Kayak has appointed Brian Harniman as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Distribution. Harniman will help launch and oversee the newly developed Kayak Publishing Network (KPN).

Published: 01 May 2008

Kayak has appointed Brian Harniman as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Distribution. Harniman will help launch and oversee the newly developed Kayak Publishing Network (KPN).

Harniman, former CEO of Openlist and VP of Marketing for Priceline, will also be responsible for Kayak.com's awareness among consumers.

KPN is a vertical ad network that syndicates targeted text-based ads on search result pages for travel e-commerce sites. The Kayak Publishing Network uses inventory from Kayak.com's patent-pending paid search solution, enabling travel marketers to target their advertising based on search parameters including city or city pairs, trip dates, length of stay, and specific airline or hotel brands. There are more than 30,000 active placements through this system from more than 2,000 travel brands, according to the company.

"Kayak.com advertisers report conversion rates on targeted text-based ads that are up to six times higher than generic paid search. Launching our own ad network is the next logical step in our company's evolution," said Steve Hafner, Kayak.com CEO and co-founder.

Hafner added, "By syndicating these ads across other high-quality travel e-commerce sites, our advertisers will gain more qualified traffic, and Kayak Publishing Network partners will significantly increase the monetisation of their sites."

The company also shared that Karen Klein, who previously served as Group Vice President, Legal for Orbitz Worldwide, Inc, joins Kayak.com in the role of General Counsel.