By Greg Hazley
Ireland’s WPP has acquired Blue State Digital, the shop responsible for President Obama’s fund-raising success during the 2008 election.
The Washington-based firm raised more than $800M for the "Obama for America" campaign. It has 130 staffers in D.C., New York, Boston, Los Angeles and London.
Founder, partner and chief technology officer Jascha Franklin-Hodge was director of software development for AOL's music division before joining Howard Dean's '04 presidential bid.
Franklin-Hodge and chief creative officer Joe Rospars worked with Dean when he helmed the Democratic National Committee.
BSD says it chalked up $12.8M in '09 revenues. It has run programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, HBO, American Red Cross, Harvard and AT&T.
WPP says BSD is an attractive acquisition target due to its expertise in online fundraising, advocacy, social networking and constituency development.
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