To understand the shock upset in NYC's Democratic primary, just look at the Instagram feeds

In March, if you'd told anyone that Zohran Mamdani would beat Andrew Cuomo in the race for New York City mayor, they'd have laughed you out of the room.

Cuomo was leading by 20-30 points in the Democratic primary. He had name recognition, establishment backing, and the kind of political machinery that's supposed to guarantee victory in a city like New York. Mamdani was a relatively unknown state assemblyman with a fraction of the resources.

Yet on Tuesday, Mamdani picked up the Democratic nomination.

What happened? A masterclass in digital-first campaigning that should be required viewing for every aspiring politician, particularly those trying to unseat establishment candidates.

Just look at the Instagram grids

Sometimes the story is right there in the visuals. Look at the Instagram feeds of both candidates during the final weeks of the campaign, and you'll see two completely different approaches to politics – and two very different understandings of how voters make decisions in 2025.

While Cuomo was shouting at his audience to "VOTE, VOTE, VOTE," Mamdani was smiling and chatting with a diverse mix of New Yorkers. Where most of Cuomo's feed was filled with clips from TV appearances or screenshots of media articles, Mamdani's feed was entirely content produced specifically for that platform.

If you look closely at Mamdani's photos and videos, you'll notice something else: he's using a consistent filter that makes him look warm and positive, almost Wes Anderson-esque. It's a small detail that creates a massive cumulative effect.

Tactics that made a difference

Local political analysts with far more context and knowledge than I have already written plenty about the political machinations and demographic trends at play, so I'm not going to attempt to get into that here.

That said - at Topham Guerin, we've worked on more than 25 election campaigns around the world in the last decade, and having faced similar challenges as Mamdani and his team plenty of times before, there were four things that really stood out to me as key to his success.

A unifying and timely message

While Cuomo concentrated on crime – always a safe bet for establishment Democrats – Mamdani focused on something more fundamental: affordability. He called for rent freezes, free buses, and universal childcare.

In a city where housing costs dominate every conversation, this wasn't just good politics. It was smart positioning. Crime matters, but rent is what keeps people awake at night. Mamdani understood which issue would actually drive turnout.

A distinctive brand unlike any other

Inspired by the color of the iconic New York taxi, Mamdani's branding was immediately recognizable and distinctly New York. It stood out sharply against Cuomo's classic American red, white, and blue logo.

This matters more than most campaigns realize. In a world of infinite scroll, you have maybe half a second to register with someone before they move on. Distinctive branding isn't vanity – it's basic information processing.

Carefully curated visual moments

Mamdani shunned the traditional campaign event where politicians speak to voters from a podium. Instead, he chose to pound the pavement, talking to voters one-on-one and using that footage for his social content.

In a deeply Democratic city with diverse demographics, this positioned Mamdani as the "people's champion" and provided a stark contrast to an establishment politician with a controversial record.

Speed of digital execution

Here's the detail that impressed me most: Mamdani's digital team was turning content around so quickly that there would be a video posted within 60 minutes of each visit or event.

For anyone who has worked on a political campaign, you'll know just how insanely impressive that is. Most campaigns take days to get content approved, edited, and published. Mamdani's team was operating in real-time, capturing moments and getting them online while they were still fresh.

This speed created a sense of momentum and authenticity that you simply cannot manufacture in a traditional media strategy. When voters saw Mamdani's content, they were seeing something that had happened that morning, not last week.

Implications for campaigners

This will probably encourage a lot of copycat campaigns – especially on the left – around the world in the coming months. The aesthetics, policies, and specific tactics will have varying degrees of relevance outside of NYC, but the underlying principles are universal.

The traditional advantages of establishment candidates – name recognition, endorsements, media relationships – matter less when voters are consuming content on their phones rather than reading newspapers or watching television news.

What matters more is having a clear strategy, a deep understanding of digital platforms, and knowing how to tell a story in a creative and memorable way.

Mamdani's victory is part of a broader shift in how political campaigns work. We have moved away from broadcast-era tactics – the big speech, the TV ad, the newspaper endorsement – toward something more conversational and immediate.

This doesn't mean traditional media is dead. But it does mean that campaigns that understand how to combine both approaches – digital-native content with broader media strategy – will have a significant advantage over those that don't.

If you have a clear strategy, deep understanding of digital platforms, and know how to tell a story in a creative and memorable way, you can do almost anything. Even speed-run becoming mayor of one of the most important cities in the world.

The establishment is learning this lesson the hard way, one election at a time.