Political Marketing Case Study #002 - Zohran Mamdani
When the NYC Mayoral primary was first shaping up, they gave Zohran Mamdani a 1% chance to win. The same as “other.”
Fortunately (or unfortunately if you’re a billionaire), no one told Zohran he only had a 1% chance.
That’s the beauty of the underdog story. Everyone else thinks they’re a long shot, but they think winning is inevitable if they simply do the work.
I think the biggest political marketing lesson to learn from Mamdani’s campaign is that we have arrived firmly in the social media “golden era” of politics.
Social media can be the vehicle that takes you from a long-shot to toppling a billionaire-backed political dynasty (if you pair it with a top-notch ground game).
Let’s take a look at how he did it.
Mamdani’s pre-campaign videos planted seeds
Looking back at his content in retrospect, there were some signs he was already positioning himself to enter the Mayoral race.
He has a video from his time as an Assemblyman where he talks about freezing the rent, which became the core affordability policy of his campaign.
He also directly disses Mayor Adams on policy in a video where he talks about the amount of restaurant inspections under Adams vs under De Blasio.
Mamdani was planting seeds in the minds of New Yorkers, and they bloomed in his campaign launch video.
This is a good strategy for anyone who currently holds office and is seeking a higher office. You can use your insider knowledge of how politics works to position yourself as a trusted political insider, which Mamdani succeeded at here.
And those seeds bloomed in his campaign launch video
It starts with faded news audio reporting on Mayor Adams’ indictment and his quote saying New York city is the greatest city on the globe.
This subtly establishes that New York City itself is great, but a corrupt city hall has made it not so great.
Then he says “But what good is that if no one can afford to live here?” and goes into agitating the affordability problem by hitting buses, childcare, and rent.
He establishes the problem: No one can afford to live in NYC.
And then agitates the problem by painting a picture out-of-control rent and childcare costs.
The problem creates a curiosity loop in your brain and the agitation arouses your emotions to get you emotionally invested.
He then brings the agitation to a fever pitch by saying the quiet part out loud: working class people are being pushed out of the city they built.
Finally, he transforms into aspirational vibe. “A mayor could change this, and that’s why I’m running.” This closes the Problem-Agitate-Solution loop. The viewer is hooked if they made it this far.
Then he goes into his 3 campaign promises: Make buses fast and free, Make childcare available to all New Yorkers at no cost, and free rent on rent stabilized apartments. Each issue features a real new yorker to explain the benefit of the policy.
One of the last lines firmly establishes his ideological lane “life in this city doesn’t have to be this hard, but Adams and Cuomo want it this way.”
He’s the clear cut contrast to the status quo.
It wraps up on an aspirational message: “This campaign is for every New Yorker that believes the role of the government is to actually makes lives better.” It further solidifies his ideological lane as the anti-establishment politician.
But it wasn’t just this video that got him from 1% chance to Gracie Mansion.
Mamdani’s team took us on a journey
The journey starts 24 hours after his campaign announcement. He raised $139,015.17 in the first 24 hours from 1,402 donors, which was the highest first-day total for any candidate in the race.
That donor number is more important than the dollar amount.
There is a marketing theory that states you can penetrate, and eventually dominate, any market with 1000 true fans. Not just customers, but fans. The people who advocate for your brand to other people in their network who could use your product/service.
In retrospect, Mamdani’s campaign proves this carries over to political marketing.
These day-1 donors carried him throughout the campaign.
On the one month anniversary of his campaign launch, he posted a montage video of his supporters directly talking to the camera.
A video like this creates what’s known in marketing as a network effect. In marketing, the network effect operates under the idea that the product gets better with more users. Social media platforms are the best example.
Volunteering for a political campaign is the same way. The more people you know who are involved, the better the experience, which in turn makes more people want to volunteer. It’s a positive snowball.
Another powerful video along the same vein was when he showed up to knock on doors of the people who have donated to his campaign to ask them why they donated.
One video from May that focused on polling really highlighted how far he came.
He was polling 44% to 56% against Cuomo in the primary. While a 12-point gap is still significant, he highlighted that it was 40 points in March. This is invigorating to his volunteers because they feel like what they’re doing is tangibly making a difference.
And once he overcame those 1% odds and won the primary?
One of the first things he did was celebrate with the people who were there from day one.
But the real question is…why was his journey so successful?
Mamdani is incredibly plugged into the NYC zeitgeist
Early on, he gave the vibe that he just gets New Yorkers and genuinely wants to understand the diversity of thought within the city.
This was evident when he took to the streets after Trump was elected to ask them who they voted for.
