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French presidential candidate Segolene Royal — who today announced her 100 point-platform — is shaking up politics-as-usual in France, and using two successful marketing practices to do so : listening to the people, and giving constituents a direct say in governing.

Like companies trying to be be more customer-centric, Royal said her new platform is based on ideas from voters. According to yesterday’s Wall St. Journal, Royal’s ideas com from approximately 6,000 town-hall meetings with voters, smaller coffeehouse sessions called “cafe Segolene,” and the 2.8 million people who have visited her campaign Web site.

As president of Poitou-Charentes, Royal has allowed her constituents to have a say and direct role in governing. Parents and teachers decide via secret ballot how to spend 10 percent of the regional budget for high schools. And she introduced new ‘citizen juries” — where residents are randomly chosen to evaluate laws for their communities. If elected, she says she’d apply these same principles nationally, setting up a citizens’ juries to evaluate the work of the National Assembly, for example.

Royal’s fresh citizen-centric approach has helped her shake up the old-guard French politicians, referred to as “elephants,” to become a front runner for France’s highest office. But will listening and involvement be enough to win?

Possibly, as her social program programs, like more low-income housing and increasing minimum wage, are likely to appeal to so many French citizens. What France really needs, however, is a way to make the country more business friendly, keeping and attracting employers.

While involving customers in businesses is a successful strategy for growth and loyalty, is it also a valuable strategy for electing leaders? Royal promises to give voters what they want, but is what they want in the best interest to France?

Segolene Royal political marketing

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