2009

The Next Generation has Landed

Youth Forum Releases Unique Research Defining “Generation Z”

• Informed purchasers: Gen Z love advertising, but research carefully before deciding
• Gen Z cares less about fame & fortune than Gen Y & more about enjoying their work
• Brands must align with Gen Z values: altruistic, environmentally aware & community-minded

Move over Baby Boomers, enough of Gen Y, ‘Generation Z’ is the influential new consumer group to watch, Singapore’s leading marketers, government representatives and top youth brands were told at the Next Generation forum.

The Forum unveiled the results of more than 12 months of research into the characteristics, values and media and brand consumption habits of Singapore youth currently in the teenage demographic – otherwise known as Generation Z.

The comprehensive online research features responses from thousands of teens in Singapore, South East Asia and around the world, and demonstrates there is a sub generation of youths with markedly different characteristics and value systems to that of their Gen Y predecessors. (Generation Y is a globally recognised name for the high profile generation of youth currently aged between 19 and 30 years old.)

For more information and to view the entire press release please press the link:
GenZFINAL.DOC

Launch Group Supports Movember

Movember is a fantastic Aussie initiative (now gone global). This annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlights men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men. (See: www.movember.com)

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men-s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partners – The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative.

Launch Group share this classic and clever MO-vertisement … in honour of all the Mo Bros. (Don’t mind the subtitles.)

Visit –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2EdEDVej2A&translated=1

NEW RESEARCH: The Financially Responsible Generation, With an Appetite for Credit

‘FORGET ME KNOT DAY’ – 13th November: Support Australian Adult Survivors to Untangle the Knot of Child Abuse

Friday 13th November is ASCA’s ‘Forget-me-knot Day’, when all Australians are encouraged to show their support for more than two million adult Australians personally affected by childhood abuse, as part of an International Week For Prevention of Child Abuse.

The knot in ‘Forget-me-knot’ Day is symbolic of the ‘tangle’ of childhood abuse, which in most cases is a lifelong challenge for the adult to unravel. For this largely ignored group, untangling the knot of childhood abuse is often a solitary, confusing and complex task.

ASCA’s ‘Forget-me-knot Day’ raises awareness of this struggle, and gives all Australians an opportunity to donate, and help adult survivors to reconnect with their community.

To view the entire press release please click the below link: ForgetMeKnotDay.doc

For more information please visit: www.asca.org.au/forgetmeknot

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

Watch the video from news.com.au here

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.

Aggregation Forces Journalistic Evolution

News Outlets Must Accept That Consumers Want More Content Faster – and Don’t Care Who Creates It by Michael Learmonth and Nat Ives

March 30, 2009: NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — A link on the Drudge Report can drive hundreds of thousands of views of: a news story, bringing a host of new readers and — here’s hoping — some ad revenue to go with them. But most of the many, many sites aggregating other people’s content can’t deliver that much traffic, and some don’t even try.

What’s more, a vast swath of readers couldn’t care less about anything deeper than a headline, which is a problem for the nation’s beleaguered journalistic institutions as they try to find a sustainable model for newsgathering on the web. Read the full story from Ad Age here.

GREEN TEEN CRUSADERS: ARE AUSSIE TEENS OUR MOST ECO-CONSCIOUS GENERATION?

World First as Habbo Hotel shuts down its virtual world for Earth Hour, 28th March 25 March 2009 – A survey of more than 4,000 Australian teens has revealed that the environment is still a major issue with 81 % saying they are concerned about the environment and 85% believing they could be doing more to help the environment.

The findings are part of a survey of 4,012 Australians aged 12 to 18 years old released today by Habbo (www.habbo.com.au), Australia’s most popular online playground for teenagers with 278,509 unique visitors a month. In response to Australian teens’ environmental concerns, Habbo will be the first Australian virtual world to close down for one hour at 8:30 PM AEDT in support of Earth Hour on Saturday 28th March 2009. Read the media release which includes survey results here.

PR Builds Brand for Complex Products Better than Ads

Earned media that results from public relations efforts may be more important than advertising to brand value, especially for companies that sell feature-rich, high-involvement and complicated products such as consumer electronics, and financial services and vehicles, finds a survey by Text 100 and Context Analytics.

The findings of the “Media Prominence Study,” (pdf) which calculates brand value based on Interbrand’s 2008 Best Global Brands report, show that on average 27% of brand value is tied to how often the brand name appears in the press.

In industries that involve more research before purchases are made, the editorial content that results from PR can account for nearly half of brand value. For example, in the computing industry, media prominence accounted for 48% of brand value, or 16 times that of the personal care industry (4%). Similarly, media prominence in the automotive, consumer electronics and financial services industries was 23%, 20% and 19% respectively.

See the full article here.

ORPHANED PROJECT GIVES VOICE TO THE WORLD’S FORGOTTEN GENERATION OF 143 MILLION CHILDREN

22nd January 2009: 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. Read the full announcement here.