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| ‘I thought: what do I have to offer?’ The woman digitalising the Democrats | ‘I thought: what do I have to offer?’ The woman digitalising the Democrats |
| (2 months later) | |
| Jessica Alter is the co-founder of Tech for Campaigns, a 7,000-strong volunteer organisation that enables Silicon Valley employees to use their digital skills to help Democratic election candidates. “The aim is to become a permanent digital arm for progressive and centrist campaigns, and give access to campaigns at any level to the people, technology and resources they need,” she says. | Jessica Alter is the co-founder of Tech for Campaigns, a 7,000-strong volunteer organisation that enables Silicon Valley employees to use their digital skills to help Democratic election candidates. “The aim is to become a permanent digital arm for progressive and centrist campaigns, and give access to campaigns at any level to the people, technology and resources they need,” she says. |
| What led you to start Tech for Campaigns. Was it the aftermath of the 2016 election? It was the aftermath of the Muslim travel ban. I had been travelling during the election and returned around the time of the inauguration and, within a week, the ban was announced. I had already been very bothered but that really pushed me over the edge and I wanted a way to feel as if I was doing something that made a real impact. When you think about that, you think: what do I have to offer? I understand tech and digital, and I know a lot of other people who do, too. I reached out to my co-founder Pete Kazanjy and we decided to find out if our friends would be interested in something like this. And they were, and that’s how it started. | What led you to start Tech for Campaigns. Was it the aftermath of the 2016 election? It was the aftermath of the Muslim travel ban. I had been travelling during the election and returned around the time of the inauguration and, within a week, the ban was announced. I had already been very bothered but that really pushed me over the edge and I wanted a way to feel as if I was doing something that made a real impact. When you think about that, you think: what do I have to offer? I understand tech and digital, and I know a lot of other people who do, too. I reached out to my co-founder Pete Kazanjy and we decided to find out if our friends would be interested in something like this. And they were, and that’s how it started. |
| Did you feel Hillary Clinton’s campaign wasn’t firing on all cylinders, digitally? I just felt that, in general, the mindset of the Trump campaign was very different. Much more iterative, tech-driven – it was inspired by a digital mindset. They didn’t go in with a ton of preconceived notions, they seemed open to the idea that you can learn a lot quickly from the data and test a lot of things quickly. | Did you feel Hillary Clinton’s campaign wasn’t firing on all cylinders, digitally? I just felt that, in general, the mindset of the Trump campaign was very different. Much more iterative, tech-driven – it was inspired by a digital mindset. They didn’t go in with a ton of preconceived notions, they seemed open to the idea that you can learn a lot quickly from the data and test a lot of things quickly. |
| So the Trump campaign was working like a startup? I don’t know if the whole campaign was, but, from what I had heard, I felt that digital was being run with that mindset. I’m not saying that we should all have content farms, but that is a lot of what they did. | So the Trump campaign was working like a startup? I don’t know if the whole campaign was, but, from what I had heard, I felt that digital was being run with that mindset. I’m not saying that we should all have content farms, but that is a lot of what they did. |
| In what sense?Congress actually released 3,500 of the ads that were run by the Russians. The targeting was very rudimentary. [The notable bit was] the sheer volume of content they ran – that’s not super-sophisticated targeting. The underbelly of it is sowing doubt in people’s minds and reinforcing their prejudices. The method was messaging, constant iteration and the testing of it. | In what sense?Congress actually released 3,500 of the ads that were run by the Russians. The targeting was very rudimentary. [The notable bit was] the sheer volume of content they ran – that’s not super-sophisticated targeting. The underbelly of it is sowing doubt in people’s minds and reinforcing their prejudices. The method was messaging, constant iteration and the testing of it. |
| Barack Obama had a reputation for running very data-driven campaigns. Why didn’t that filter down to other parts of the Democratic party? Something that I didn’t have any insight into before I started Tech for Campaigns was how totally different presidential campaigns are. The technology is used for that campaign and it doesn’t necessarily trickle down to any other campaign for the party. It’s designed with one goal in mind and once it’s accomplished, that’s it. It’s an important myth to keep dispelling that the Democrats are great at digital and tech because Obama was great at it. That’s just not true. Americans spend six to seven hours online every day yet Democrats are spending around 10% of their budget online. That is not a winning combination. | Barack Obama had a reputation for running very data-driven campaigns. Why didn’t that filter down to other parts of the Democratic party? Something that I didn’t have any insight into before I started Tech for Campaigns was how totally different presidential campaigns are. The technology is used for that campaign and it doesn’t necessarily trickle down to any other campaign for the party. It’s designed with one goal in mind and once it’s accomplished, that’s it. It’s an important myth to keep dispelling that the Democrats are great at digital and tech because Obama was great at it. That’s just not true. Americans spend six to seven hours online every day yet Democrats are spending around 10% of their budget online. That is not a winning combination. |
| So are you trying to fill that void? We’re trying to start not from the top, but start from campaigns that are ignored and meet their needs first. And we’re trying to be a sustainable digital arm. What happens in politics is that most of the tech is thrown away after a campaign. We are trying to build tools that are longer lasting and shared. | So are you trying to fill that void? We’re trying to start not from the top, but start from campaigns that are ignored and meet their needs first. And we’re trying to be a sustainable digital arm. What happens in politics is that most of the tech is thrown away after a campaign. We are trying to build tools that are longer lasting and shared. |
