Tradigital Tourism Insights: A Podcast by Digital Relativity
Welcome to Tradigital Tourism Insights: A Podcast by Digital Relativity hosted by Pat Strader, founder and CEO of Digital Relativity. Join us as we explore the fascinating intersection of traditional and digital marketing in the travel and tourism industry. Each episode delves into hot topics like personalization, the transformative role of AI, and inspiring real-world marketing campaigns. We will share insights, case studies, and thought-provoking discussions that will equip you to navigate the dynamic landscape of travel marketing. Tradigital Tourism Insights is your ticket to understanding and harnessing the power of marketing in the travel industry. Join us on this journey and stay ahead of the curve in the ever-changing world of travel and tourism marketing.
Tradigital Tourism Insights: A Podcast by Digital Relativity
OpenAI Announces Sora // American Travel Sentiment Study Wave 82 // Barilla's Spotify Channel // Travel Trends 2024
In this episode of Tradigital Tourism Insights, the show explores the technology Sora; an innovative text to video model developed by OpenAI. The program delves into the technical aspects of Sora and discusses its potential for revolutionizing video creation. The episode then shifts focus to a study on American travel sentiment and how financial concerns are influencing travelers’ choices and behaviors. Following that, spotlight is placed on an innovative and creative marketing campaign by Barilla Pasta that blended music and cooking. Finally, the show sees an examination of travel trends, including motivations for cultural exploration and the balancing act between luxury and budget.
00:00 Introduction to Digital Tourism Insights
00:43 Tech Spotlight: Sora, OpenAI's Text to Video Model
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2024/ai-video-sora-openai-flaws/
https://www.theringer.com/2024/2/28/24085364/will-ai-video-replace-hollywood-open-ai-sora
https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1aspxox/explanation_of_openais_sora_by_jim_fan_nvidias/
https://twitter.com/drjimfan/status/1758210245799920123?s=46&t=XNcOsqyq6z3Fp3ZNc2ibMA
02:37 Deep Dive into Sora's Technology
07:11 Research Roundup: American Travel Sentiment Study
https://longwoods-intl.com/american-travel-sentiment-study-wave-82
12:12 Destination Spotlight: Creative Campaigns
https://thinkbastien.com/brand-strategy-blog/barilla-spotify-playlist
https://www.marketingdive.com/news/barilla-cooks-up-pasta-timer-playlists-on-spotify/593694/
15:32 Travel Trends: Shifts in Traveler Behavior
https://traveltrends.skyscanner.com/
18:58 Conclusion and Contact Information
hello and welcome to Digital Tourism Insights, a podcast by Digital Relativity. I'm your host, Pat Strader, founder and CEO 20 years of experience in travel and tourism marketing. And I invite you to join me for a quick look at industry trends, research, emerging technologies, and real talk on what works, what doesn't, and why. So grab a coffee, a beer, or a cocktail, there is no judgment here, and let's have some fun with an honest and irreverent look into the nitty gritty of travel and tourism marketing. In today's tech spotlight, we are going to be looking at Sora, OpenAI's innovative text to video model that was officially introduced on February 16th of 2024. Currently, Sora is accessible only to a limited group of testers, including red team testers, assessing the risks and small number of visual creatives that are providing some feedback. Now the red teams if that's a new term for you, they are literally trying to break this to make sure that it is Safe and not going to be compromised. How's that? But this approach to getting this feedback is going to allow OpenAI to refine the model based on real world use and feedback. While there is no clear timeline at this moment for public release, OpenAI has hinted at just ongoing testing and improvements of the model. With the anticipated focus groups involving policymakers, educators, other stakeholders, including creatives, to address concerns and manage the model's deployment in a responsible way. Sora represents a significant advancement in AI driven video generation, offering the potential to create incredibly highly realistic and detailed video clips. From text prompts. If you have not seen any of the videos that have been generated by Sora, I highly encourage you to visit OpenAI. Visit their website, that is, and, and you can see some of these videos for yourselves that are based upon the prompts. But in essence, Sora represents a groundbreaking advancement in AI technology, obviously in the realm of the video production, but is harnessing sophisticated neural networks and algorithms Sora has the potential to truly revolutionize how videos are created, setting new standards for quality and efficiency in their generation. Now here is where things are about to get weird. This is a detailed explanation of how Sora works. Now, this is Much different than other video AI tools that are currently out there and I'm going to share some information with you that is frankly really in the weeds. I think that it's important to at least talk about these concepts so that we can all begin to familiarize ourselves with what this new terminology is as this AI revolution continues to take place. SORA, this is what is known as a 3D Convolutional Neural Network, 3D CNN as it's referred to. What exactly is that? It's an advanced type of neural network, and it's particularly adept at processing data with a spatial and temporal dimension. such as videos unlike 2D CNNs that are great for image recognition or analyzing pixels in two dimensions. The 3D CNNs take it a step further and analyzing the change in pixels over time. I know I know what is happening here, but this third dimension, we are in the future y'all. This third dimension. Well, it allows the network to capture motion and changes within the video, making it incredibly useful for video analysis and tasks like action recognition, classification, just all different types of things that can happen here that are just, frankly, mind blowing. But, Sora is also what is known as a vector quantized variational autoencoder. Oh boy. Uh, yeah, so. A vector quantized variational autoencoder is a machine. It