So, the gurus all met and I got to introduce speakers from Orbitz, Travelocity, and Google.  Those three businesses also $ponsored the event.  Guess I’m not super surprised to see the Fall “Tactical” Campaign featuring partnership with all three.  Some of the less cynical or those with “expertise” are satisfied by just reading the fancy terminology – “microsite”, “blog” (it’s like cool and hip, you know), “co-branded”, “interactive”, “email blast” – but not me.

Haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the soon-to-be launched microsite or the Gnome blog.  God, I hope it is not that MySpace thing.  The big Gantt blob labeled “Paid Search” coincides with the many Google ads I’ve been seeing all over the place.  Some of the locals are beginning to grumble about potential AdWord bid prices going up.  I did have some strange findings when I browsed the Away.com site.

I’m bored with the OTA’s and never use them.  It pains me to even go there – let alone they myriad of other arcane sites someone may think are significant.  Thankfully, the Complete Empire State – An Interactive Guide was prominently featured on the Away homepage.  You can drill down to some OK and dated material on GORP if you scroll, but I’m lazy like most and just see that big map above the fold.

There are 5 dots on the Adirondacks, you should click around for fun, I did.  The “Camping Under Saranac Lake” sounds adventurous, but the actual content is far less exciting.  I was interested in the Lake Champlain section.  “Swim, boat, and fish on Lake Champlain” – Too cold in the lake for me right now.  OK, at least that applies to the NY side of the lake.  But this? – “Watch the elegant Royal Lipizzan Stallions perform”.  I’m not amused that every single item on this page is in Vermont, especially since I reached it from the “New York” page.  Sorry, I lied, there’s a Google ad at the bottom for I Love NY.

Maybe I should go to the Vermont section to find out about New York.