Why Human Interest Storytelling Matters

Human stories sit at the heart of how people understand the world. When experiences are shared with sensitivity, care and purpose, they allow audiences to connect not just with an issue or a headline, but with the people living it. In communications and PR, this kind of storytelling creates depth, trust and meaning in a way that no amount of messaging ever could. It turns awareness into understanding, and visibility into something that lasts.

Sharon Broderick MBE

Over the past year, we have collaborated with more than 30 clients, supporting stories rooted in lived experience across business, charity, media and campaigning. That work has resulted in hundreds of pieces of coverage across the UK media landscape, including BBC News, ITV News, Channel 5 News, Sky News, Good Morning Britain, Morning Live, The One Show, LBC, Times Radio, Hits Radio, Heart, Capital and Smooth, alongside national print and digital titles such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Metro, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Record, HuffPost, The i Paper, Daily Star, The Big Issue, OK!, HELLO!, New Magazine, My Weekly, Great British Life, Digital Spy and FQ Magazine.

But the real value of this work is not the volume of coverage. It is what human interest storytelling makes possible for brands, charities, businesses and individuals who need to build credibility, reach the right people and communicate in a way that feels real rather than rehearsed.

The stories we have supported over the past year have covered a wide range of sensitive and complex issues, from neurodiversity, disability and mental health, to grief, trauma and bereavement, from women’s health, fertility and parenting, to addiction, recovery and identity, and from violence, exploitation and social injustice to military service, conflict and long-term health conditions. These are not abstract topics. They are lived realities, and they deserve to be communicated with precision, compassion and respect.

That approach can be seen clearly in our work with Nicky Wake, whose lived experience of bereavement, addiction, recovery and identity has been the foundation of several purpose-led brands. By sharing her story of hiding alcoholism behind professional success, we helped open a national conversation around high-functioning addiction while also creating powerful visibility for SoberLove and Sober Rebel Society, platforms designed to support people dating and connecting without alcohol.

Nicky Wake with her late husband, Andy

Through stories about solo parenting through grief, we helped bring attention to Chapter 2 Dating and The Widowed Collective, showing how deeply personal experience can also drive community building and platform growth. Her openness about bisexuality later in life similarly created national media moments that supported visibility for platforms including WidowsFire and Gaydar Girls.

With Sam Naughton, founder of Cocoon, we are currently supported the sharing of her pregnancy loss and the fear that followed in subsequent pregnancies. Her story of losing her baby, Willow, and creating a clinic that offered emotional safety alongside clinical care is helping position Cocoon as a deeply human, purpose-driven healthcare brand.

In the neurodiversity space, we worked with Isobel Lepist, founder of At the Millpond, whose late diagnoses of ADHD and autism gave voice to thousands of women who had lived for decades without answers. Her story, spanning childhood, career, burnout and eventual clarity, became the foundation of her coaching and neuro-inclusion consultancy. Similarly, with Claire Quigley Ward and All Aboard ADHD, sharing her journey of late diagnosis, parenting neurodivergent children and building a support platform allowed us to reach national audiences, culminating in major broadcast moments that gave real visibility to families navigating ADHD.

For mission-led organisations, human interest storytelling is often the bridge between mission and public understanding. Our work with Legasee Educational Trust has brought historic and contemporary military experiences into the national conversation, from WRAC veterans like Sharon Broderick MBE, who survived bombings and broke gender barriers, to the son of Sir John Curtiss, whose story connected a new generation to the Berlin Airlift and Falklands campaign. These stories do more than preserve history, they make it relevant, personal and emotionally resonant.

Anne Davies with her late husband, Jeff

With Anne Davies, whose firefighter husband Jeff died suddenly after a late-stage lung cancer diagnosis, we supported a campaign for change that connected personal loss to wider questions about fire service safety, toxic exposure and health screening. Her story gave a human face to a systemic issue, helping drive awareness among firefighters, families and policymakers alike.

We have also supported individuals building public profiles through meaningful disclosure. Gogglebox star Daniel Lustig-Webb sharing his lifelong deafness reframed his public identity around honesty, inclusion and wellbeing. Viral social media creator and podcaster Brett Harman’s story of losing his fiancée to cancer and finding connection through social media became the foundation for Brettflix, a platform built around community, positivity and shared healing.

Traitors UK star Ash Bibi’s account of surviving childhood abuse and living in a women’s refuge brought renewed attention to violence against women and girls. The Great British Bake Off contestant Andy Ryan’s account of ten rounds of IVF gave a rarely heard male perspective on fertility and loss, connecting deeply with families going through similar journeys.

These stories did not exist in isolation. Each one supported something bigger: a brand, a charity, a campaign, a platform or a public profile. That is the power of human interest PR. When lived experience is shared carefully and strategically, it creates connection, credibility and momentum that traditional promotion alone cannot achieve.

Brett Harman

This kind of work also lives far beyond newspapers and news bulletins. Each story becomes the foundation for digital communications, from social storytelling and blogs to podcasts, platform-native video, newsletters, panel events and thought-leadership content. Human interest narratives give organisations and leaders material that can be used consistently across channels, ensuring that when attention comes, it has somewhere meaningful to go.

For businesses, this means deeper brand trust and stronger audience connection. For charities, it means engagement that leads to support and action. For founders, experts and public figures, it means authority that feels earned, not manufactured.

This is why we take human interest storytelling so seriously. It is not about exposure for its own sake. It is about creating visibility that respects people, builds understanding and drives real-world impact.

If you are an entrepreneur, organisation, charity or expert with a story at the heart of what you do, and you want to tell it with care, strategy and purpose, we would love to talk, so please get in touch.