Zohran Mamdani’s victory to become New York City mayor has been hailed as a communications triumph that broke the rules. From the campaign’s distinctive visual identity to its use of social media to connect with younger voters and the easy navigation of influential podcasters, YouTubers and TikTokers, Mamdani's strategy is a blueprint for engagement that all brands can learn from.

‍Mamdani’s Brand‍

Designed by Philadelphia-based design cooperative, Forge, the Mamdani brand takes an opposite approach to almost all political and corporate campaigns. Most obvious is the saturated colour palette - most US politicians stick to red, white, and blue  that’s rooted in New York street life such as the distinctive yellow of the city’s taxi cabs, and he Mets' royal blue.

This is mixed in with references to New York’s old, hand-painted signage and even some Bollywood aesthetic according to Tyler Evans who designed Mamdami’s campaign posters.

Takeaway

Mamdani understands the power of visual design to influence politics. This makes him unique as a politician. From the outset, he knew that his campaign's visual identity needed to connect with young, diverse voters who might not typically engage with traditional political campaigns. And it needed to be accessible - it couldn’t look too corporate or ‘done’.

The posters, which appeared all over NYC in shop windows, was an easy win which shows with strong design, old-fashioned methods of communication - printed material! - should not be ignored. My only slight reservation is that a campaign brand has its own shelf life, and it probably won’t work now he is faced with the more difficult job of carrying out his policy promises.

‍Content and Language

Whether it's the promise of city-subsidised grocery stores, free buses or rent freezes, Mamdani’s language is conversational and lends itself to translation (all printed material was translated into eight languages). His campaign slogan, For a New York You Can Afford, is deliberately short to cut through the cluttered media environment. In contrast, his rival Andrew Cuomo failed to define his vision for voters.

Takeaway

While architects are not, in the main, running election campaigns they still need to communicate in a direct, relatable manner. This is where the profession fails. Mamdani uses story-telling techniques as well as humour and situations that resonate with everyday life to make his message more memorable and engaging. It's not just younger audiences who have shorter attention spans - everyone has less time.

‍TikTok

Mamdani’s campaign galvanised young New Yorkers through short videos under a minute long, digital explainers, and TikTok content. TikTok speeches delivered in Bengali, Hindi and Spanish, each garnered thousands of likes. His team strategically used social media algorithms to reach a wider audience, including those who might not typically follow political content.

Takeaway

Mamdani’s campaign shows that you must put your message everywhere and you need fluency in the language of TikTok and podcasts. It also points to how influencers are playing a larger role in the political process – something he has learned from the Trump campaign which eschewed interviews with traditional media outlets in favour of podcasters like Joe Rogan. And he has also shown that social media videos needn’t cost a lot if your audience is engaged.

‍Real-world visibility

 Mamdani walked the length of Manhattan, from Inwood Hill to Battery Park, to engage with voters. The grainy footage is on YouTube and has had over 100,000 views. Days before Election Day he invited content creators to a news conference exclusively for creators from Twitch, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, SubStack and other platforms and podcasts. It had a combined audience of more than 77.3 million followers.

Takeaway

Digital reach is crucial, but real-world visibility is just as important, but the takeaway is to combine the two.

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