by Myrna Van Pelt, Managing Partner, Corporate, HAVAS Red Australia
As a media trainer and a comms consultant, I spend much of my time preparing executives for the spotlight.
CEOs. Board directors. Senior leaders navigating high-stakes environments where reputation, clarity and confidence can shape markets. Media training at that level is about precision and landing with an authentic voice. It’s about refining messages, aligning to strategy and delivering with authority.
But recently, I was given an opportunity that reminded me why communications matters, far beyond the boardroom. An opportunity to work pro bono with three brothers who had previously not spoken to the media before.
Malik, Ron and Jaylek, the founders of Bros and Cons, are not traditional media spokespeople. Far from it.
Before entering Australia’s competitive podcast landscape, the Polynesian Australian brothers were known for lives shaped by crime, prison sentences and environments many Australians will never experience firsthand. Today, they are actively dismantling that identity.
Through their fast-growing platform, they are sharing stories of discipline, faith, accountability and redemption, consciously rejecting the very narratives that once defined them. Their content has already reached tens of millions globally, built not on outrage or controversy, but on lived experience and authenticity.
When they came to us, they didn’t need media polish. They just needed space to find their voice.
The media training engagement with the boys was fundamentally different.
There were no pre-existing comms frameworks. No investor narratives. No board-approved messaging.
Instead, there were three individuals navigating:
The fundamentals of media training still applied; structure, message discipline, and understanding the interview dynamic. But the emotional weight was entirely different. Overall, the session with the boys wasn’t so much about protecting reputation. It was about rebuilding identity.
The most rewarding part of this journey was watching their confidence grow in real time. From initial hesitation to clarity of purpose. From uncertainty to conviction. By the time we supported them into media interviews, including coverage in Marketing-Interactive, and in B&T, two leading trade magazines in Australia, they weren’t just telling a story. They were owning it, reshaping it and being heard.
Too often, stories about former inmates are told about them, not by them. What Bros and Cons are doing, and what media training enables, is a shift in authorship.
They are no longer subjects of the story. They are the storytellers.
This experience resonated so strongly because it reflects the very core of HAVAS Red’s approach to purpose communications.
At HAVAS Red, purpose is not about statements or surface-level sentiment. It is about authentic, demonstrable impact, moving from words to action, and from messaging to meaning.
It is also deeply people-first:
Our work with Bros and Cons wasn’t a campaign. It was purpose in practice.
Helping three men reclaim their narrative aligns directly with how we think about communications as a force for good, shaping conversations, building trust, and enabling voices that might otherwise go unheard. HAVAS Red’s philosophy reinforces that purpose-led communications must be authentic, lived and embedded into action, not simply articulated.
Communications professionals often talk about “giving brands a voice.”
But this experience was a reminder that our role can, and should, extend far beyond commercial outcomes.
We have the tools to:
The question is how often we choose to use those tools in service of stories that truly matter.
Bros and Cons identified a gap in the media landscape and a lack of representation for voices shaped by lived experience, not commentary. By helping them step into that gap, we supported a movement.
There is something uniquely fulfilling about applying your professional expertise in a way that changes the trajectory of someone’s story. For me, working with these three brothers was exactly that. It was a reminder that media training is not just about performance.
Sometimes, the most impactful work we do, isn’t with the most polished voices in the room, but with those who are finding theirs for the very first time.
Take the next step and reach out today.
