Blue State Digital snaps up Blue Rubicon's Rob Blackie as UK MD

Blackie, who has been at Blue Rubicon for the past five years, will take the role as MD.

Blackie will not only take charge of the agency’s UK-based operations but also take the responsibility of its European expansion plans.

The announcement comes a week after former Conservative Party new media head Craig Elder joined Blue Rubicon.

Before joining Blue Rubicon, Blackie advised Whitehall's directors of communications on the integration of digital into press office comms, and trained more than 500 government communicators on how best to implement these practices.

BSD managing partner Thomas Gensemer said: ‘We’ve seen Rob’s proven ability to introduce online communications for a broad spectrum of clients and we know his experience will be instrumental in BSD’s continued success in Europe.'

Blue State Digital’s clients include American Express, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft and Red Cross.

The company also works with political candidates and parties around the world and was behind the online campaign that helped Barack Obama win the US presidential election in 2008.