do the best job of branding myself.” Viewers may not know the GoldYeller name, but they know and love his animations. He told Tubefilter of a fan who described his work as “low-key lit.” Though the father of three had to look up what that modern-day term meant, he liked its meaning: His work was great and appreciated while still flying under the radar.
Viewers connect to Jacobs’ animations, and that’s very valuable for sports brands. He has landed deals with companies like the Big Ten Network and the Golf Channel, the latter of which recently enlisted him for a series of LEGO clips that promoted this year’s Open Championship. “To quote Gary Vaynerchuk, ‘Attention is the game,'” Jacobs told Tubefilter. “So I would say that’s the main reason big brands have wanted to work with me. I have a unique style that seems to resonate with the masses.”
Jacobs has now reeled in enough of these sponsorships to make LEGO animations his full-time profession. While there are surely many more sports videos in his future, he is also branching out. “I am currently working on a stop motion project for the YouTube channel Convos With My 2 Year Old that deals with food,” he said. “So I’m pretty excited about that. I love challenging myself and trying new things.”
The GoldYeller channel may be low-key, but you can still follow it to receive updates about Jacobs’ progress. He posts many of his animations on Instagram.
