Blue State Digital
Encyclopedia
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 organization
s. 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
.
e-Campaigns Manager Dan Thain joined Blue State Digital in December 2008.
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.
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
.
," 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. 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.
De Vellis lived with Senator Obama's press secretary in 2006 while they were both working on Sherrod Brown
's campaign for Senate.
.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based Internet strategy and technology firm. The company was founded in early 2004 by four former staffers of Howard Dean's
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
2004 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
: Clay A. Johnson, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, Joe Rospars, and Ben Self. They are involved in providing custom Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
applications and communications strategies to Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
political candidates and organizations and non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s. 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
Fast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
magazine's "Fast 50" award in 2006.
The company has provided a variety of technology and services to the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign
Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Barack Obama, then junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On August 27, 2008, he was declared nominee of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election...
, including online fundraising, voter outreach, social networking
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
, and Web hosting
Web hosting service
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their own website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own or lease for use by their clients as well as providing Internet...
.
Non-U.S. operations
British Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
e-Campaigns Manager Dan Thain joined Blue State Digital in December 2008.
The company was employed in the UK by Searchlight Magazine to help in the campaign against the right wing British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
in the 2009 European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
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.
Blue State Digital has also been involved in campaigns with Britain's Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
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
38 Degrees
38 Degrees is a UK non-profit, progressive, political activism organisation that campaigns on a diverse range of issues, such as protecting the environment and tackling climate change, democratic media ownership, child poverty and political reform...
and War on Want
War on Want
War on Want is an anti-poverty charity based in London, England. It seeks to highlight the needs of poverty-stricken areas around the world and lobbies governments and international agencies to tackle problems as well as raising public awareness of the concerns of developing nations while...
.
2007 "Hillary Clinton 1984" YouTube video
An employee of Blue State Digital, Philip de Vellis, admitted to having created a widely-circulated video, "Hillary 1984Hillary 1984
Hillary 1984 is the title of the viral video that combines the footage of the 2008 presidential campaign web announcement by Hillary Clinton with the 1984 Super Bowl commercial by Apple Inc. for the launch of Macintosh. The video shows the same blond female athlete from the 1984 Super Bowl...
," that edited clips from the Hillary Clinton campaign
Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2008
New York junior Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton had expressed interest in the 2008 United States presidential election since at least October 2002, drawing media speculation on whether she would become a candidate. No woman has ever won the nomination of a major party in the...
into the famous 1984 television advertisement
1984 (television commercial)
"1984" is an American television commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer for the first time. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, Venice, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. Anya Major...
by Apple Computer. In a blog entry posted on The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, de Vellis indicated that he had resigned from Blue State Digital after making and publishing the video. The company later released a statement claiming that they had terminated his employment. De Vellis stated in an interview with the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
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.
De Vellis lived with Senator Obama's press secretary in 2006 while they were both working on Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell Brown is the senior United States Senator from Ohio and a member of the Democratic Party. Before his election to the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 13th congressional district from 1993 to 2007...
's campaign for Senate.
2010 Acquisition by WPP Digital
On December 30th, 2010, Blue State Digital announced that they had been wholly acquired by WPP DigitalWPP Group
WPP plc is a global media communications services company with its main management office in London, United Kingdom and its executive office in Dublin, Ireland. It is the world's largest advertising group by revenues, and employs over 150,000 people in 2,400 offices in 107 countries...
.
External links
- Blue State Digital - Company website
- http://www.bluestatedigital.com/2007/03/on_the_1984_video.html - Hillary Clinton '1984' ad explained at Blue State Digital website
- Phil de Vellis admission - The Huffington Post
- Hillary 1984 - video
- Podcast interview with Thomas Gensemer, Managing Partner at Blue State Digital, 2008