Kayak Beta Releases New Product
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Written By Reprise Media | April 27, 2005 | Share This
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We just talked to the folks at Kayak and word is that the firm is planning the beta release tomorrow of their new product, including two types of ad-inventory - search placement and sponsored links.
Here’s the skinny:
Sponsored Links: These were previously sourced by Google. While the new product will retain the Google-inspired layout along […]
We just talked to the folks at Kayak and word is that the firm is planning the beta release tomorrow of their new product, including two types of ad-inventory - search placement and sponsored links.
Here’s the skinny:
- Sponsored Links: These were previously sourced by Google. While the new product will retain the Google-inspired layout along the right hand margin, as of tomorrow they’ll sourced in-house and merely backfilled by Google. Ad spots will be made available via a site-side campaign management tool.
- Search Placement: This may be the most compelling part of the release - these listings will log airfare, car rental and hotel deals within the user’s given parameters similar to Priceline. The advertiser-given benefit is that placements can be influenced and prioritized via a manner similar to the Google marketplace (ranking CPC x CTR). Kayak will offer a tool which estimates the number of clicks available at X position and what CPC may be required to secure it.
Beyond the multiple revenue streams that compliment this highly functional consumer application, what’s truly unique about the whole network is that while the marketer can schedule a long-term campaign run, the tool is ultimately intended to help chains and franchises move specific bookings in the short-term. There will be an occupancy manager that feeds from the client’s booking database and allows them to set-up micro-managed campaigns for 5 days here and there, etc. Then it is up to the chain to provide unique copy and pricing in order to make the offer more appealing and get those slots filled.
With tomorrow’s beta release we’re finally seeing a vertical distancing themselves from Google and Yahoo! products, not only to pocket and extra chunk of the revenues, but to actually create a better consumer product.
Aside from the specific interests of advertisers, the beta product seems to offer new consumer benefits as well, so we asked the folks at Kayak how this model differs from opaque travel players like Priceline (who offers suppliers the opportunity to unload excess inventory in a blind auction of sorts).
According to Drew Patterson at Kayak, there are some similarities - both are designed to attack the industry challenge of marketing excess inventory during periods of low demand. Priceline, in its original form, tapped into a new customer segment of guests who are “highly price elastic and service indifferent.”
However, this opaque model is limited in scope and only works for those willing to accept a hotel booking without knowing where they’re staying. The trade off is that the very low prices hotels are forced to maintain in this channel lead to less profitable customers. There’s also the potential for brand dilution and customer service problems. According to Kayak, “These guests are often informally referred to as the ‘cooler crowd’ because they show up carrying coolers and don’t use the hotel’s services.”
What makes Kayak especially unique is that they don’t contract for price points or special deals. Basically, they present the user the same information they’d access by going to the hotel’s web site. As such, seeded marketers aren’t limited to the price-obsessed, non-brand loyal hotel buyer. Finally, the service might be easier to track within the client’s booking system as all the reservations take place on the partners’ web sites (as opposed to through the aggregator’s interface).
This adds up to the same targeting during and high and low demand periods, but without the associated worries around branding and customer segmentation. Ultimately Kayak’s new network product can help travel players backfill their open inventories more effectively, definitely more profitably, and possibly while building additional loyalties with the consumer through their open disclosure of the details for each booking
Topics: Search: Vertical |
While the new product will retain the Google-inspired layout along the right hand margin, as of tomorrow they’ll sourced in-house and merely backfilled by Google. Ad spots will be made available via a site-side campaign management tool. Search Placement: This may be the most compelling part of the release - these listings will log airfare, car rental and hotel deals within the user’s given parameters similar to Priceline.