Word reaches us that Kayak's first ever national US television advertising campaign will air this weekend.
The metasearch giant will simultaneously launch an outdoor schedule to feature in such exotic - and expensive - locations as New York's Times Square.
The company is not releasing any of the creative ahead of when the ads are broadcast and unveiled on Saturday.
It is understood that filming for the TV ads took place in Los Angeles and is different from the local TV ads that were aired over a six-week trial earlier this year on local networks around the US.
Although the timing of the campaign isn't an enormous surprise given that many travel firms begin to ramp up their marketing activity now ahead of Thanksgiving in the US, Christmas holidays and summer 2010 planning, Kayak's distribution of the activity into new advertising channels is an interesting development.
Relying primarily on online ads, PPC and word-of-mouth to spread its message over the years, Kayak will be entering uncharted waters with two of the most unmeasurable media channels available - TV and outdoor.
The latest approach mirrors that of its rival in the UK, TravelSupermarket, which in 2007 unveiled a massive TV advertising campaign in what was a significant and, many say, successful branding exercise.
Nevertheless, throwing millions of marketing funds into TV advertising is a risky strategy and has been well known in the past to do more damage to a brand than was intended (most often as a result of the creative work).
Kayak says the TV adspots and outdoor creative will only be used in the US. It coincides with the recent overhaul of the Kayak logo and introduction of a new features such as Kayak Trends.
NB: Interestingly, TravelSupermarket launched its series of ads about six months before its own IPO/public listing in July 2008.