Video Strategy for Advocacy

March 19, 2009, 3:00pm – 5:00pm

About This Event

How can video enhance your online advocacy campaigns? Videos can tell compelling stories and potentially go viral, spreading your campaign message across large audiences. But what is the best strategy for using them? Should they be professionally made or made by your activists? Should they be made in-house or out-sourced? And what is the best way to convey your message in video?

Join us on Thursday, March 19, 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, as we explore these questions with a panel of leading video experts from the advocacy and political worlds. We will look back on the 2008 elections and past advocacy campaigns to apply lessons learned to the use of video for advocacy.

To stream this event live, click here.

Speakers:

• Justin Germany, Former Director of Online Media, McCain 2008
• Chris Royalty, Former Deputy Director of Online Video, Obama 2008
• Phillip de Vellis, Vice President of New Media, Murphy Putnam Media
• Julian Mulvey, Partner, Devine Mulvey
• Sean Gibbons, Director of Media Strategy, Center for American Progress
• Joseph Finneran, Creative Director & Founder, Podium Arts Communications, Inc.
   

Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Biographies

Justin Germany. It’s the end of days for the standard 30-second ad as a campaign’s water carrier.   But video isn’t resting at the last outpost on the campaign highway; in fact it’s just begun exploring new frontiers.  No one understands this better than Justin Germany who served the McCain campaign as Director of Online Media.   As a part of the media team, Germany produced hundreds of web videos as well as broadcast advertising.  Named a Rising Star by Politics magazine, Germany previously worked on Bush-Cheney ’04 as the eCampaign videographer.  He holds a Masters in Political Management from the George Washington University.

Chris Royalty served as Deputy Director of Online Video during the Barack Obama presidential campaign.  Over the course of the primary and general election, he edited countless videos for web and email distribution; designed and authored DVDs sold in the online store; managed video production teams in battleground states; and single-handedly posted hundreds of videos to the official Obama YouTube channel. Chris holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Richmond and a masters degree in fine art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  He currently lives in Brooklyn and works as Director of Video for Blue State Digital's New York office.

Philip de Vellis is a senior associate and Vice President of New Media for Murphy Putnam Media. Philip has a wide range of professional experience in commercial post-production, politics, and Internet communications. He is best known as the creator of the "Vote Different" ad, which combined Apple's iconic "1984" spot with footage from Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign website. The spot has received more than 4 million views on YouTube and was featured on every major US television network, cable news channel, newspaper, and political blog. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising." At Murphy Putnam Media, Philip produces broadcast television spots and Internet video for issue advocacy groups and candidates at the local, state, and national level, including Barack Obama for President, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and MoveOn.org.
Philip previously worked as a senior strategist at Blue State Digital, a leading progressive Internet consulting firm, where he developed creative content and online communication strategies for political and labor clients. As Director of Internet Communications for Sherrod Brown's successful 2006 U.S. Senate race in Ohio, Philip developed an online communications plan that yielded $1.1 million in campaign contributions from 21,000 donors, employed innovative technology to persuade undecided voters, and conducted outreach with bloggers and progressive media. His political experience also includes serving as the deputy Internet communications director for Wal-Mart Watch, and as a senior field staffer for the Ohio coordinated campaign to elect John Kerry. Prior to his full-time work in politics, Philip was a freelance video editor and motion graphics designer for clients including Fox Sports, DirecTV, TVG, Warner Bros. Records, Columbia Records, Napster and Amgen. Philip was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and graduated from UCLA with a BA in history.

Julian Mulvey is a Democratic media consultant with a reputation for creative political communication on television and online. He has won 14 Pollie Awards from the American Association of Political Consultants and the Visionary Award from the D.C. Independent Film Festival. His TV ads focus on authenticity, emotion and compelling storytelling. In November of 2006 his clients won seven of the eight races he consulted on, including a victory with the largest Democratic vote swing (+86%) of any Congressional race in America.  He is a partner at Devine Mulvey. In 2004 Julian won the Gold Pollie for Best Democratic Congressional TV Ad.  That same year he was the media consultant for Charlie Dooley, an African-American candidate running for St. Louis County Executive.  Dooley’s election to the 82% white county was called an “historic victory” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A year later Julian’s TV ads for Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett caught national attention when the campaign caused a near spectacular upset in Ohio’s ruby-red Second District.  Dan Balz of The Washington Post called the ads “very effective.” Roll Call called it “a feat of historic proportion,” and the race became a case study of the blogosphere’s new influence in politics and the birth of a new breed of tough Democratic candidates. He was named one of Washingtonian magazine’s “People to Watch 2005,” and a Campaigns & Elections “Rising Star” for 2006. The Washington Post wondered in a headline if Julian had produced “The Best Ad of 2006?” for a spot he made for Chris Carney (Julian likes to think that it was, and Chris now serves in Congress). His first play, Rush’s Dream, about the feud and friendship of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was performed in SoHo, NY, to sold-out audiences in the summer of 2004. 

Sean Gibbons is the Director of Media Strategy at American Progress where he manages the Center’s television, radio, and video communications and cultivates the Center’s strategic relationships with media outlets such as CBS News, MSNBC, NPR, CNN, Reuters, NBC News, BBC, ABC News, PBS, Fox News, as well as new media outlets like YouTube and Politico. Prior to joining American Progress, Sean worked as a Washington-based producer for CNN, where he was recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for CNN’s coverage of September 11th attacks. While at CNN, Sean covered the Iraq War, Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, and produced programs for such network personalities as Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Judy Woodruff, Christiane Amanpour, John King, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and Bernard Shaw. From 1997 to 2000, he was the Washington producer for "Moneyline" with Lou Dobbs and CNN Financial News, covering economic news. Prior to joining CNN, Sean worked at ABC News on programs including "World News Tonight" with Peter Jennings, "Nightline" with Ted Koppel, "Good Morning America," "Primetime Live," and "This Week with David Brinkley." He has appeared on CNN, the BBC, NPR, Reuters, the National Journal, and other media outlets. He is a graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Joseph Finneran, Creative Director/Founder, Podium Arts Communications, has been producing and directing various forms of commercial media since he graduated from USC film school in the mid-eighties.  He entered the political media and event world at the ’92 Democratic convention, directing digital media for the Dems in ’92, ’96 and 2000.  He followed his political passions to DC in 2003, consulting on various aspects of the Kerry Campaign, and went on to direct Hillary Clinton’s live web and broadcast events in the last cycle.  He started Podium Arts in 2007, which in addition to event production consults with progressive organizations (such as CAP and The Global Fund) to develop their strategic media capabilities.