| How do you help candidates? It really ranges from basics, such as websites and digital identity, to marketing and analytics, to running paid digital for them, to more complex data science. We try to build software that can be applied to many campaigns. | How do you help candidates? It really ranges from basics, such as websites and digital identity, to marketing and analytics, to running paid digital for them, to more complex data science. We try to build software that can be applied to many campaigns. |
| Do you have any sense of how many points you can add to a candidate’s vote? Nobody really knows. We can certainly look at campaign data en masse once the midterms happen. Everyone is looking for a panacea, but there’s not one thing that is a secret weapon for every campaign. We don’t go in saying that digital will be the thing that makes you win. We go in saying that people spend six and a half hours a day on a digital screen and you have to be there. | Do you have any sense of how many points you can add to a candidate’s vote? Nobody really knows. We can certainly look at campaign data en masse once the midterms happen. Everyone is looking for a panacea, but there’s not one thing that is a secret weapon for every campaign. We don’t go in saying that digital will be the thing that makes you win. We go in saying that people spend six and a half hours a day on a digital screen and you have to be there. |
| Was campaign money previously spent on TV and leafleting? Not previously; still. We’re helping them to change the mix. We can help educate them, explain what’s possible, help them test it and give them the talent to do it. | Was campaign money previously spent on TV and leafleting? Not previously; still. We’re helping them to change the mix. We can help educate them, explain what’s possible, help them test it and give them the talent to do it. |
| Can you tell whether a particular individual has voted? How granular can you go? We can tell if people have voted, but it takes a couple of months after the election. To prove causation is very difficult; at best you can prove correlation. | Can you tell whether a particular individual has voted? How granular can you go? We can tell if people have voted, but it takes a couple of months after the election. To prove causation is very difficult; at best you can prove correlation. |
| How is encouraging somebody to vote in a particular way different to persuading them to buy a holiday or take a loan? Voting is often a bit more emotional, but not necessarily that different. You have to get them on an interaction curve knowing what the product is before asking them to buy. In that way it’s very similar. You don’t just message them saying: “Hey, do you want to buy this?” You explain to them why it’s good first. | How is encouraging somebody to vote in a particular way different to persuading them to buy a holiday or take a loan? Voting is often a bit more emotional, but not necessarily that different. You have to get them on an interaction curve knowing what the product is before asking them to buy. In that way it’s very similar. You don’t just message them saying: “Hey, do you want to buy this?” You explain to them why it’s good first. |
| What have you learned about the way politics works from setting up the organisation? First that, on their own, tech solutions aren’t going to make a dent unless we have the people to help execute and implement. Especially at the state and lower-level campaigns, each campaign has two to four full-time people and none of them are experienced in digital. To ask them to go run sophisticated Facebook targeting projects is an unrealistic request. Second, that the incentive structure of any industry really does matter. In this case, a consultant is paid 10-15% of advertising spend, so if a candidate spends $1m on TV, the consultant gets a percentage of that, but digital is cheaper and more efficient. | What have you learned about the way politics works from setting up the organisation? First that, on their own, tech solutions aren’t going to make a dent unless we have the people to help execute and implement. Especially at the state and lower-level campaigns, each campaign has two to four full-time people and none of them are experienced in digital. To ask them to go run sophisticated Facebook targeting projects is an unrealistic request. Second, that the incentive structure of any industry really does matter. In this case, a consultant is paid 10-15% of advertising spend, so if a candidate spends $1m on TV, the consultant gets a percentage of that, but digital is cheaper and more efficient. |
| What about politicians themselves? Since 2016, people who never thought they would run are raising their hand. I am really encouraged – there are people who really want to make a difference. The silver lining of what happened is a lot of new people want to be involved. | What about politicians themselves? Since 2016, people who never thought they would run are raising their hand. I am really encouraged – there are people who really want to make a difference. The silver lining of what happened is a lot of new people want to be involved. |
| Are there particular sectors or demographics that are difficult to reach digitally or are hard to convert into votes? | Are there particular sectors or demographics that are difficult to reach digitally or are hard to convert into votes? |
| It’s well known that it is harder to get young people to vote. If voting was digital, probably not, but you have to get them to go to a polling place or do a mail-in ballot, which they’ve never heard of. They are certainly online and it’s a great place to reach them, but they are a much more discerning audience, as they’ve grown up there – they want it to feel authentic; they know how to spot an ad. | It’s well known that it is harder to get young people to vote. If voting was digital, probably not, but you have to get them to go to a polling place or do a mail-in ballot, which they’ve never heard of. They are certainly online and it’s a great place to reach them, but they are a much more discerning audience, as they’ve grown up there – they want it to feel authentic; they know how to spot an ad. |
| Do you have any advice for the president about his Twitter account? That’s not an area I want to wade into. And I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t listen to my advice anyway. | Do you have any advice for the president about his Twitter account? That’s not an area I want to wade into. And I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t listen to my advice anyway. |
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