The Pedro Martinez of Blog PR

As we launch new client blogs - as we did today – and work to develop relationships with bloggers (who we treat as media), it’s critical that we find good, talented PR professionals who truly live in the new media world. I am not talking about people who just know what a blog is. I mean folks who grok them; people who live on Bloglines and gorge on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nine-year public relations veteran Ben Billingsley is one of them and I am proud to post here that he has just joined CooperKatz & Company as Manager, Client Services. Ben was previously Director of Accounts and Business Development at Trylon Communications, where he managed campaigns for MSN TV from Microsoft, MSNBC.com, Business 2.0, Jupiter Research and The Gallup Organization.

OK, I know your next question - who cares, does Ben blog? Ah, but he will. As many of you know I am going on my honeymoon at the end of next month. The wife has banned the ‘puter from the trip. Scoble suggests I map out every Kinkos from Honolulu to Hilo, but I know that won’t fly. Thankfully, Ben has agreed to blog here a bit to keep the site newsy. I plan to mix his riffs in with “Steve Rubel’s Greatest Hits 2004” where I will link to some of the more notable/controversial posts from the last year. Please be nice to Ben while I am gone, but you can kick me around while I am still here.