Former Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks has joined pioneering Behaviour Change communications agency, The Shannon Company (TSC) as the new Chair commencing 1 September.
Steve Bracks was elected to the Victorian parliament in 1994 and was among the first Australian politicians to embrace Behaviour Change science. It became a feature of his many reforms for the state of Victoria, particularly during his premiership (1999-2007).
Bracks said he is excited to “help lead and guide TSC in this brave new world of Behaviour Change”.
“This is an important opportunity to inspire change willingly and for good on a global scale. I look forward to rebooting my relationship with The Shannon Company, who I have worked with in government (Our Water Our future, WorkSafe) and in corporate life with Industry Super Funds and Cbus.
“Now more than ever, governments and businesses need to look at better and more clever ways to help us build a more sustainable world. Behaviour Change interventions and communications have such an important role to play as we tackle many of our major global challenges such as climate change, diversity, social inclusion, food safety, health crises and creating alternative clean energy resources and products to destructive fossil fuels.”
In 2022, The Shannon Company celebrates 30 years of leading this power of change revolution, inspiring change for good using behaviour science.
TSC’s transformative campaigns have included ‘Compare the Pair’ for Industry Super Funds (and recall the ‘Fox and Hens’ content film playing in the Banking Royal Commission), ‘Our Water. Our Future’ (when Melbourne was wilting in the Millennium drought), ‘Homecomings’ (WorkSafe), the ‘Home Stretch #makeit21’ national foster care reform, ‘Laugh Without Leaking’ for World Continence Week, ‘This Girl Can’ (Vic Govt), TAC’s ‘Give us space to ride safe’ for safer cycling and the ‘Call it out’ and authentic story campaigns to prevent violence against women, LGBTQI people and older people (Respect Victoria).
Managing director, Michael Daddo said that Bracks, as TSC’s new Chair, will be instrumental in “helping leaders embrace the power of an inspiring change narrative and the curation of behavioural interventions to change behaviour – for good.”
“When Steve Bracks was first elected as Premier of Victoria in 1999, it was his collective sentiment/ narrative that helped guide his new government and tackle serious issues like the Millennium Drought and Workplace Safety.
“We believe Melbourne is arguably the international hub for Behaviour Change. When you look at the significant programs introduced by the state starting way back in 1969, being the first place in the world to introduce mandatory seatbelt legislation thanks to the powerful public campaign led by the Sun Herald ‘Declare War on 1034’. Beyond road safety, our leadership in anti-smoking, workplace safety, water conservation, establishing the world’s first health promotion foundation and addressing family violence in all its forms; it’s hard to think of any other place who has achieved so much.”
In 2011, The Shannon Company became a co-founder and partner of BehaviourWorks – Australia’s leading behavioural research centre located at Monash University – who find behavioural solutions to major societal and organisational challenges.
