Ruth Hyde

GenAI creative production is levelling the playing field for SMEs to make great ads faster, better and more affordably. ITV Media launched its GenAI creative production service almost a year ago with Sheepbridge Interiors and Travel House as our launch advertisers and with creative effectiveness measurement from System1... and the demand has been phenomenal, helping our creative producers to spend more time on coming up with ideas and enabling SMEs testing TV for the first time to have more effective ads for less. Great to contribute to this article with Emmett Lindner in The New York Times to share more on this - where he reports too that nearly 90 percent of marketers who spent more than $1 million on digital video ads last year are using or have plans to use generative A.I. to create video advertisements. Link to the article in the comments below. Simon Farnsworth Stefan Hoejmose Clive Santamaria Paul Kerrison Alan Hall Kelly Williams Rhys McLachlan Kate Waters Jonathan Moffie Burhan Hamid Anant Joshi Peter Grose George Buschman Greg Worthington Nigel Cummings John Kearon Jon Evans Chiara Manco Peter Fergusson Laura Wootton

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Yesterday John Sills asked a great question: why does rail obsess about punctuality, when passengers also care about comfort and dignity? Iain Montgomery invited me to comment. https://lnkd.in/ecZwjD_J? I spent the day thinking about it while cruising the Isle of Arran on paddle steamer Waverley, and my answer is too long for a comment - so here’s a post. Rather than just say “you’re right, it shouldn’t be like this,” I thought it would be more useful to explain why it happens. There are several reasons. First, punctuality really is the most important thing. All transport research says so: the biggest driver of satisfaction is whether you get where you’re going on time. It’s very easy for “the most important thing” to become “the only thing”, but it remains true that punctuality matters more than any single other factor. Second, it prevents other bad things. In John’s post he mentions overcrowding. The root cause of many of those problems is late running. Of course, there are other causes too (staff shortages, breakdowns) but railways are a complex system, and once it breaks, everything else can quickly fall apart. Google the 2018 Thameslink timetable disaster for proof. So from a customer perspective, a train company that focuses on punctuality is being rational, though it risks encouraging tunnel vision. Third, it’s hard. On a good railway punctuality feels effortless, almost inevitable. But it isn’t. It’s the result of endless detailed work by train planners, schedulers, engineers. It requires constant focus. That difficulty makes it an obsession. Fourth, it’s measurable. Did the train arrive on time? That’s easy to count. Was the train comfortable? That’s harder. So the industry measures what it can. This is less forgivable. Transport for London has made real progress towards more customer-centric measures. The national network needs to follow. Fifth, it’s the only common language spoken by Network Rail and the operators. The railway’s core contracts, written at privatisation, enshrine punctuality as the measure that matters. If the contract cares, the industry cares. These are powerful forces. Which means you need equally powerful counter-personalities. You quote Chiltern and LNER. Their founders, Adrian Shooter and Chris Garnett, were both passionate about customer experience. They built cultures where punctuality mattered, but so did the rest of the journey. That also effects who they recruited. That’s why, when I left NX in 2008, I went to Chiltern. It already had a reputation for being customer-focused. I was passionate about CX and wanted to be somewhere that cared about it. Thus the culture is reinforced. All this is true but it’s not good enough. The best railways in the world (Switzerland and Japan) are even more obsessed with punctuality than we are - but also obsessed with everything else. Too many people in the sector who want to do the right thing feel straightjacketed. We have to learn to walk and chew gum.

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The OTAs that used to operate on the high street and went fully digital - with a caveat... 🟢 Super Break Then: A staple of brochure-heavy high street and call centre short break booking. Now: Collapsed in 2019, brand was acquired and relaunched online under JTA Travel / ALFENDO LIMITED. 🟢 Isango! Then: Operated with B2B and retail travel agents, selling experiences via physical brochures. Now: Purely digital, integrated with platforms like Trip.com, Rakuten International and white-labelled B2B sites. 🟢 365Tickets Then: Originally blended online and agent/tour operator sales for attractions. Now: Fully absorbed into Attraction Tickets Ltd in 2020 and entirely digital. No physical footprint remains. 🟢 Viator (Pre-Tripadvisor Acquisition) Then: Used to work through local travel agents and visitor centres with printed brochures and hand-sold tickets. Now: Need we say it, a global OTA for experiences owned by Tripadvisor, operating exclusively online. 🟢 City Sightseeing Worldwide (Agent Sales) Then: Tickets sold via hotel desks, visitor centres, high street travel shops. Now: Operates own online booking channels and via OTAs like GetYourGuide; most tickets now booked digitally but I'd argue that out of all of the nine, still have a huge high street presence, largely because of the big red buses but also because of their people, OOH marketing and advertising. 🟢 Golden Tours | Gray Line London Then: Sold London tours and day trips via high street travel agents and leaflet racks. Now: Major shift to online booking and mobile-first sales, including OTA integration and direct, but I'd argue do still have a strong walk-up presence. 🟢 The London Pass (by Go City®) Then: Originally sold in person at tourist information centres and physical booths. Now: Fully mobile app-based and online sales via Go City and partners like Expedia Group / Booking.com 🟢 Gray Line Then: Operated physical ticket offices and brochure-driven sales. Now: Licensed by Golden Tours in London and partnered with Viator, GetYourGuide, and others. Bookings now nearly all digital via aggregators. 🟢 Attraction World Then: Distributed tickets through high street travel agents across the UK (e.g. TUI, Co-op Travel). Now: Pivoted to digital platforms and B2B APIs for OTAs via Prioticket, with little/no consumer-facing physical presence. Where are the positives in that digital shift? And the negatives? Will Gen Alpha demand the resurgence of the high street ticket office or more human interaction in destination when deciding what to buy? #travelandleisure #visitorattractions #ota #viator #getyourguide #tripadvisor 🗃️File this under: 🆘 Need help now? Message me to book a free 30 minute chat and I'll show you just some of the opportunities hiding in your brand strategy. #travelandleisure #travelmarketing #tourismmarketing #visitorattractions #visitoreconomy #brandstrategy

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