When Germany is dipping into the proverbial hot phase not only of the summer but also of the election campaign these days, then it will depend on five men.

There are five men who hardly anyone in public knows.

They are not party soldiers, not even politicians.

They don't make speeches and you don't see them on TV.

Gustav Theile

Editor in business.

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    And yet everything that the population sees of the parties, whether posters or commercials, advertisements in social media, on YouTube and even the party convention strategy, runs through their desks.

    These five men - here the patriarchy is still intact - run the advertising agencies that advise the parties in the federal election campaign.

    For them, campaigning is a craft, a service.

    Otherwise they create advertising for large corporations like Bayer, for the DFB or for initiatives like the Berlin rent cap.

    Now they are paid to campaign.

    How well they master their craft will determine who will rule this country for the next four years.

    Great influence

    How well they get on with the party executives will influence what tax policy and climate protection will look like in the next four years.

    Election campaigns are not just about fighting for the best politics.

    Election campaigns are also about whose machinery is best oiled.

    It's a management job.

    I contacted all parties represented in the Bundestag for this text.

    In some cases I was able to speak to the chief executive or general secretary of the party, in some to the executive director of the agency, in some cases to both.

    AfD not ready to talk

    The AfD, which recently did not find an agency in Germany and worked with a Swiss one, was not prepared to talk and said: "In view of the multiple attacks against our party and everyone who supports it, we strive to protect our contractual partners .

    We therefore generally do not give out any information about them. "

    The agencies that the parties have chosen could hardly be more different.

    The CDU and FDP rely on thick ships, the SPD and the Left on specialized agencies.

    As in the previous federal election campaign, the Greens have set up their own project agency.

    The CDU and SPD have new partners, the FDP and the Left have been working with the same agency for years and decades.

    “We have daily votes in video conferences, by telephone and also physically,” says Christoph Kahlert, describing the cooperation with the CDU.

    He heads the Serviceplan Reputation agency.

    That has changed fundamentally, continues CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak.

    “We used to present what we imagined.

    Then a corresponding advertising agency was commissioned.

    Weeks later the agency came up with a concept. "

    Agile work and short "sprints"

    Today the collaboration is faster.

    Kahlert drops the buzzwords of agile work, in which teams work through projects in short “sprints”.

    One project was the CDU's digital party conference, which the agency set up within six weeks.

    It sounds similar with the other advertisers: “We don't withdraw and then hold up a cardboard with our idea,” says Andreas Mengele, who takes care of the FDP for the Heimat agency.

    There will be “collaborative and iterative” work, many workshops.

    “We exchange ideas with the SPD teams on a daily basis,” says Raphael Brinkert.

    “From the general secretary to the party chairman to the candidate for chancellor.” From July on, employees would be in the Willy Brandt House.

    When he talks about the Secretary General, Lars Klingbeil is just Lars.