SBDigital is a left-of-center advertising firm that works for advocacy groups and runs campaigns for Democratic candidates and left-of-center ballot referendums. ¹

SBDigital has provided services to Planned Parenthood Votes, the Democratic Party of North Carolina, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Forward Majority, and the Our Future Is Black PAC. ²

Background

SBDigital began as a spinoff of Switchboard Communications, a liberal advocacy call center launched in 2010. It touts itself as unique among political digital advertising agencies since it does not scale down its staff during non-election years, which enables it to train more employees and take on more work during election campaigns. ³

Activities

In 2020, a report from the New Jersey Globe discovered that SBDigital was housed at the time in the same Washington, D.C. office as Field Strategies, a left-of-center consulting firm. Field Strategies was affiliated with the Blue Organizing Project, a super PAC that spent at least $75,000 on ads attacking Democratic Congressional candidate Brigid Callahan Harrison. The report also claimed that SBDigital was paid $75,000 to produce the ads attacking Harrison. ⁴

In 2024, an obscure media network known as Star Spangled Media garnered attention in the press when it was discovered that it receives support services from prominent Democratic lawyer Marc Elias and his law firm Elias Law Group LLP. In May 2024, attorney Jonathan S. Berkon at Elias Group sent a letter to the Arizona campaign finance regulator, known as the Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission, attempting to confirm that Star Spangled Media was exempt from financial disclosure requirements. ⁵

In an attempt to discover more information about the left-of-center media outlet incubator Star Spangled Media, one journalist writing for Semafor checked the source code of one of its subsidiary outlets’ websites and discovered it was created in part by Lucas Anderton, the creative director at SBDigital. ⁶

Investigative researcher Lachlan Markay noted that Forward Majority’s Michigan branch paid SBDigital $1,497,608, a sum remarkably close to the $1,412,891 spent on Facebook ads to promote Democratic state house candidates in Michigan by Main Street Sentinel, another subsidiary outlet of Star Spangled Media. ^{7 8}

Funding

According to data gathered by OpenSecrets (published by the Center for Responsive Politics), SBDigital was paid $1,453,529 by Planned Parenthood Votes, $979,600 by Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign, $304,100 by the Democratic Party of North Carolina, $291,371 by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, $285,000 by Our Future Is Black PAC, $233,500 by Hard Hats for America, and $220,000 by the Blue Organizing Project for services in 2020. ⁹

According to its website, in 2024 SBDigital had recently done work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Planned Parenthood Votes, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Forward Majority, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, the Black to the Future Action Fund (B2F), the North Carolina Democratic Party, the Our Future Is Black PAC, and the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE). ¹⁰

Leadership

As of 2024, SBDigital was led by president and chief operating officer John Griffiths. ¹¹

1. “SB Digital – Progressive Digital Advertising & Fundraising.” SB Digital. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://sbdigital.com/.
2. “SB Digital – Progressive Digital Advertising & Fundraising.” SB Digital. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://sbdigital.com/.
3. “SB Digital – Progressive Digital Advertising & Fundraising.” SB Digital. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://sbdigital.com/.
4. Wildstein, David. “Amy Kennedy tells mysterious super PAC funded by her husband to stay out of her campaign.” New Jersey Globe, June 1, 2020. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/amy-kennedy-tells-mysterious/.
5. ^[1] Tani, Max. “Top Democratic lawyer backs mysterious news site.” Semafor, June 7, 2024. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/07/07/2024/top-democratic-lawyer-backs-mysterious-news-site.
6. Tani, Max. “Top Democratic lawyer backs mysterious news site.” Semafor, June 7, 2024. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/07/07/2024/top-democratic-lawyer-backs-mysterious-news-site.
7. “Ad Library – The Main Street Sentinel.” Facebook. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_type=political_and_issue_ads&country=US&view_all_page_id=105228065418497&sort_data[direction]=desc&sort_data[mode]=relevancy_monthly_grouped&search_type=page&media_type=all.
8. Post. Lachlan Markay – X, July 8, 2024. Accessed August 6, 2024. https://x.com/lachlan/status/1810298198432317740.
9. “Vendor/Recipient Profile: SB Digital (2020)” OpenSecrets – Center for Responsive Politics. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://www.opensecrets.org/campaign-expenditures/vendor?cycle=2020&vendor=SB+Digital.
10. “SB Digital – Progressive Digital Advertising & Fundraising.” SB Digital. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://sbdigital.com/.
11. ^[1] “SB Digital – Progressive Digital Advertising & Fundraising.” SB Digital. Accessed July 28, 2024. https://sbdigital.com/.