Study Group with Brittany Shepherd

How to Win (Or Lose) the Internet: A Conversation with @KamalaHQ

In this study group, Parker Butler, the director of the team that ran @KamalaHQ (the campaign social brand for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign) joins Brittany Shepherd to break down the art of going—and covering—viral moments in politics. Highlighting major moments from the last presidential and midterm campaign cycles, Parker and Brittany will lay out how candidates position themselves to be a trending topic; how the media, themselves, now cultivate online personas to get their work to break through; and examine if owning the internet memes, whether it's coconut trees, crudité platters, or crass couches, is the right political strategy.

Butler directed the team that runs @KamalaHQ, the campaign social brand for the Harris-Walz presidential campaign. Formerly @BidenHQ, the account's content has received over 1 billion of impressions, generated earned media and significantly shifted American political narratives by tapping into the increasing importance of memes and other creative ways to use online marketing. Butler's work was featured in CNN in August with the headline, "Inside the Gen Z Operation Powering Harris' Online Remix."

AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address. 

OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record.