This is 99% invisible.

And Deco DC.

It's a special joint episode between my friend here, Roman Mars, and my friend Andrea Seabrook.

It's election season, as you know, and Andrea and I found out we had a lot of the same questions

about the political events that are everywhere right now.

Questions like how much of a debate or a press conference is genuinely spontaneous and how much is pre-planned who designs the theater of politics

Why do speeches and town hall meetings look the way they do and what message are the campaigns trying to express with their design?

To answer some of these questions, we track down two of the most interesting people I've ever talked to in politics and we ask them for their secrets.

Secret number one. Every campaign has a brand. This is probably not a huge secret to anyone who's

paying close attention, but it's more than just the politician himself as a brand is an abstraction that floats on top of the human being that's running for office.

So Obama in 2008, it was Hope, and for Rami right now I don't know I can't really put my finger on it

Rami's brand is like a competent businessman who can bring back jobs

That is the message that the campaign is selling,

and every detail is arranged to market that brand.

The politician's clothes, how he walks, what he says, where he goes,

his sense of humor, his wife, his haircut, his watch.

Which brings us to secret number two.

Every campaign has a team of people who are in charge of making every event fit that brand.

They're called the Advanced Team.

From campaign headquarters, they're given a location, a date, a type of event, and a plane ticket.

Donnie Fowler is a long-time advanced guy. He worked for Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John

Carey, Barack Obama.

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