The style of the video is shot like a typical “influencer in the wild with a mic” format, which gives it algorithmic favorability.
Throughout the campaign, he has several videos that engrain his campaign within the NYC zeitgeist.
For example, this video from November 2024 was about NYC being under a drought warning, but he showed a clip of an iconic 1980 commercial about water conservation in NYC. It’s like a little inside gag only real New Yorkers would get.
This video from April 2025 was on the eve of a Knicks playoff game, where he talks with Knicks fans.
He pulls this off because you can genuinely believe he is a Knicks fan, and also because he’s been out in the streets so much he’s celebrity status at this point. People want to talk to him.
No other Mayoral candidate came close to this vibe.
Along the same vein was his “Make Halal carts $8 again” video. That was such a perfect way to talk about the effects of inflation in a context that resonates with everyday New Yorkers.
But it only works because you can actually believe Zohran is a guy who has ordered from a Halal cart. Cuomo most certainly did not give that vibe.
He also has a video in a bodega where he gives his bodega order, and a collab with the popular Shop Cats page. He understands how deep the bodega is engrained in NYC culture.
Again, Cuomo could never.
And he was sure to mix in some policy videos as well. He had one that really got into the nuance of the bus issue that, while not viral compared to his others, really spoke directly to the 1 million New Yorkers who take the bus every day.
He also had a creative way to go viral with his freeze the rent message by participating in a polar plunge in his signature suit.
The final piece of Mamdani’s political marketing puzzle was traditional ads…and they were anything but traditional.
Zohran’s team brought new media flavor to legacy media advertising
His first ad was 2 cabbies who have a quintessential “old white guy of NYC” vibe about them.
They’re arguing over Adams and Cuomo, trading attacks, before Mamdani joins them and tells them there’s another option.
It’s formulaic, yet fresh. Everyone crushes it on camera so the interaction feels authentic.
This one from May 2025 is also more traditional…yet it got over 200K likes on Instagram alone.
It’s because he had been building up his digital affinity for months. People (and the algorithms) loved his content so much that the algorithms pushed them like any other piece of organic content, and people ate it up.
The creativity of his team showed off in the contextual ads that they created. One aired during Survivor and was centered around voting Cuomo off the island.
Another aired during the Golden Bachelor and fit the Bachelor theme.
Perhaps his best ad, considering he ended up getting 1 in 10 Trump voters to vote for him in the General, was his ad on Fox News that debunked all the nonsense the channel had been parroting about him.
He stuck to an anti-establishment message that centered on affordability, and it proved to resonate.
5 Takeaways for Your Political Marketing Strategy
Do you want to be the Mamdani of your race? Well, I can’t exactly promise you that. The dude has 99 likability. But I can tell you what you can implement from a strategy perspective.
1 - Think like an influencer
The day after Trump won, Mamdani hit the streets with a camera and a mic to find out why. Anyone who consumes content online recognizes this format from influencer content, so it’s not revolutionary.
But it kind of is for a politician.
Your primary objective is still not to say anything that could hurt your chances to get elected. But beyond that, your primary objective is to get your content seen.
And the most reliable way to do that is to study influencers who go viral for consistently talking about a given topic, bonus if it’s politics, and copying what works for them stylistically.
2 - Highlight supporters early, often, and creatively
Remember the network effect. You are a “service” that gets better with the more people who join up. It doesn’t matter if you start with 5 supporters.
Featuring them in your content not only makes them feel special, but it also makes people want to be a part of the good vibes.
3 - Find creative ways to talk policy
Every person in your primary has policies, and there’s probably a bunch of overlap with at least one of them. Policy alone most likely won’t set you apart.
How you talk about that policy will.
Mamdani doing the polar plunge as a tie-in to freezing the rent was a brilliant idea and the algorithm rewarded him for it.
4 - Keep social media appeal in mind when creating ads
That’s your most expensive content investment.
Treat it like a piece of organic content and, if you’re consistent with your other types of social media content, you set yourself up to be rewarded with virality that reaches exponentially more eyeballs than its traditional media run.
5 - Be a f*cking human
Mamdani’s strategy only succeeded because he felt like a real person running for office, not a person manufactured in a lab by consultants based on what the data says voters want.
I know it’s easier said than done on camera, but be yourself. Do mock takes in selfie mode on your phone. Practice speaking confidently and emoting with your face.
Envision your best friend on the other side of the camera.
Did you like this political marketing case study? Check out the one I did on Aftyn Behn in TN-07.
And get in touch with me if you want to implement a strategy like this for your primary.