is a learning model that aims at compressing data, such as images and videos, into lower dimensional representations, encoding, before reconstructing it back to its original form, decoding, with minimal loss in quality. Is a VQ VAE is what this is known as, but these VQ VAE models Are known for their ability to generate super high quality reconstructions and are used in generating high res images and videos from compressed data. I know, this is a lot, but again, I'm just trying to get this out here so that we can all start to learn this new language. As we were talking about these, but when you combine. A 3D CNN with a VQ VAE for video compression. You're essentially leveraging, I didn't write this, okay, I'm reading a description that I found that was written by people that are clearly way smarter than I am. But you are essentially leveraging the spatial, temporal understanding, and analysis capabilities of a 3D CNN with the efficient, High quality reconstruction abilities of the VQVAE. What the hell does that even mean? Here's the thing. Know that Sora is coming. This tool is like nothing I have ever seen before. Again, if you are unfamiliar with what this is, please go to OpenAI's website and just view for yourself. I think it's going to be quite some time before it does find its way to public access that we can all get in there and just see exactly how this works, how to leverage it, and just what is going to be done with this. But this is The future, this is tinfoil hat kind of stuff, if you will. But I'll be honest with you. It's a little frightening, but it is also incredibly exciting to see the velocity of change that is happening with some of these AI based tools. And you'll hear me say this over and over any AI tool that is out there right now. As of today, is the worst that it will ever be. So, Sora, start to familiarize yourself with it. So that when it does come out and it is publicly available, we'll all have an understanding of what we should, could, potentially do with a tool of this type. In today's research roundup, we are going to be looking at the American Travel Sentiment Study. This is Wave 82. This is research that is conducted by Longwoods International and the Miles Partnership. This is free, readily available, incredibly insightful. If you are not taking advantage of leveraging this research please start. It is incredibly helpful and, we're very fortunate. In my opinion, for those of us in travel and tourism marketing to have these types of research projects that are available to us for free. So, some of the highlights of this study are looking at financial concerns with travel planning, gas prices, inflation, rising airfare costs, things like that. It's also looking at some of the travel motivators that are, The impetus for folks, to plan leisure travel and then of great interest, with AI being so top of mind and frankly, a buzzword for all of us. it also looks at the use of chat GPT in trip planning. As travel marketers, it's really important that we understand these trends. It's crucial for us in tailoring our strategies, so that we can meet these needs of travelers. We're, very fortunate that we have this type of information that is available to us, to help us as we plan our marketing., and advertising strategies. But this study, it reveals that financial concerns are a significant factor in influencing travel plans. Many travelers are choosing destinations that are closer to home, they're reducing their travel spending, uh, and there appears to be a clear shift towards more budget conscious travel decisions. Transportation costs, such as gas prices, are a key concern. The inflation and airfare prices are starting to squeeze some travel budgets for those and leading to changes in travel behavior. And this trend really underscores the importance of offering value driven travel packages and promotions that can help address those travelers financial concerns. On the brighter note, the study shows that the main motivations for leisure travel remains strong with rest and relaxation, spending time with family and friends, seeking new experiences, improving mental health, top of those lists. And these motivations provide real opportunities for marketers to create campaigns that resonate with these emotional and these experiential desires that travelers are expressing. So one thing that is also part of this, I'm really glad to see this in, I realized that it's probably a personal preference as my interest in how AI is impacting travel and tourism marketing. But this takes a look at the use of AI tools specifically in this case, Chad, GPT. in the trip planning process and CHAT GPT use. And the study indicates that a percentage of respondents have used CHAT GPT in their trip planning. This is all within the last six months. Um, but I think some of these numbers that I'm about to share with you, hopefully, you'll view as real opportunities. Before I dive into that, I, I do know that there's this prevailing thought by many in this industry and just. In general, about feeling behind in understanding this rapidly changing landscape, that's influenced by AI. There's plenty of opportunities here, and we need to all continue to learn about what these are. But when we look at the usage statistics that are presented in this study, approximately 14 percent of respondents reported using ChatGPT to plan their trips. The awareness level Interestingly, about 12 percent of respondents admitted to not knowing what ChatGPT is. And so, this highlights, the opportunity when we look at that, 14 percent have used ChatGPT, which 12 percent have not. Use Chat GPT, and then we have that just massive swath of individuals there in the middle that may be aware of Chat GPT But are not using it currently to plan travel so all this to say That again, there's some great opportunities to learn about how we can leverage These AI tools that I do feel that people will see increasingly higher rates of adoption and using them for travel planning. And it gives us great opportunities to continue to learn how to leverage these tools and just some really fascinating stuff in this study. And I highly encourage you to visit the link in the show notes and download this report and let me know what you think. In today's destination spotlight, we