December 3rd, 2011 Athens, Greece

Keynote Speech

Heralded on the cover of The New Republic as the man who “reinvented campaigning,” Joe Trippi has been at the forefront of movement politics for nearly 30 years. Trippi began his political career working on Edward M. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1980 and has worked on numerous presidential, gubernatorial, senate, and congressional campaigns ever since.

Most recently, Trippi was a senior strategist and media consultant in Jerry Brown’s successful run for California Governor. The campaign’s ads were described as “clever” and “amazing,” and they were widely considered some of best of 2010. TIME magazine named one ad, “Echo,” the best ad of 2010, and the Brown ads received four “Pollie” awards for excellence in political media.

Trippi & Associates also led the campaign’s online strategy, raising nearly $3 million online, generating the most YouTube views of any gubernatorial candidate in the country, and building a following of over 100,000 on Facebook and one million on Twitter.

Earlier in the decade, Trippi and his team pioneered the empowerment message and the online community tools that President Barack Obama used which inspired a movement of supporters and has now become the basis for movement politics all around the world.

In 2004, as the National Campaign Manager for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, Trippi pioneered the use of online technology to organize what became the largest grassroots movement in presidential politics. Through his innovative use of the Internet for small-donor fundraising, “Dean for America” raised more money than any Democratic presidential campaign to that point – all with donations averaging less than $100.

According to The Atlantic magazine, Trippi’s influence on Democratic Party politics has been profound and lasting:

“The small-dollar Internet donor base attracted by Dean and flogged relentlessly by Trippi has transformed the party’s fundraising. Every single campaign uses Trippi-patented tactics to raise money. The men and women Joe Trippi cultivated on Dean’s staff have stormed the gates and occupy positions of power in major party and campaign offices.”

In 2008, Trippi signed on with Senator John Edwards’ presidential bid as a senior advisor, focusing on messaging, Internet strategy and online engagement. He was also responsible for producing the campaign’s television spots, which were widely applauded as “innovative” and “highly creative” and rated as the best of the Iowa Caucuses by Frank Luntz.

Trippi has an extensive international resume. In 1993, he worked for then PASOK leader Andreas Papandreou’s successful campaign of Prime Minister of Greece. Trippi advised former British Prime Minister Tony Blair during his successful election. In 2006, he worked for Romano Prodi on his winning race for Prime Minister of Italy.

In 2008, Trippi helped Morgan Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change receive the most votes, and helped garner international media attention to Robert Mugabe’s democratic subversion and violence. Most recently, Trippi helped guide the new media strategy for the election of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, helping him build a following of over 600,000 Nigerians and leading CNN to declare Jonathan the “Facebook President.”

In addition to his political work, Trippi has consulted with a number of leading corporations including Monster.com, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, SES Americom, Corning, LabCorp, IBM, Lionsgate Films, BestBuy, Wave Systems, and Research In Motion.

Trippi is the author of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything,” the story of how his revolutionary use of the Internet combined with an impassioned, contagious desire to overturn politics-as-usual grew into a national grassroots movement – and changed the face of American politics forever.

Quotes:

“Joe Trippi is a confirmed genius and an unlikely, but genuine, political revolutionary. He is responsible, as much as any single
person, for willing to life the innovations in thought and practice that gave rise to the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party’s grassroots reformation.”(Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic Monthly)

“One of the best political pros in the business” (Larry King, CNN)

“The genius, the new Carville.” (GQ Magazine)

“Political Innovator of the Decade” (The Atlantic Monthly)

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