Havas launches new segmentation model as ‘me-ship’ replaces mateship in post-Covid Australia

Havas Australia has unveiled a new segmentation model to help marketers better understand a major shift in national values, as new research reveals Australians are increasingly turning inward, prioritising personal goals, financial security and self-fulfilment over traditional values like mateship and community.

The agency’s 2025 Aussie Futures report, released today, shows that security has overtaken health, freedom and community to become Australia’s number one value, as years of turbulence, from the pandemic to economic and geopolitical uncertainty, reshape what Australians want from life and from brands.

The study, based on a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 Australians conducted by YouGov, identifies six key personal needs emerging across the country and introduces a new segmentation framework based on those drivers. The six new segments are Support Seekers, Caring Connectors, Aspiring Altruists, Enjoyment Explorers, Progress Pioneers and Status Seekers, each tied to a distinct core need, from connection and progress to self-agency and escape.

Havas has dubbed the broader trend “me-ship”, which it says highlights a shift away from collectivist ideals like mateship and community and toward individual progress and personal fulfilment. In 2022, 58% of Australians said mateship was an important national value. Today, it ranks 17th.

Only 24% of Australians now report a strong sense of community, and less than half say social groups are essential to achieving their life goals. At the same time, 54% of respondents said they feel more optimistic about their personal futures than they do about the future of the nation. Nearly half said success, for them, means achieving financial stability.

Olly Taylor, chief strategy officer at Havas Creative Network Australia, said the new segmentation model offers marketers a more meaningful way to connect with audiences.

“Brands can only add value if they first understand what is meaningful to Australians. By segmenting the nation on six crucial needs for people to fulfil their dreams, we have given marketers a new way to identify audiences, meet their needs and connect with them,” he said.

Taylor added that marketers often overcomplicate what people actually want from brands. “Marketers sometimes lose sight of what people actually want from brands, which is to improve their lives. People consistently say: ‘I want them to be transparent, and I want them to help me’ - rather than simply make a profit,” he said.

“From a communications perspective, just because your brand needs to play a practical role doesn’t mean you have to be practical and boring in how you speak. You probably need to up the entertainment value to connect, but don’t lose sight of the substance behind what you’re selling.”

Mitchell Long, chief strategy officer at Havas Media Network Australia, said the report was designed as a practical tool, not just a trends snapshot. “The intention of our research is not to act as a standalone report, but as a usable playbook for brands to forge more meaningful connections with the needs defining Australians in the current climate,” he said.

“There are big themes coming out of it. People want brands to be more practical, they want brands to be more supportive, they want brands to be more transparent and put their money where their mouth is - all this has ramifications for how brands need to change their behaviour in market.”

Long said the six segments were grounded in universal needs, but the current economic and political climate was shifting how Australians prioritise them. “When you look at those segments, they’re really defined around needs - and those needs are universal - but the weight that Australians are putting on different needs in this macroeconomic climate is shifting. How brands need to show up is quite different.”

He also noted a growing perception that businesses are more confident and capable than government when it comes to delivering stability. “We’ve seen this trend for a while now - people see business, and especially big business, as more certain and more confident than government when it comes to handling change and providing everyday support,” he said. “In a period of both global and local uncertainty - economic and political - there’s even more demand for brands to make a tangible difference and to help people.”

“Now it’s about being more practical, more real, more authentic - and showing up in ways that genuinely support the needs of Australians.”