are going to break the rules. This is going to be looking at a campaign versus a destination. And this is actually outside of the scope of travel and tourism. And I feel that this is very creative. This isn't new. This is a campaign that was launched in 2021, but If you haven't seen this yet, I think that you're going to find this incredibly interesting and creative. I hope it provides just a little bit of inspiration for you. But this is Barilla. I had to look that up to make sure that I was pronouncing it in the authentic Italian way. Barilla Pasta has partnered with Spotify and they launched an inventive campaign that really resonated with pasta lovers, how's that? And they created a series of playlists, each with durations that match the perfect cooking time for their pasta, from al dente spaghetti to perfectly cooked tender fusilli. The brilliance behind this campaign, it lies in the simplicity and the utility. Each playlist, named after a different pasta type, features a mix of songs curated to entertain while you cook. It's a creative solution to a common problem. Waiting for your pasta to cook without overdoing it. You can choose from playlists like the mixed tape spaghetti, boom bap fusili, the moody day linguine, best song penne, and the list goes on. And again, this is, this is really fun, very creative. And this move, it not only showcased Barilla's brand in a new light, but also deepened their engagement. And they entered into a space where they were least expected to be seen. And Barilla made everyday cooking an event to look forward to. A blending of art, music, food, into a memorable experience here. And I've cobbled together some, from some different resources. You're going to find links to lots of different things about this campaign in the show notes. This was wildly successful and on Spotify, they have 440, 000 plus followers the success of this campaign even spilled over into Tik Tok where you can find dozens upon dozens of videos on tech talk that are talking about the burrito brand. The media coverage was very impressive, with a global PR reach of over 1. 1 billion, and hundreds upon hundreds of articles including highly targeted websites and publications, such as Delish, The Food Network, many other high profile publications. So, for those of us in travel and tourism, what can we learn from this? I think it's the creativity, the unexpected, considering partnerships that can elevate the customer experience in ways that are unexpected, whether it's through music, art, technology, gauging your audience where they least expect it can have a real lasting impression. So if we kind of wrap this up and again, um, sharing this with you, hopefully it's a, a Piece of inspiration, but engaging your audience with ultra creative solutions that, that blend utility and entertainment. It can transform the mundane into the memorable. In today's Travel Trends, we are going to be taking a look at a recently published study from Skyscanner that focuses in on the shifts that are shaping how travelers explore, experience, and enjoy their travels. As travelers are increasingly prioritizing cultural exploration, it's important that we recognize the immersive and the authentic experiences that travelers are seeking. From gig trippers that are using the music scene and concerts as the centerpiece of their travel to budget conscious food enthusiasts. And the quest for genuine cultural immersion is driving travel decisions for many. So this surge in cultural curiosity signals what I think is a broader movement towards valuing experiences over possessions. This is nothing new, but it's really great to have. Some additional information just to support that and to help us as marketers and, to highlight our local traditions, cuisines, arts, and our marketing and advertising strategies and campaigns. So, simultaneously, the trend of cost conscious, quote unquote, luxe experiences showcases travelers balance between luxury and budget. Even amidst economic cautions, we discussed in our research segment from the recent Longwoods study, the desire for enhanced experiences, better meals, upgrades, it remains a strong driver of travel decisions. But this quote unquote lux for less mindset, it opens up some real opportunities I feel for brands to Find ways to offer premium experiences at accessible price points and just cater to the things that travelers are telling us that they're seeking. Further, the travel landscape is diversifying, but they have identified seven key trends, and these are based around culture led and also Behavior led types of things. So again, gig tripping is one that they refer to. This is really interesting. Uh, you know, myself as a music lover, we have traveled as a family, to concerts, taking flights and planned trips around musical experiences. We're seeing more and more of that happening. We're also seeing these folks that are seeking analog adventures. Using analog tools like film cameras and things like that is, it's a really interesting look at some of the things that are driving travel decisions and how people are experiencing their travel. The travel industry as it involves, these trends are really important and insightful for us as travel and tourism professionals. To continue to tap into the. Desires that travelers are telling us that they're seeking. And so it puts the onus on us to craft these experiences, these quote unquote luxe travel experiences. And I think that this study gives us some great insight and I think can be a very compelling piece of information as we're crafting strategies and campaigns, for the upcoming travel season. that's all for today's episode. I hope that you found one small piece of information to help you along your marketing journey. If you have any questions over a topic that you'd like to hear covered or a great example of travel and tourism marketing in the wild, I'd love to hear from you. Just drop me an email, tti at digital relativity. com. That's tti at digital relativity. com. You can text 209 300 5017. That's 209 300 5017. Or message me on X at Pat Strader. I'm your host, Pat Strader, signing off, and I invite you to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and join us next time as we continue to explore the future of travel and tourism marketing.