Launch Group

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

FAREWELL NOUGHTY, MAKE WAY FOR THE "TEENIES" - Community-minded Gen Z will stamp its identity on the next decade

Media Release

FAREWELL NOUGHTY, MAKE WAY FOR THE "TEENIES"

Community-minded Gen Z will stamp its identity on the next decade

5 January 2010: It's no surprise Australia's next generation of teenagers have given their imprimatur to names like "the Teenies" or the "Teenties" for the decade ahead. With Generation Z poised to vote,enter the workforce, and become the focus of consumer targeting, this will be their decade.

Other names for the new decade, suggested in a recent survey of more than 2,000 Australian teenagers aged between 12 and 18 years, included: "the uncertainties" and the "tormenting teens." The online research was conducted last week by the world's largest virtual world for teens, Habbo Hotel. A combination of virtual world, game and social media site, Habbo Hotel has more than 4.4 million registered characters in Australia and more than 155 million worldwide.

Indepth research by Habbo Hotel into the attitudes and behavior of Generation Z suggests a more cautious, conservative and community-minded group of young adults is emerging, in contrast to the fame and fortune seeking Generation Y.[1]

"Generation Z is certainly emerging as more of a 'we' generation than the 'me' generation,, said Jeff Brookes Regional Director Asia Pacific, Sulake (Sulake owns Habbo Hotel). "On the whole, they have a strong sense of community and social justice values, and they tend to see through the superficial fairly quickly. For example, they are more likely to see their parents as role models, rather than celebrities or sporting stars. They also regard fairness and the absence of discrimination in the workplace as more important than money or status.

"Despite a high level of concern around issues such as the sustainability of the environment, they are showing up as cautiously optimistic overall," he said.

Key research findings around Generation Z:

Generation Z's most popular goal for 2010 is "just being happy." Also on the New Year's list were resolutions around friendships, fitness and school performance. The classic New Year's resolutions around: weight, romance and money were much lower down the list.
Most teens summed up 2009 as "a year full of surprises." However, any doom and gloom outlook caused by the global financial crisis was absent from teens responses with only 6% calling it "a sad year." More teens claimed it was their "best year ever" (11%) than 4% classifying it as their "worst year ever" (4%). "a difficult year" (15%) as those who claimed it was "a fun year."
The majority of teens (31%) said they are excited about 2010 with 23% saying they will "just wait and see" what the year holds for them and 19% saying they weren't sure what to expect. 15% of teens surveyed said they were nervous about 2010.

Environmental issues:

81% of teens say they are concerned about the environment
Almost one third claim they're more worried about global warming than their parents
Only 11% are happy about the job world leaders are doing about global warming issues; 20% are happy with the job the Australian political leaders are doing
90% of teens believe Australia should be investing in renewable technologies
85% believe they could personally be doing more to help the environment.

If Australia lowers the voting age, will teens vote?

More than half (51%) of teens under 18 said they would be interested in voting and having their say, 6% were unsure and only 13% said no they would not be interested in voting. A further 27% said they wanted to vote - but only when they turn 18 years old.
Almost 66% of Australia's teens say they are interested in politics.
Half (50%) of Australia's teens say they will make independent choices about who they vote for - without the influence of their parents. 22% say they haven't decided whether they will follow their parents voting habits, and 10% say they don't know who their parents vote for.

Teenglish - Habbo's top 25 Buzz teenglish words for 2009:

1. diss - Disrespect
2. fail - Either to show disapproval for something or when someone does fail at something. Sometimes spelt with a "ph" and "epic fail" (or "epic phail") is the highest form of failing.
3. ftw - For the win, used to show enthusiasm for something i.e kittens FTW
4. hai - Hi
5. idc - I don’t care
6. idk - I don’t know
7. ily - love you
8. irl - In real life
9. jks - Jokes
10. k or kk - Ok
11. meh - Indifference, couldn’t care less
12. noob - A new person, newbie but often used to make fun of anyone they don't like
13. pwn, pwned, pwnage - To own someone, beat them at a game or when someone has been taught a lesson.
14. plz - Please
15. props - Proper respect
16. rents, rentz or rentals - Parents
17. rofl - Roll on the floor laughing
18. soz - Sorry
19. srs - Serious, seriously
20. sup - What's up? What's happening? (Normally used: "hey sup")
21. tbh - To be honest
22. totes - Totally
23. ty - Thank you
24. w.e - Whatever
25. zomg - Something even more amazing or shocking than omg

