What common between Donald Trump, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet and Jean-Luc Mélenchon? All, launched in a presidential marathon, put their eggs in one digital basket: American NationBuilder platform. An “all in one” which allows it to manage a website, a tool for online donations and, especially, a contact database. Either the application to the political field of what is called, in the jargon of Web systems “content management” and “customer relationship management”. Since the Obama 2008 campaign, no longer a candidate for election does the economy of a digital strategy. Since the 2012, the time is the mobilization of activists, supporters and potential voters, with a lot of “big data”. And in the preparation of 2017 in France, NationBuilder is the favorite, even “secret weapon”.
The company, founded in 2009, is “profitable” , assures CEO Jim Gilliam Libération , but “does not disclose its revenue” . On its website, it claims “more than 7000 customers in 98 countries,” : Business (AirBnB), NGOs (Amnesty International) and political, parties or personalities. Overseas, where Trump has offered her services, she shares the headliners with Blue State Digital, architect of the Obama campaign, and NGP VAN chosen by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. In the UK, the platform is used by both Labour and the Conservatives by Scottish or Welsh independence. In France, the Socialist patrick mennucci who released in 2013 with the communication agency the Netscouade during the primary for municipal Marseille. Today, outside Mélenchon, especially the tool is favored candidates for the primary right – Fillon Juppé, Mayor NKM and opted for NationBuilder – and their parent. It is the party Republicans who initiated the movement by signing in May 2015 with the US company.
It was there, at the headquarters of the Rue de Varenne in Paris, we’re given an overview of the pipe of the platform. The heart of the machine, it is the famous database that brings together members, sympathizers or simple “prospects”. The filling is “by feedback from the field, or by e-mail with a questionnaire: the contact that information itself in as, says Axel grille, former Head of Mission at the Elysee past by Deezer and recruited by Nicolas Sarkozy as director of digital development . If one is good, within thirty days of your registration, we know who you are and how you speak “ NationBuilder mouline names, email addresses, postal codes and maybe more. – dates of birth, phone numbers, addresses, occupations, interests – manages emails and SMS, and can be associated to a contact’s Facebook and Twitter profiles
strike Force
the tool also feeds other types of data, public (INSEE data, election results …) or private: “We rented transferable external files to make fund-raising research” , says Jérôme Grand Esnon, the campaign manager Bruno Le Maire. Which ? “Professional secrecy” Fun former adviser to Chirac, but “we only work with people who have storefront” . In RS, the platform has been a bonus in combination with other tools, such as software to generate forms, an automation solution phone calls, or a mobile app to organize door-to-door. “Making such an effective tool, it’s time and skill, emphasized Axel Grille. When you have two years worth “ Objectives. Aggregating a militant strike force beyond the participants, streamlining the field work, mobilizing his camp. “Yesterday, we went door-to-door without knowing if the doors were strategic, today we have the digital tools that allow us to knock on the right doors” , Grille advance. For example, in people who have made a small donation in the last month or sensitive to a particular campaign theme. “To mobilize young people for distributing leaflets, we will cross the age with a neighborhood or city,” says his side Jerome Grand Esnon. The potential pool can be counted in hundreds of thousands of contacts. In RS, it is “around a million,” dixit Grille. Only the mayor would have wrote World in February, raised more than 500,000 email addresses since 2013.
“It’s a marketing vision, very technical, pragmatic activism, streamlined “ notes researcher Anaïs Théviot, author of a thesis on the partisan activism online (see interview on page 4) . She sees the advent of these tools “a change in how to design the campaign, with the image of a political market where the voter is a consumer and a product candidate” . Users, however, defend themselves want to go that far. “I do not think at all to customer strategies retorted Jerome Grand Esnon. This is a tool to support the work on the ground, but it does not replace the basic, you have to work. “ And the boss of the Netscouade Benedict Thieulin, we are still far from ultraciblées campaigns in the US. “The French parties have moved closer to what Obama did in 2008, but the 2012 campaign, it is in light years, he judge. The issue today is that of mobilization. Obama, himself, made of profiling. In France, neither the right nor culture are predisposed, it would create huge problems of perception by the public. “
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at Mélenchon, who claims inspiration from the Sanders campaign also is put in before, even more than the ability to mobilize, that “self-organize” “We can create a support group, propose a timetable of actions is much to the initiative of people directly, insists William Royer, head of digital tools. When someone does something, it does not remain in a mailing list “ No-moderation, and public counting of the workforce on the site. – More than 95,000 supporters and more 900 reported groups. In this relationship between the figure of the candidate “outside party framework” and his troops “rebellious” , this is very clearly exceed the Party left, and partisan institution in general. What validate the view of Axel Grille, which sees NationBuilder and his epigones “a major paradigm shift in the way of making policy on the ground, but also in how to emerge in politics . Some would say it is a tool for “ubériser” local politics. “
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in any event, in recent years, the number of logistics support tools campaigns have multiplied, including in France. “start-up of electoral strategy” Liegey Muller Pons has developed Fifty One More, an optimization software door-to-door used by François Hollande and Anne Hidalgo. In the last municipal, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, she relied on Corto: a tool “decision support mapping” Spallian developed by the company, initially to … steer the fight against delinquency and crime (Interpol equipped). And “all in one” what NationBuilder has its hexagonal competitor DigitaleBox, which is positioned in the segment of policies that can not afford the US platform. The cost of the latter varies, depending on the formula and file sizes, from 29 to 5000 dollars or more per month (from 25.5 to 4.4 thousand euros). Chez Le Maire, Grand Esnon announced a package of EUR 60 000 for a year.
Data in the United States
An evolution necessarily followed by the National Commission for Information and liberties (CNIL). “It has been heard recently, it went very well,” Judge Vincent Moncenis cofounder DigitaleBox. The site was audited Republicans, says Axel Grille: “We have regular discussions, sometimes very meticulous.” A lawyer of the sovereign sector confirms that it leads the CNIL “auditions parties and providers concerned companies “ and issue recommendations by the end of the year. Still, if NationBuilder provides everything so that the company and its customers to be “full compliance with European legislation ‘, the data, they are in the US … What DigitaleBox does not hesitate pointing the finger at them, the data is hosted in France. A question “IT sovereignty and economic patriotism” , tackle Vincent Moncenis. Users, however, emphasize the ease of use and efficiency concerns. “The advantage of NationBuilder is that it is durable, highlights Benedict Thieulin. This is a solution built from the single solvent market policy, which is the US market. “ But the former president of the National Digital Council recognizes that ” This is a real issue : it is the public authority to be concerned “
the American company could take the lead.. She studied “The ability to offer servers in Europe” to its customers, and ensures Libération do “a priority for 2016″ . It is true that market “steering” digital activism and campaigns is not about to dry up. “There are three, the reception was a bit odd. There was a big change in the heads “, welcomes Moncenis. As for what impact will these tools over time, that’s another story. Failover in “optimization” of diehard activist practice, increasingly guided by data analysis? Possibility of more participatory practices? Clearly, it will take much more than raising capability supported by software solutions to give credit to the partisan institution, in a time when the renewal of democratic debate plays very clearly elsewhere.
Amaelle Guiton 
