-By Steve McClellan

NEW YORK In a bid to better coordinate and expand its search offering, WPP Group's MindShare North America has appointed Matt Kain to the new position of managing director, MindShare Search.

Kain, 34, will be responsible for developing and defining the strategic direction for all efforts, including search engine marketing (paid search), search engine optimization (organic/natural search) and advanced search capabilities in video, mobile, local and social media -- which are being integrated into the shop's core offering per its reorganization announced in April.

Kain joins from sister company 24/7 Real Media, which WPP acquired in May 2007. Most recently, Kain was svp, business development, responsible for managing all U.S. search clients as well as spearheading global sales efforts across the company's 20 offices throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

"I'm extremely pleased that someone with Matt's extensive experience and solid reputation in the world of search marketing is joining us in this key role," said Scott Neslund, CEO MindShare N.A., to whom Kain reports.

Kain will lead a team of more than 20 specialists and also have at his disposal the resources of the search division of GroupM, the overall management arm for WPP media operations.

Commenting on his appointment, Kain said: "This is a great opportunity for me and one of my top priorities is to ensure that MindShare's search clients experience campaigns that are conceived and executed as part of the overall media strategy, not inside a silo."

Prior to 24/7, Kain served as managing director of Decide Interactive, a technology-focused search-marketing agency, where he had operational responsibility for sales, client services and production.