Joss Ford, Founder of Enviral
Joss Ford is Founder of Bristol-based digital marketing agency Enviral, which has a passion for people and the planet. Here, the team help ethical brands tell their social and environmental messages through videography, digital advertising copywriting and PR.
Tell us a little about your background
I’ve always been an environmentalist. From a young age, I had a fascination with nature. I graduated from The School of Earth and Environment at Leeds University and CISL (Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership), and knew this was an area I wanted to continue working in. I saw scientists explaining the climate crisis, marketing agencies selling us products, but I started to see a way to bridge the two in order to help create a more sustainable world. I actually came up with the whole concept for Enviral in my lecture.
I was sitting in a lecture at university with a problem rattling through my mind - I knew there were companies who did great things, but where were they in the sea of fake greenwash claims? I wanted to get great environmental and social brands into the spotlight so that other eco-minded consumers could purchase from them. I wanted to help these businesses use their force for good, in order to evoke positive behaviour change and ultimately make whole industries better.
At the end of that lecture I had brainstormed Enviral (turning brands environmental messages viral was the thinking), bought the web domain name and started sketching logos *which is pretty similar to the one we have today. The rest is history.
Tell us a little about the work Enviral has done
Enviral has come a long way since that lecture hall, and we’re now working with some incredible clients, that were actually my idols for years. From an internal purpose campaign with The Met Office, environmental-awareness campaigns within the festival industry, to working with a national renewable energy supplier, I’m super proud of how far the agency has come.
You can check out some of our work here.
How Has Enviral Pivoted In These Times?
Being a digital agency, and with team members dotted around The UK and beyond, we’re pretty used to Zooming, Skyping and everything else in between. This has meant that working from home, luckily, hasn’t had much impact on our day to day business. I am super aware that the last few months have been so hard for so many people, and for the rest of us, this will probably be the strangest time of our lives.
However, amongst the turbulence, most of us have been given the opportunity to slow down, get creative and re-think what we want from our future. For good and bad – the world is in transformation. A recent study showed only 9% of people wanted life to ‘return to usual’ when the lockdown is eased. The truth is, things have changed, and people like never before are prepared for a different future.
As an agency, we’ve also evolved. Not just since lockdown but really over the past half a year. We’ve noticed a clear development in who we are and the importance of our specific expertise, and these recent events have allowed us to pause, reflect and package up our next step. We’ve recently had a slight re-structure to our business, we’ve split it into two sections - Engage and Envolve.
This means through Evolve, we’re helping to evolve organisations sustainability strategies through consultancy, and with Engage we’re going to continue to engage customers, fans and employees through impactful communications.
How do you see the future for sustainable businesses?
The world is in a super interesting place right now. People everywhere are stopping and thinking about the impact they are having on the planet. We’ve seen a surge in demand for many of our sustainable clients as people see just how much impact we have if we all work together. We think the future for genuinely sustainable brands is hugely exciting. Now more than ever they have the opportunity to educate and inspire audiences and help use their power for good.
In fact, at Enviral, our vision is that one day we’ll live in a world where all brands will prioritise people and the planet… and we’re feeling pretty optimistic about this.