From Product Management to Campaign Manager

More by chance than by design, I found myself in a promising position on the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen list for the district council in my home district of Landsberg am Lech last year. After the nomination meeting, someone suddenly sent me a job advert: the candidate for district administrator was looking for a campaign manager on a part-time basis.

The responsibilities sounded familiar: coordinating a team, planning projects, managing schedules and communications as well as supporting strategy and content. I was impressed by the candidate, Daniela Groß, at the nomination meeting. My first thought was: I already do this every day at work. There, I coordinate projects with partners such as BlackRock and Allianz. So why not try it in a completely different setting?

Research, kick-off, to-do list – and go

My studies at Frankfurt School and my professional experience had taught me to approach any new situation by first getting to grips with it systematically. So I analysed election results, municipalities, demographics, transport links and the district’s political landscape.

What I was missing, however, was a simple guide: how do you actually organise an election campaign? There was very little documentation available within the local party organisation. One particularly useful resource was a detailed review of the successful mayoral campaign in Würzburg. I probably read it ten times. And, much as I would have done for a university thesis, I conducted an expert interview with a former mayor.

During our first strategy meeting, one thing became increasingly clear: much of what I knew from my studies and professional life transferred surprisingly easily. In many ways, an election campaign resembles a traditional marketing campaign. You have target audiences, a limited budget, different communication channels and a fixed deadline. The crucial difference is that you are not marketing a fund or a certificate. You are asking people to place their trust in a person to whom voters may entrust significant responsibility.

The questions quickly became very practical: Where can we reach people across a rural district? How can we make the most effective use of our budget? And how exactly do you write a press release?

What is free time, anyway?

The job advert had been rather conservative in its estimate of the workload. Suddenly, it felt as though my working week had doubled. Evenings, weekends and train journeys all became campaign time.

The weeks flew by in a blur of campaign stands, website updates, local gatherings, printers, leaflets and schedules. Shortly before the first round of voting, I joined our candidate, Daniela Groß, for some door-to-door campaigning in a small village on the edge of the district.

We met a woman in the street who was on her way to the town hall with her postal vote. She pointed to the envelope and said, ‘I’ve already cast my vote.’ It was the first time we thought: perhaps we really do have a chance.

That day I had another unexpected consequence. While withdrawing some cash, I spotted a property advertised in the window of the local bank. After the campaign, my partner and I bought that very house.

How intense can 14 days be?

On the evening of the first round, the result took us by surprise: Daniela Groß received 39.7 per cent of the vote and made it through to the run-off, finishing fewer than 500 votes behind the incumbent.

That same night, we added run-off election notices to our campaign posters. I got home at four in the morning and was up again at half past six. New leaflets had to be ordered, newspaper distributions arranged and additional volunteers coordinated.

What followed were 14 days of very little sleep, countless conversations and a great many decisions made under pressure. It reminded me of exam periods during my part-time studies. The same skills helped in both situations: setting priorities, delegating tasks, making decisions and keeping sight of the bigger picture despite the time pressure.

On the evening of the run-off, Bayerischer Rundfunk was broadcasting live from the venue. My mind was racing. Then the first result came in: in a small municipality that had traditionally tended to vote conservatively, Daniela Groß received 61 per cent. Other municipalities followed with similar results.

In the end, she won the election with 61.5 per cent of the vote and became Bavaria’s first Green district administrator.

What I took away from the campaign

Our aim was to reach beyond the party’s core political audience. The campaign therefore focused consistently on the candidate herself, her leadership and administrative experience and her connection with local people.

For me, the campaign was perhaps the most unusual practical test of what I had learnt at Frankfurt School and later in my career: good management is not tied to any one sector. Strategy, project management, stakeholder communication and prioritising limited resources worked just as well in an environment that was completely new to me.

That experience showed me just how versatile these skills can be. What I had once learnt for banking products, projects and my day-to-day work suddenly helped me organise an election campaign.

At the same time, I learnt something else that is difficult to teach from a textbook: however unlikely a goal may seem, believing in it and committing yourself wholeheartedly can sometimes make it possible.

And sometimes, that possibility really does begin with a simple yes.