Positive change agency, Think HQ, has won the UNESCO Victorian Creative Cities Network (VCCN) account in a competitive pitch.

The agency will undertake a two-year project of work, across all four cities – Melbourne, Geelong, Ballarat, and Bendigo. The job it has been given is to create a uniting strategy that elevates and promotes the UNESCO VCCN to local, national, and international audiences. Its work will cover strategic communications, content strategy and production, as well as earned media.

The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) was created in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development. It is now made up of over 300 cities working with a common objective – placing creativity and cultural industries at the heart of their development plans at the local level and cooperating actively at the international level.

Victoria is the first and only Australian state to have four cities designated as UNESCO Creative Cities. The four designations are:

• Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature
• Geelong UNESCO City of Design
• Ballarat UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art
• Bendigo UNESCO City of Gastronomy

The VCCN forms a core part of Creative Victoria’s Creative State 2025, a $288 million integrated strategy to support the recovery of creative industries from the impacts of the COVID19 pandemic and position them firmly as a key driver of Victoria’s future prosperity.

Tara Poole, Creative City coordinator, City of Ballarat, stated, “Think HQ impressed the selection panel with their integrated and contemporary approach to our shared strategic communications problem. Campaigns like this don’t come along every day – it’s more than a tourism promotion and greater than a single city’s story on its own. Think HQ’s response to the challenge was exciting and fresh.

“We’re looking forward to working with the team at Think HQ, sharing the varied creative and cultural identities of Australia’s most creative State.”

Jen Sharpe, Think HQ founder and managing director, added, “These are the types of briefs that get us excited and where we can do some of our best work. Strategically and creatively, it’s an awesome challenge as each of the cities is so different – but difference is what drives and inspires us.

“We’ve loved the collaboration between all of the cities so far and can’t wait to start putting the strategy into action,” added Sharpe.