Kayak.com Appoints Robert Birge as Chief Marketing Officer

CMO of IMG Worldwide Joins to Lead Aggressive Offline Marketing Plan

NORWALK, Conn., April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Kayak.com, the world's largest travel search site, today announced the appointment of Robert Birge as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Birge will manage all offline marketing, advertising and public relations activities, including the planned launch of a major offline advertising campaign. Birge will report to Kayak.com Co-Founder and CEO Steve Hafner and will be based at the company's global headquarters in Norwalk, Conn.

"Kayak.com has a loyal following among savvy travelers and early technology adopters. Yet many consumers aren't aware that Kayak.com is the world's best travel site," said Hafner. "Robert brings a proven track record in brand development and strategic marketing initiatives. With a $100 million combined marketing budget, we should be able to significantly increase Kayak.com's profile."

"This is a rare opportunity to take something that's already amazing and make it more famous," said Birge. "Kayak.com offers an ingenious service to help people simplify the complicated process of travel planning. I'm excited to help make Kayak.com a household name."

Birge brings nearly 20 years of advertising, marketing and brand building experience across a range of categories including online travel, wireless, consumer goods, beverages and financial services. He was most recently the CMO for IMG Worldwide, the world's leading sports, entertainment and media company. As the first CMO in IMG's history, Birge was responsible for global brand management, advertising and strategic marketing initiatives for all of IMG's global business units.

Prior to joining IMG in 2006, he was Managing Director of TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York. Prior to that, he was a member of Boston Consulting Group's consumer marketing and e-commerce practice, where he was part of the team that built and launched Orbitz. He was responsible for the initial branding and marketing planning during the first year of building Orbitz.

Birge earned his MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate School of Management and his AB at Dartmouth College.

About Kayak.com

Kayak.com, the largest travel search site in the world, is a global Internet media company operating Kayak.com, Sidestep.com and TravelPost.com. Kayak.com and SideStep.com display results from more than 440 travel brands, providing prices and itineraries for hundreds of airlines, more than 140,000 hotels, all leading rental car companies and 18 cruise lines. Kayak.com has won more awards since launch than any other travel site including the 2008 Webby Awards People's Voice Winner; "Top 25 Budget-Centric Travel Websites", by USA Today; "25 Sites We Can't Live Without" by TIME Magazine; "Best Search Engine" by the Associated Press; and "Best of the Web" by BusinessWeek, Forbes and US News & World Report. Launched in 2005 by co-founders of Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia, Kayak.com's investors include General Catalyst Partners, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Trident Capital, Oak Investment Partners, Lehman Brothers Venture Partners and America Online, Inc. Kayak.com has sites in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. For more information, visit www.Kayak.com.

    For more information about Kayak.com or to speak to Robert Birge or Steve
    Hafner, contact:

    Kellie Pelletier
    Kayak.com
    203-899-3111
    kpelletier@kayak.com

SOURCE Kayak.com

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