Sometimes it’s an app that promises to make life easier. It might be a time-saving tool. Or product everyone is talking about. At first, it pulls us in. It feels exciting, urgent and even irresistible. But that spike of interest in innovation can fade fast. So what actually keeps people coming back?
Not the features or the tech itself. But it’s the stories, creativity, and connection built by the people behind the brand and people who believe in it. That’s what makes us care. What turns curiosity into loyalty. And what makes us feel part of something bigger.
At this year’s Blue Earth Summit, Enviral’s Founder, Joss Ford, hosted a panel exploring this idea with Grace Wilson, Senior Global Community and Marketing Manager at Komoot, David Hanney, Co-Founder of Alpkit, and Saasha Celestial-One, Co-Founder of Olio.
Their conversation revealed an important truth: innovation can create change, but it’s people, creativity and community that keep it going.
The Problem: Innovation Without Emotion
“Innovation gets attention, but storytelling builds belonging. And belonging is what keeps people showing up, whether it’s to share food, fix their jacket or hike up a hill together.” – Joss Ford, Enviral.
A good product, service or platform can earn you a click, a trial, maybe even a share. But emotion is what turns one-off customers into long-term advocates.
People don’t fall in love with algorithms, features, or specs. They fall in love with the humans behind them: the founder who couldn’t ignore a problem, the community that tested a prototype, and the shared mission that makes everyone feel part of the change.
As Saasha from Olio explained: “At the individual level, it’s the storytelling, feeling aligned with our mission and wanting to be part of the vision that gets people into the app.”
Emotion Builds Advocacy
A good story is the bridge between innovation and impact. It builds trust, belonging and belief.
How to build emotion into innovation:
- Start with the why. The best innovations speak to hearts and habits. Let your story show why you exist, not just what you sell.
- Collaborate with your community. You don’t need a big budget to make people feel something. Partner with your community to tell real stories through blogs, testimonials or user-generated videos that show your impact in action.
- Make your audience the hero. Show them how their actions drive your impact. The most powerful campaigns often start with the people who already believe in you.
“We segment audiences from ‘everyday explorers’ to outdoor enthusiasts, then tell real stories with real people for each.” – Grace, Komoot.
Building Community
Innovation might get people talking, but it only goes so far without a real human connection behind it. In a world where trends move faster than attention spans, community is what gives purpose-led brands staying power.
Building emotion happens through shared experiences, meetups, social movements, and collaborations that make people think: “I’m part of this.”
As the panelists showed, community is the backbone of meaningful impact. For Olio, it’s 160,000 volunteers redistributing surplus food every day.
“We’re shameless about asking for help. With over 160,000 volunteers and over 100,000 food-safety trained individuals collecting surplus food tens of thousands of times a day and sharing it for free.” – Saasha, Olio.
For Alpkit, it’s customers turning up to ride, repair and reconnect with wild places. And for Komoot, it’s local community managers running real-world adventures across the UK and Europe.
“We’ve grown from 16M to 50M users by focusing on growing our local communities with the help of community managers in regions, plus targeted events and activations. There’s a direct correlation between attending a Komoot event and increased app engagement.” – Grace, Komoot.
When brands nurture communities, customers become contributors. That’s what builds lasting impact.
Creativity for Connection
At Enviral, we believe creative communications are the bridge between doing good and being understood. The most effective campaigns make people feel something. They turn complex ideas into something human, visual and memorable.
Here are some brilliant examples of creativity driving impact:
Let’s Not Waste Our Wonderful World
Olio used film, music and emotion to make food waste impossible to ignore – a creative act of activism that made people care.
Go Nice Places, Do Good Things
Alpkit turned a tagline into a movement, celebrating repair, adventure and purpose through a printed impact report as a newspaper.
Komoot transformed the app into an experience, using play and discovery to drive word-of-mouth growth.
Creative storytelling cuts through the noise, invites participation and builds the kind of word-of-mouth energy that no ad budget can buy. It’s what turns that initial spark of curiosity – the same rush you feel when something new grabs your attention – into something lasting. Innovation might make people look, but emotion, creativity, and community are what make them stay.
Enviral is a creative agency on a mission stop global yawning for brands that need to exist. If you’re ready to connect with your audience and create communications that drive change, get in touch with our team here.