Top Floor
ORPHANED PROJECT GIVES VOICE TO THE WORLD'S FORGOTTEN GENERATION OF 143 MILLION CHILDREN
22nd January 2009, San Diego: American photojournalist and author Don Mirra and cause marketing specialists, The Launch Group, today announced the ORPHANED Project, a global awareness campaign with an associated book and documentary film initiative that documents orphaned children around the world.
The ORPHANED project is the first initiative of its kind to bring a voice to the growing demographic of 143 MILLION orphaned and marginalized children - imparting the need for capable people to get involved rather than exist as by-standers to the tragedy.
"The growing global demographic of Orphans is an issue that needs international attention and urgent action," said Mirra. "The statistics are unthinkable to those who believe all children, regardless of race, religion or economic circumstance, should have a right to love and a humane existence. Every Hour 5760 children become Orphans and 1,667 under 5 die from malnutrition and preventable diseases. But beyond the numbers and the sheer scale of the tragedy, the real challenge is those of us in privileged and developed nations to see the common human story amidst the tragedy; to appreciate the equal value of any human life".
Launch Group CEO, Fleur Brown said: "The images and cinematography in the Orphaned project give a view beyond the stereotype of poor people in undeveloped countries to highlight the beauty, hopes and dreams of the individual child. We aim to make the terrible viewable - to help the viewer to emotionally connect with these children, and to feel stirred into action.
http://www.orphanedproject.com
http://au.youtube.com/user/orphanedproject
Further information: Fleur@launchgroup.com.au or donmirra@mac.com
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.
Other key findings from the Habbo teen survey include:
- 32% of respondents said parents are the main influence on their career choice, 18% said friends.
- 81% of respondents said they don�t feel pressured to choose a career
- 37% think 'willingness to learn' is the most important attribute employers are looking for, followed by qualifications (24%), and work experience (19%).
- 44% of respondents said that they would attend university after school, 20% said they would study and work at the same time, 11% were unsure and 10% said they would go to TAFE.
- 30% of respondents believed they would only have one career, 31% were unsure yet, 23% said two and 8% said as many as they could.
- 34% of respondents wanted to own their own business someday, 42% were unsure and 24% did not want to.
- 58% of respondents said their careers were very important to them, 39% thought careers were 'important' and 2% thought they were not so important.
Jeff Brookes, Regional Director Asia Pacific, Sulake, explains, �The annual Habbo Careers Survey provides powerful insight into the deciding factors around teenager�s career choices, the importance they place on careers and what they look for in employers. The results highlight differences between the current 13 to 18 year olds when compared to Generation Y. You could say this next generation is more like "Generation Equality" and they value their parent's opinions over money when it comes to choosing their careers. They are also quite down to earth, identifying their ultimate career goal as enjoying their work rather than earning a lot of money, becoming famous or working their way to the top of a company which are more typical choices by previous generations.
"There are currently 810,000 Australian teenagers aged between 13 and 18 years of age and 260, 000 of them use Habbo. We decided to conduct this survey to reveal some of the misconceptions that the younger generations held similar values and morals. We will continue to poll our users to help provide a greater understanding of Generation Equality", said Brookes.
Female (49%) and male (51%) Habbo users were polled about their attitudes to careers and how these were developed, what career paths they would take, what mattered to them when choosing a career or company to work for and their career goals. Public school students represented 67% of the responses, private school students represented 30% and 3% were home schooled.
For more information please contact:
Emily Venardos
E: emily@launchgroup.com.au
Australia's Favourite Teen Playground Chooses Launch
Habbo after appoints Launch Group after competitive pitch.
06 August 2008: The world's largest virtual world for teenagers, Habbo Australia, will be increasing its profile in the Australian and New Zealand market in the coming twelve months and has awarded its public relations account to the Launch Group (Launch), after a competitive pitch.
Established in 2004 by Sulake, Habbo Australia is a combination of a teen virtual world and a social networking online game where Habbos (
virtual representations of members), socialise, play games and create user-generated content. Globally, Habbo is one of the world's largest virtual game sites with 100 million registered Habbos across 31 communities and countries (Source: Sulake Statistics March 2008) Most (70%) of Habbo's users are aged 13-16 years, equally distributed between girls and boys.
Launch CEO Fleur Brown said she was excited to add Habbo to Launch's client portfolio. "Habbo is a unique account, and a leading brand in Australia for teens, who are emerging as a sought-after and generally advertising-astute demographic. We look forward to delving deeper into Habbo's innovative teen research, and communicating some of the insights around this elusive but powerful demographic. "
"We're looking forward to pushing traditional boundaries and presenting some groundbreaking non-traditional public relations work with Habbo, particularly in the digital arena,"
Sulake Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Jeff Brookes said he was attracted to Launch because of the fresh, insightful ideas presented. "We met with several Sydney PR agencies and thought that Launch Group were head and shoulders above the others in the market. Launch stood out because they think outside the box and are full of cost-effective ideas that I know will work. They also understand the nuances of communicating in the digital world, as well as traditional media. Their boutique size and agility is also an attractive quality, as I know ideas won't be caught up in the approval line. We are confident that the Launch Group will significantly raise our profile in both the B2B and consumer arenas."
