Zohran Mamdani’s campaign and subsequent win for New York City mayor last year has become a case study in how politicians can use social media.
At ADWEEK’s Social Media Week, a trio of people behind Mamdani’s social videos—including the creative duo of creative and production agency Melted Solids and Donald Borenstein, director of video at the Zohran for NYC campaign—broke down what made the mayor’s videos break out. Melted Solids is made up of co-founders and executive producers Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw.
Throughout his campaign, Mamdani stuck to his social video strategy instead of treating it as a one-off, said Borenstein. The strategy was to “model and self-advocate things people actually watch, things that reach people on social media but without bending too far from what you want the message to be or how we want to create a message.”
Don’t overthink the message
A core part of Melted Solids’ work with Mamdani during the mayoral race was letting the politician riff a bit in front of the camera, and then later developing content based on what happened while shooting.
“Don’t go in stuck on the deliverables you thought you were going to do—maybe something appears during the day that is its own video,” DiMieri said.
Mamdani was also open to shooting videos in unconventional locations, such as food trucks, to drive home messaging about his campaign. For example, one video focused on “halal-flation” and the rising costs that street vendors have to pay for the permits needed to sell food.
