• by Shankar Gupta , February 17, 2006

Blog evangelist Steve Rubel Thursday announced an upcoming move to PR giant Edelman, where he will serve as a senior vice president, developing the firm's word-of-mouth practice and persuading more Fortune 500 companies to start blogs.

Rubel will join Edelman General Manager Rick Murray's team, and will be working out of the New York City office. Murray said Rubel's hire is part of a shift in Edelman's strategy--from a centralized, company-controlled message to a more two-way conversation with the public. "There's a shift in control, from centralized messaging from one point, the point of the brand owner or agency out to the public--now the public, if not in control, is certainly exerting a large amount of influence," he said. "We want to make sure that all the people that get it are on our team."

In September, the firm brought RedState.org blogger Mike Krempasky onboard to handle the Wal-Mart account. Krempasky founded the Web site Rathergate.com, which focused on Dan Rather's reporting on allegedly forged documents detailing President Bush's national guard service, and the subsequent scandal--and lobbied against possible Federal Election Commission regulations that would apply campaign finance rules to the blogosphere.

Rubel previously worked as a senior vice president for PR firm CooperKatz's Micro Persuasion practice, which focuses on "conversational" marketing via blogs, podcasts, and RSS feeds. Rubel also authors a well-read marketing blog, MicroPersuasion.com, which he will continue after his move to Edelman on Feb 27. The CooperKatz practice will change its name to "Cogence," an abbreviation of "consumer generated intelligence."

Of his own blog, Rubel said that Edelman's large client roster might add a wrinkle to his posting routine. "I have to keep in mind that they have a huge client base," he said. "I used to say, think twice before posting--now I'm going to think three, four, five times before posting."