Launch Group Training
Understanding Social Media - Coaching Program
Beth Powell, Launch business communications consultant and trainer, has developed a new coaching program to assist executives and managers to understand the social media. The coaching is being offered as a public course, a customised program for up to 6 participants from a single organisation or an individual coaching program.
It is clear that despite its growing impact on everyday business outcomes, the world of online communications remains a confusing and jargonistic environment. Is your website up-to-date? How relevant are social media such as blogs, Facebook and wikis to your everyday business outcomes? Should your staff be using them? How can you capitalize on the best of online communication - safely and cost-effectively?
These questions prompted the development of a simple coaching program to demystify this area. The training is tailored to your needs and level of understanding and delivered in plain English. There is no need to be technically experienced to take part - in fact the opposite. See our brochure on the Internet and Social Media Coaching Program below.
The Public courses are being offered in Sydney on 5th August and in Melbourne 2nd Sept. Early bird offers and available.
We are also offering a discount for organisations who book a customised program for July and August 2008. Don't miss out, book your place or contact us for further information. See the brochure here.
PR Firm keen to taste the Big Apple
B & T Magazine, December 2007
Boutique PR firm Launch Group has expanded to London and Singapore, with plans to break into the New York market within a year. Fleur Brown, founder and director of the four-year-old-agency, said its global expansion is a result of new and existing clients looking to stretch offshore. The agency has won several pieces of business over the last month, four of which are yet to be revealed. It has been handed the national and UK brief for the Alcohol Education & Rehabilitation Foundation which encompassers community education and government relations. Existing clients looking to use Launch's services overseas include Alpha One, Peter Sheahan and Janellis. The other wins yet to be disclosed include a global national direct mail company, which will be launching a new service in February. It has also picked up the accounts for a new finance company "with a property focus", a major transportation company, and the global business for a reputation management business which will launch in January. Read the full article from B and T Magazine here.
Online is anyone's domain
Marketing Magazine Digital Survival Guide - September 2007 Issue
The digital revolution has given the Public Relations industry its first real opportunity in decades to re-invent itself "if it moves swiftly" and to shift from content brokers to content creators writes Fleur Brown.
We're a cheerful bunch in the Public Relations industry; yet it's not easy to remain poised and persuasive whilst enduring years of mindless prattle about your profession.
"What is it you do again? You're so lucky to go to all those glamorous events."
Not everyone in our industry gets relegated to the air kissing, champagne swilling set. There's also the corporate PR-stereotype who is considered part media guard-dog, part media broker. This person "knows everyone" including a journalist mate you need to speak to about your big profile story, or the "fix it guy" who can rescue you from a painful media expose. The assumption being that it's always 'who' rather than what we know that will secure a client outcome.
It's not that we're not good at what we do - our clients know on an instinctive level that we make a necessary and powerful contribution to their business. But asking them to describe what we do for them can be a real conversation killer. Read the full article here
Calls for energy star rating system for IT products as part of a green ICT industry policy
August 2007: The Australian Computer Society (ACS), the nation's peak professional body for the ICT sector, today delivered Australia's first ICT carbon emissions audit, revealing that ICT use by Australian businesses generated 7.94 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide in 2005, which is the close equivalent to the civil aviation and the metal production Industries.
For the full release, please click here.
Bravehearts and Myspace Australia announce alliance
May 07: The world's most popular social networking site, MySpace today announced a ground-breaking partnership with Australia's leading child protection advocate, Bravehearts. The project, which has been in development for months, has been aptly named -Respect MySpace- in an effort to provide education and support to their millions of users online.
ACS Year Strategic Vision for Australia's Information and Communications Technology sector
May 07: In an Australian first, initiated and directed by the ACS within NICTIA (National ICT Industry Alliance), a 10 year strategic vision was launched for development of the Australian information and communications technology (ICT) industry. The document articulates a 10 year vision for Australia that will nurture and enhance an environment conducive to innovation, which underpins Australia's economic prosperity.
VEDA Advantage - Dealing with Debt
May 07: Individuals on the road to bankruptcy begin to display warning signs 18 months prior to declaring, a Veda Advantage study based around the credit behaviour of more than 30 000 Australians has revealed. According to the study those heading for bankruptcy register 48 times more defaults than non bankrupt people in the six months prior to bankruptcy. Consumers are also five times more likely to apply for a personal loan in the six to twelve month period prior to bankruptcy.
AER/ Fresh Party - Social experiment keeps crowd high and dry.
April 07: In a world-first, the AER Foundation launched its FRESH Party concept at the Hordern Pavilion on April 14 to a throng of 3000+ 18-30 year-old partygoers. FRESH Party is a social experiment that was conceived to combat the growing problem of binge drinking amongst Gen Y. Arriving at the end of the drug and alcohol-fraught outdoor festival season, FRESH Party presents a healthy alternative to the standard day party shenanigans. Offering a star-studded line-up of musical performances, celebrities guests, a world-class fashion show and a range of interactive multimedia elements such a Mambo's Make Your Own T-Shirt booth and destra Media�s NICE SHORTS film screening, FRESH Party guests were treated to four hours of non-stop action on the stage and throughout the venue. The message on the day is not to become a teetotaller; it is simply that binge drinking is ugly, harmful and unnecessary for a good time.