Digitas strategist Manisha Dayananda examines how Zohran Mamdani’s creative, hyper-local campaign transformed cultural connections into social media rocket-fuel.
A New York City mayoral candidate has one job: win New Yorkers’ hearts and votes.
Seems simple enough, but New York hosts more than 8.5 million people speaking 200 languages, where almost 70% are multicultural non-white individuals and nearly 10% identify as LGBTQ+. Marketers are all too aware of the client saying they want to target “everyone” with their campaign. Not. A. Helpful. Brief. It is also not how to win an election.
Broad, singular moves have no hope of resonating with everyone, and sometimes anyone. Knowing this, Mamdani activated differently for every niche audience. Most importantly, he showed up to secure their loyalty across the five boroughs. In the end, two million New Yorkers rallied to vote, the most since 1969, with Mamdani securing an overwhelming majority.
One broad message for all New Yorkers
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If there’s one thing New Yorkers can’t stand, it’s someone complaining about their city… unless it’s them, of course. Mamdani won their hearts by consistently reaffirming how special the city is, but he also returned to marketing basics to identify their top pain point.
New Yorkers have unconditional love for their city, but the cost of living is their biggest trigger. It’s said to be “New York or nowhere,” but more than three in four would consider leaving because it’s too expensive. The problem is heard all around the island: how expensive can this city really get?
Mamdani stepped in with a different question: how affordable can we make it? He captured attention with a simple message, “We are going to win the city we deserve. And it’s going to be one we can afford,” alongside genuine solutions to tackle New Yorkers’ most top-of-mind frustration. As Mamdani would hear “freeze the rent” shouted from passing cars, he succeeded in speaking New Yorkers’ language.
Meeting diverse communities in their neighbourhoods
The secret to any stand-out campaign comes from unique extensions, and Mamdani delivered a true 360 campaign like no other. Tasked with appealing to multicultural, LGBTQ+, and multigenerational audiences, his multi-pronged strategy had one theme: meet them where they are.
One day, Mamdani was in the crowd at a Pink Pantheress concert. The next, he was learning tai chi and salsa dancing with seniors in the Lower East Side. On Halloween, he cosplayed as Hermione Granger with her time turner as he popped up everywhere at once, including gay clubs, Caribbean parties and even trick-or-treating with kids.
Beyond taking to the streets, he dedicated social media videos in Hindi/Urdu, Bangla, Spanish and Arabic, coupled with behind-the-scenes content of him learning the languages to the best of his abilities. He also used cultural references from Bollywood movie clips, even ending his victory speech with the iconic song ‘Dhoom Machale,’ all to prove he could connect through these communities’ cultures.
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Speaking the internet’s language
Mamdani became a celebrity sighting across the city, but his real challenge was replicating this online. With infinitely more subcultures and “sides” of the internet, Mamdani built a politically unconventional game plan.
Beyond cleverly curating content on his own platforms, he collaborated with numerous niche NYC-specific creators to embed himself in their style of content, showing up in street interviews such as Subway Takes, holding a local bodega cat in Shop Cats, and being song-bombed in a grocery store by Harry Daniels. No matter what side of TikTok you were on, it was impossible not to see Mamdani pop up like an Easter egg in content people already cared about.
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Just as no one likes seeing a brand act like a brand, seeing a politician take on side quests on social media catapulted Mamdani’s authenticity. Forget New Yorkers; people halfway across the world flooded the comments saying, “That’s my mayor!” Matching creators’ energy became Mamdani’s final move to mobilise a record number of voters and secure his internet-breaking victory.
Further reading: It wasn’t just social media that won it for Zohran Mamdani