Finally, a Politician with a Comms Campaign Based on Listening…
Budgets are being slashed and whole creative teams are getting dropped at many of the organisations that I work with. The comforting news is that the staple, expensive, old style of communication is out, and there’s a new, more cost effective, more engaging approach on the scene.
Without dismissing the very real challenges people and organisations are facing, this shake-up across the Aid, Government, and Private sectors is also an opportunity — to radically transform how we communicate with the public. The good news is: the leaner way is now also the more effective one.
This week, in a major upset, fresh-faced Zohran Mamdani beat establishment heavyweight Andrew Cuomo in the primaries to become the Democrats’ mayoral candidate for New York. A campaign built on listening, not shouting. It was cheaper, bolder, and far more memorable.
It’s an ‘I told you so’ week for us at Liike. As political commentator Chris Hayes put it:
‘So many politicians communicate by focusing on what they’re telling you. But what was fascinating about Mamdani’s campaign is that he turned the act of listening into a form of broadcasting.’
We’ve been calling it for a while and now the revolution in political communication is about to begin. Campaigns that put people at the centre, that listen and serve, don’t just feel better — they perform better. They generate more compelling content, more emotional connection, and far less need for expensive TV slots or billboard campaigns.
Here are five things I’ve learned from Mamdani’s masterclass in campaigning:
1. Listening is Messaging
Instead of blitzing audiences with slogans, Mamdani’s team treated listening as a campaign strategy. The approach made supporters feel heard, sharpened the campaign’s resonance and showed dialogue and deliberation as core leadership strengths.
2. Go Deep, Not Wide
Rather than spending millions on mass media, Mamdani’s campaign focused on deeply engaging communities through relational organising and hyperlocal storytelling. A smaller, committed audience that feels ownership beats a larger, passive one.
3. Content as Mobilisation, Not Just Messaging
Every video, reel, and leaflet wasn’t just informative — it carried a call to action. Design your content to move people, not just inform them. Action is the most powerful metric of engagement.
4. Platform Native
Mamdani’s social native campaign leaned into a raw, unvarnished aesthetic — phone-shot videos, earnest voice notes, real-time updates. It made him feel more human, and his message more trustworthy. But he had to have team members fluent in Tiktok to do so.
5. Mimetic Messaging
Your policy points must be relevant, memorable and repeatable. Successful communication is rooted in the art of listening to people, generating relevant, practical policy ideas and distilling them down into simple slogans and phrases: short, sticky and values-driven.
Reflecting on Cuomo’s humiliating loss, Democratic Strategist, Amit Singh Bagga, reflected:
‘The establishment, at this point, is suicidally clinging to a version of power it no longer even has. We have made this choice to not evolve – and if you do not evolve, you will walk your party – and potentially our democracy – up to the brink of extinction.’
The message is clear: if our leaders continue to centre themselves — not the people they serve — public disengagement and political extremism will only grow.
Budgets are being slashed and whole creative teams are getting dropped from many of the organisations that we work with. But we’re hearing from our clients that a lot of the content we’ve produced is outperforming others. We put that down to our people-centred approach.
If you’re looking to engage more deeply, spend less, and communicate better — Liike is here to help.
