Running Digital Campaigns: What’s Changed and What’s Still Working?
Session Type(s): Panel
Starts: Saturday, Jul. 19 1:30 PM (Eastern)
Ends: Saturday, Jul. 19 2:45 PM (Eastern)
This is the 10-year-anniversary of Howard Dean’s revolutionary digital campaign. Despite the rise of Facebook, Twitter, and mobile campaigning over the past decade, email remains the primary way that we drive action and raise money online. Hear from veteran experts in the Democratic digital space about what’s working, what’s changed, and what to look for in 2014 and 2016.
Moderator
Lauren Miller
Lauren is the communications director for the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, where she oversees all communications strategy and media relations.
For nearly a decade, Lauren served as senior advisor and digital director for Senator Elizabeth Warren on her 2012 and 2018 Senate campaigns and in her Capitol Hill office, building her digital program from scratch and helping her become one of the most powerful voices in the Democratic Party.
From 2013-2014, she was also a senior director at the digital marketing firm Bully Pulpit Interactive. Most notably, Lauren led BPI’s work on Marty Walsh’s underdog mayoral campaign in Boston and served as the campaign’s digital director.
Prior to joining the Warren campaign, Lauren was one of the first employees at Blue State Digital, the groundbreaking BarackObama.com technology company. As director of online communications, she built the firm’s email team and developed online advocacy, fundraising, and social media programs for more than 100 political campaigns, advocacy groups, and nonprofit organizations.
Panelists
Chris Bowers
Chris Bowers is the Executive Campaign Director at Daily Kos, managing the email and activism programs. He has worked full time for independent progressive blogs for over ten years, starting with MyDD in 2004, moving to Open Left in 2007, and Daily Kos in 2010. He has been closely involved in dozens of major progressive campaigns.
Matt Compton
Matt Compton is the Digital Director for the Democratic National Committee. He previously spent two years in the Office of Digital Strategy at the White House where he directed the email program and ran the team responsible for the petitions platform, We the People.
Prior to this role, he was the Director of New Media Campaigns for the Democratic National Committee and a senior email campaigner at Organizing for America. Earlier, he worked as the Communications Director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and as an editor for the Progressive Policy Institute.
A native of North Carolina, he’s a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill.
Brandon English
Brandon English is the Digital Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). During his nine-year tenure at the DCCC, the Digital Program’s fundraising capacity has grown by 1,000%. In the 2014 election cycle, the DCCC’s online grassroots network raised over $70 million to support Democratic candidates. In addition, the DCCC’s digital rapid response efforts have been featured by NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post.
Brandon was born and raised in Cleveland Heights, Ohio — and no, he doesn’t want LeBron to come back to Cleveland go Cavs!!!!
Melissa Ryan
Melissa Ryan has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of politics, media, culture, and technology. Today, she uses her expertise to help people, policymakers and institutions combat online extremism and toxicity.
Melissa became fascinated with extremism and disinformation during the 2016 U.S. elections, as she watched once-fringe extremist networks rise to prominence as they were amplified by mainstream candidates and media. She was among the first progressives to chronicle the rise of the alt-right online when she launched Ctrl Alt-Right Delete shortly after the election, which has since grown to more than 15,000 weekly readers.
Ryan’s expertise is sought out by journalists, politicians, leaders and everyday Americans who want to better understand how current events are shaped by social media and how political campaigns use digital strategy to engage voters.
Other sessions: The Organizing Edge: Online Predictions for the 2016 Elections