-ends-

Further information: Sally Robertson (02) 9492 1089 or mobile: 0400 927 003

About Habbo Hotel: www.habbo.com.au Habbo Hotel is the world's largest virtual world for teens. Users join by creating a fully customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore many public spaces and thousands of rooms created by other users in the virtual world, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self expression. Currently there are Habbo communities in 31 countries on six continents. To date, over 155 million characters have been created and over 15 million unique users worldwide visit Habbo Hotel each month.

[1] Comprehensive online research on thousands of teens in Australia and around the world demonstrates there is a sub generation of youths with markedly different characteristics and value systems to that of their Gen Y predecessors. The findings are part of nine separate surveys, each of which included an average of 2,000 participants aged 12 to 18 years‐old undertaken by Habbo Hotel during 2009. The research was conducted by Habbo Hotel Australia and developed and analysed by Launch Group.

Labels: Just for Fun, Media Entertainment and Technology, Teen Trends

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Move Over Gen Y: New Research by MCN and Habbo on has some surprising revelations [VIDEO]

The young ones

Forget the baby boomers, move aside Gen Y: the next generation is here and ready to make a difference.
[02:00] news.com.au | 13 May 2009

Watch the video from news.com.au here

Labels: Media Entertainment and Technology, Teen Trends

Monday, May 11, 2009

THE NEXT GENERATION HAS LANDED : Youth Forum Releases Unique Research Defining "Generation Z"

THE NEXT GENERATION HAS LANDED

Youth Forum Releases Unique Research Defining "Generation Z"

12th May, 2009 - Move over Baby Bombers, enough of Generation Y, a new influential generation 'Generation Z' has been identified at a forum today held by Multi Channel Network (MCN), Habbo Australia, and Channel V at the Sydney Opera House.

The Next Generation forum, hosted by Jason Davis aka "Jabba", gave fresh insight to advertisers and marketers about the characteristics, values and media and brand consumption habits of Australian youth in the 13 and 24 year-old demographic. However, the focus of the forum was on the previously undefined teen demographic of 12 -18 year olds who are part of Generation Z.

Speakers at the event included; Paul MacGregor, top Australian blogger and MCN youth strategist; Jeff Brookes, Asia Pacific Director, Habbo.com.au and Sulake; Shaun James, General Manager, Music Channels for XYZ Networks.

* Click here to see the full media release
* Click here to view the presentation
* Click here to see the Global Habbo Youth Survey.

Labels: Media Entertainment and Technology, Teen Trends

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

AUSSIE TEENS MESSAGE TO FUTURE EMPLOYERS

DON'T DISCRIMINATE, I PUT HAPPINESS AHEAD OF MONEY, MY PARENTS ARE MY CAREER ADVISORS 20th, November 2008 - A national survey of more than 2,000 Australians aged 13 to 18 years has revealed that the spirit of egalitarianism runs deep with Australian teenagers who consider the absence of workplace discrimination as the second only to happiness on the job when it comes to selecting their future employer.

The findings are part of an annual Careers survey of 2,273 Australians aged 13 to 18 years released today by Habbo (www.habbo.com.au), the preferred online playground for Australian teenagers with almost a third of Australian teens as regular users. Almost half (47%) of the teen respondents said "career enjoyment" was their primary goal, with 40% selecting the absence of discrimination based on race, gender or sexuality was vital in their choice of employer.

"Earning a lot of money" ranked a distant third - with only 16% of respondents indicating that this is important in their choice of employer or career. The ability to work their way to the top of a company received a favourable response by only 13% of respondents, and "having a positive impact on an issue that affects all Australians" was nominated as important by 9% of teens surveyed. The full announcement can be found here.

Labels: Consumer Trends, Media Entertainment and Technology, Teen Trends