| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consulting |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Key people | Jascha Franklin-Hodge, founding partner and chief technical officer Thomas Gensemer, managing partner Joe Rospars, founding partner |
| Website | bluestatedigital.com |
Blue State Digital is a Washington, D.C.-based Internet strategy and technology firm. The company was founded in early 2004 by four former staffers of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign: Clay A. Johnson, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Joe Rospars, and Ben Self. They are involved in providing custom Internet applications and communications strategies to Democratic political candidates and organizations and non-profit organizations. Clay left the firm in late January 2008, leaving just three founding partners. Ben left the firm in late 2009, leaving two founding partners.
Blue State Digital was a recipient of the Fast Company magazine's "Fast 50" award in 2006.
The company has provided a variety of technology and services to the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, including online fundraising, voter outreach, social networking, and Web hosting.[1]
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British Labour Party e-Campaigns Manager Dan Thain joined Blue State Digital in December 2008.[2] The company was employed in the UK by Searchlight Magazine to help in the campaign against the right wing British National Party in the 2009 European Parliament elections. The company's efforts proved unsuccessful when the British National Party returned its first European MPs, Nick Griffin of the north west constituency and Andrew Brons of the Yorkshire and the Humber constituency, despite a considerable and expensive campaign mounted against the BNP.[3]
Blue State Digital has also been involved in campaigns with Britain's Royal Mail and maintains close links with senior Labour Party officials.
A number of independent NGOs started using Blue State Digital software in 2010, including 38 Degrees and War on Want.
An employee of Blue State Digital, Philip de Vellis, admitted to having created a widely-circulated video, "Hillary 1984," that edited clips from the Hillary Clinton campaign into the famous 1984 television advertisement by Apple Computer. In a blog entry posted on The Huffington Post, de Vellis indicated that he had resigned from Blue State Digital after making and publishing the video.[4] The company later released a statement claiming that they had terminated his employment. De Vellis stated in an interview with the Associated Press that he had created the video from home and that Blue State Digital had nothing to do with its creation.
The Obama campaign released a statement stating that it had no knowledge of and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad. De Vellis did claim that he helped design the Obama website.[5]
De Vellis lived with Senator Obama's press secretary in 2006[6] while they were both working on Sherrod Brown's campaign for Senate.
On December 30th, 2010, Blue State Digital announced that they had been wholly acquired by WPP Digital.[7]