"The Survivor spot is just one of a handful of fandom-influenced ads that Mamdani's campaign put out in the final weeks of the New York City mayoral race. They were designed not just to reach voters but to meet fan communities in their own worlds. The Mamdani campaign is one of the first to not just cultivate its own fandom but dip into the power of preexisting ones."
"We believed, because of the social nature of this show [ Survivor], that we could convince more than just one person, but we could convince everybody at their watch party," says Eric Stern, a Democratic strategist and senior vice president of the progressive messaging firm Fight Agency, which developed the ad. "It might spark a conversation, and that could lead to a group of people who might otherwise stay at home or vote for someone else to actually become part of the movement."
Zohran Mamdani's campaign released fandom-influenced ads in the final weeks of the New York City mayoral race, including a television spot placing him in a Survivor-style Tribal Council. The ad featured former contestants addressing the camera about voting Andrew Cuomo off Manhattan and aimed to reach fan communities in their own cultural contexts. Fight Agency, a progressive messaging firm, developed the spot to leverage the show's social viewing dynamics and spark conversation at watch parties that could mobilize otherwise disengaged voters. The campaign intentionally tapped preexisting fandoms and translated political stakes into the emotional language and narratives those communities use.
Read at WIRED
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