New York Metropolis, the US: Swinging round a tree mimicking the signature open-arm lean of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Zohran Mamdani asks, “Hey! Have you ever ever voted earlier than?” An enthusiastic group of Hindi/Urdu-speaking New Yorkers reply: “Sure!”
Within the June 4 video posted on X, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist member of the New York State Meeting then explains ranked alternative voting utilizing mango lassi, a yoghurt-based drink from the Punjab area of India, amid clips from well-liked Bollywood movies and scores.
This is only one instance of the sorts of movies populating Mamdani’s social media main as much as his 56 % win within the New York Metropolis mayoral Democratic main on July 1.
Mamdani was relatively unknown earlier than the first election, polling as little as one percent in an Emerson College survey in February 2025. However his grassroots marketing campaign mobilised a multicultural coalition of voters, partly, by talking on to them — of their native tongue.
The federal government of New York state estimates that New Yorkers communicate greater than 800 languages, and as many as 2.5 million battle with speaking in English. Consultants, nevertheless, say Mamdani efficiently used his abilities in a number of languages to enchantment to voters who usually will not be focused by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting coverage proposals focusing on voters’ greatest considerations, like affordability.
Moments after ranked-choice voting totals have been finalised, Mamdani’s staff posted a marketing campaign message garnering greater than 5.7 million views on X alone, explaining a five-point breakdown of “What We Gained on Election Day”: Trump voters, Adams voters, new voters, coalitions and turnout.
“Most campaigns deal with ‘triple primes’ – New Yorkers who voted within the final three primaries,” mentioned Mamdani. “However this technique ignored most of our metropolis. We knew we might flip them out in the event that they noticed themselves in our insurance policies.”
Talking between clips of himself utilizing Hindi, Urdu and Spanish, Mamdani explained, “We ran a marketing campaign that attempted to speak to each New Yorker, whether or not I might communicate their language or just tried. And the coalition that got here out on Tuesday mirrored the mosaic of those 5 boroughs.”
Among the many areas Mamdani gained by giant margins have been South Asian neighbourhoods corresponding to Metropolis Line, Ozone Park and Jamaica Hills; Latino neighbourhoods together with Corona, Washington Heights, Pelham Bay and Woodhaven; and Chinese language communities in Flushing, Chinatown and Bensonhurst.
A Ugandan-born South Asian Muslim immigrant himself, Mamdani speaks each Hindi and Urdu – a fluency that allowed him to increase his attain to voters by way of social media movies.
Soniya Munshi, affiliate professor in city research and adviser to Asian-American group research at Queens Faculty, informed Al Jazeera that most of these movies labored as dialog starters by way of Bollywood references that span the a long time – from the Seventies onwards – recognisable to many South Asian diasporas of various ages and with totally different pathways to the US.
“I noticed his Hindi/Urdu video transfer from Instagram to textual content chats amongst second-generation South Asians to WhatsApp household threads to discussions about Zohran’s platform for an reasonably priced NYC,” mentioned Munshi, who herself is a second-generation South Asian New Yorker. “These movies opened up an even bigger dialog with buddies, households and communities about our experiences, our situations, our personal hopes for the town we name residence, and so they additionally moved voters to come back out for Mamdani.”
Cultural references and direct messaging
Greater than half of New York Metropolis’s South Asian inhabitants is of Indian descent, however Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities have seen probably the most development over the previous twenty years. South Asians now make up 22.5 % of the town’s Asian inhabitants, most of them immigrants. Mamdani’s marketing campaign supplies – in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali and different languages – spoke on to immigrant New Yorkers concerning the materials points affecting their lives.
“It’s crucial to notice the importance of Mamdani’s movies in Hindi/Urdu and Bangla,” mentioned Munshi. “These two communities are amongst these with the very best ranges of restricted English proficiency households, important staff, and poverty charges of all immigrant teams in NYC … Finally, what made these South Asian language movies so highly effective was the culturally related references mixed with the direct message of his imaginative and prescient and platform.”
Chowdury Md Moshin, 68, a local of Bangladesh who now lives in Jackson Heights, sat in Travers Park on a heat late June day studying a newspaper, his stark white hair and shirt contrasting with the brilliant inexperienced of the swaying timber round him.
A speaker of Bengali or Bangla himself, Moshin appreciated listening to from a mayoral candidate talking a language he understands.
“I feel he can be a very good mayor and can make New York Metropolis cleaner,” mentioned Moshin. “I like him.”
In one of the videos posted through the last push earlier than the Democratic main election, Mamdani demonstrated ranked-choice voting with Council Member Shahana Hanif’s thirty ninth New York Metropolis Council District, utilizing a plate of mishti doi, a candy yoghurt dessert from the Bengal area of the Indian subcontinent.
“His Bangla-language video with Shahana Hanif, the primary Bangladeshi Muslim lady to function metropolis councilperson in NYC, was additionally vital,” mentioned Munshi. “Bangla isn’t a South Asian language Mamdani is fluent in, and we see him making a very good effort to talk with Hanif concerning the election.”
The digital company behind this content material, in addition to Mamdani’s first viral video with over 3.5 million views on X, is known as Melted Solids. The Brooklyn-based collective, based in 2019 by Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, has labored with Mamdani on numerous campaigns since as early as 2021.
In an interview with Adweek, Saslaw spoke to the 2025 main, saying, “I’m [a] marketer and storyteller, and what I assumed was needed and wanted within the political house was the flexibility to talk to common New Yorkers, like utilizing promoting … as a vessel to listen to their considerations.”
Mara Einstein, digital advertising and marketing critic and creator of Hoodwinked: How Entrepreneurs Use the Identical Techniques as Cults, informed Al Jazeera that, “They [Melted Solids] know him, which is why they may produce content material that conveyed his particular voice.”
“They’re additionally not a conventional company,” added Einstein. “What Melted Solids did that was totally different is eliminate the pink, white, and blue color scheme that has dominated political campaigns. Purple and yellow/gold [colours used by Mamdani’s campaign for flyers, signs and branding] is hanging and surprising. The typography harkens again to grocery retailer indicators, giving it a neighbourhood-y, everyman really feel.”
‘I like how he talks’
For a marketing campaign run on affordability and reaching each New Yorker, this evaluation bodes effectively. However finally, consultants say that Mamdani’s social media engagement carried out effectively as a result of his imaginative and prescient and platform have been on the core of all of his content material.
“The social media content material was pleasant to observe, well-produced, and fascinating, however what was most necessary was that it had substance,” mentioned Munshi. “It gave us one thing to speak about that was greater than Mamdani as a person and even his marketing campaign. It activated one thing at a collective stage.”
Exterior the polls in Woodside on election day, Munshi requested an older Spanish-speaking Latina lady whom she deliberate to vote for. The girl reached into her purse, pulled out a worn Working Households Get together flyer, and pointed to Mamdani’s face. “Him,” she mentioned. “I like how he talks.”
“To me, this indicated that Mamdani’s communication wasn’t simply concerning the language he’s talking in,” mentioned Munshi. “However how he used language – clear, easy, targeted, relatable to New Yorkers who’re involved with their on a regular basis wants on this metropolis.”
With 5 months till the final election, Mamdani and Melted Solids nonetheless have work to do as they face off towards incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who’s backed by US President Donald Trump.
But when former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s failed 2025 mayoral bid – backed by $25m raised by the tremendous PAC Repair the Metropolis – is any indication, Einstein mentioned, “No advertising and marketing, regardless of how good it’s, can promote a nasty product. Cuomo is proof of that.”
