Brands
Tourism Australia says need of the hour is to educate customers
NEW DELHI: Since the announcement of various unlock phases, business and economic activities have gradually resumed. However, the future is still uncertain for the tourism industry. In a bid to stay afloat amid Covid2019, the travel industry is seeking new ways to engage customers.
According to Tourism Australia country manager (India & Gulf) Nishant Kashikar, there is a slow but promising rise in queries related to travel. “People are increasingly seeking out alternative dwellings and short escapes, which is expected to foster a demand for homestays.”
The revival of the sector, as in the case of every other industry, still largely depends upon the recovery curve across geographies and the timeline allocated for the same.
He said, “We are optimistic that the travel industry will continue to remain resilient in the face of this adversity and revive soon.”
Kashikar feels that the need of the hour is to educate consumers. “It is now more essential than ever to reach out to audiences across the world by sharing content that continues to engage them positively while also transparently relaying information on the protocols implemented.”
He affirms that the brand will continue to communicate all necessary health, safety and well-being measures to ensure the safety of customers.
Kashikar adds that in a world where brands have little or no physical contact with their customers, effective utilisation of both traditional and digital mediums of marketing is taking precedence. It is imperative for brands to maintain high top of mind recall and positive engagement with customers through these times.
According to him, brands will effectively use different sets of mediums to communicate as its necessary to do instead of a pause. “This trend will be further supplemented by the large spike in consumption across OTT platforms, social media, and television by global audiences, amid the lockdown. Each of these can be creatively leveraged to reach out to a diverse target audience,” he says.
He also adds, “One must effectively utilise all their available mediums of communication to educate customers about the prevalent scenario and safety protocols implemented for their welfare whilst also building reassurance.”
The summer season was a washout but the festive season is expected to bring some relief for domestic tourism. The brand also believes that the festive season will see people opt for staycations to close boundaries.
Kashikar explains, “The festive season will definitely usher in some positivity directly proportionate with consumption and spending. This may also imply that while customers may not be ready to travel at the advent of the season, they are likely to start planning and booking for holidays and experiences in advance.”
“While one cannot predict which markets will revive earlier, given the uncertain nature of the pandemic, in view of travel, we are anticipating a surge in activity from the ‘revenge traveler’, once borders open up,” he concludes.
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Brands
IICT partners with Gativedhi to bring studio production tools to students
New MoU lets students explore AI-driven production pipelines for AVGC-XR
MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT) has teamed up with Gativedhi Technologies to give students a front-row seat to modern studio production. The collaboration will integrate Gativedhi’s AI-powered production intelligence platform, Shotrack, into academic programmes, letting students experience the workflow systems used by animation, VFX and gaming studios.
Under the MoU, faculty, students and researchers will get hands-on access to Shotrack through beta programmes, pilot deployments and academic evaluations. This will allow them to explore simulated production pipelines, understand asset management, track tasks and monitor schedules, essentially seeing how complex projects come together behind the scenes.
Shotrack is designed to tackle a key industry challenge: when multiple studios work on the same project, differing internal systems often create bottlenecks, slow approvals and complicate version control. The platform provides a unified production environment, enabling smoother collaboration across distributed teams while generating operational insights and predictive analytics to optimise crew allocation, forecast schedule risks and manage costs.
The collaboration also opens doors to Gativedhi’s wider ecosystem. Upcoming tools include StudioTrack, for studio operations management covering budgeting, recruitment and IT infrastructure, and WorkTrack, which measures workflow efficiency and team productivity across industries.
IICT plans to embed these tools into programmes covering animation pipelines, VFX workflows, gaming production and media project management. Students will also benefit from guest lectures, masterclasses, workshops, internships and research projects that connect academic learning with real-world studio practices.
IICT CEO Vishwas Deoskar, said the partnership provides “An environment where production pipeline tools can be explored, tested and refined while students gain insight into how large-scale productions are organised.”
Gativedhi Technologies founder & CEO Senthil Kumar added, “This collaboration introduces students to real-world studio management tools and helps us improve our platform with academic feedback.”
With Shotrack in classrooms, India’s future animators, VFX artists and gaming producers will get a taste of studio life long before they step into one.
