Blue State Digital


Blue State Digital is a digital strategy and technology firm that specializes in online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, and constituency development. It was founded by former staffers of Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign and provided digital strategy and technology services for the 2008 and 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaigns. The company is led by the one remaining co-founder, Joe Rospars. Co-founder Jascha Franklin-Hodge left in July 2014 to become the Chief Information Officer for the City of Boston.
Blue State Digital has offices in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and London. In December 2010, Blue State Digital was acquired by WPP.

History

Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign pioneered new applications of new media to engage voters and raise campaign funds. In 2004, four former Dean staffers—Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Clay Johnson, Joe Rospars, and Ben Self—founded Blue State Digital to improve technology solutions for political campaigns and provide online strategic services to complement the technology platform. The company launched with offices in Washington, DC, and Boston.
The following year, Thomas Gensemer joined Blue State Digital from America Coming Together, a Democratic-allied advocacy organization, to serve as managing partner.
Blue State Digital's earliest clients included Ted Kennedy's Senate campaign, the Communications Workers of America, the Democratic National Committee, Harry Reid, and AT&T.
In 2007, Barack Obama's nascent presidential campaign recruited Blue State Digital to lead its digital efforts. Blue State Digital provided technology services—including web hosting, online fundraising tools, and a custom social networking platform—while Rospars built and led the campaign's internal new media strategy team. Over the course of the campaign, this team raised more than $500 million, mobilized millions of volunteers, and built an online community of 13 million supporters.
Blue State Digital grew rapidly after the Obama campaign, opening offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. It also grew its client base, working with clients like the American Red Cross, United Way, Carnegie Hall, and Vogue Magazine. The company is identified with its fundraising service and has supported the efforts of the United Nations Refugee Agency in the United Kingdom as well as the charity organization Tommy's.
On December 30, 2010, Blue State Digital announced that they had been wholly acquired by WPP Digital.

Services

Blue State Digital provides both strategic and technology services. Blue State Digital is also a full-service digital agency that develops and executes multiplatform engagement campaigns. Its strategic offerings include strategy, design, production, content strategy, digital communications, video, analytics, and online advertising.
The BSD Tools are an online platform that integrates constituent databases, email management, online fundraising, content management, social networking, and web analytics.

Notable alumni