198. The Attention Advantage: What Zohran Mamdani’s Campaign Can Teach You About Standing Out

What if the real reason your content isn’t landing has nothing to do with the algorithm—and everything to do with how you’re showing up?

In this episode of The Standout Business Show, we break down the attention revolution happening right now—and what expert entrepreneurs can learn from a surprising source: a grassroots political campaign in New York City.

Zohran Mamdani didn’t have a massive budget, party backing, or name recognition. But he crushed his opponent—a former governor—by doing one thing most expert brands aren’t doing: earning attention instead of buying it.

Inside this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why traditional visibility strategies are failing
• How to use short-form video the way it’s meant to work
• The power of platform-native storytelling (and how to apply it to your brand)
• The simplest format you can borrow from Mamdani’s campaign right now
• Why listening is the most underrated marketing strategy today

This isn’t about politics. It’s about learning how attention actually works today—and using that to position your expertise in a way that breaks through the noise.

🎙 Plus, hear the powerful “man-on-the-street” clip that helped turn Mamdani’s campaign into a viral movement—and how you can apply the same principle to your own message.

📍Whether you’re building your authority on LinkedIn or looking for your next high-value client, this episode will help you rethink the way you show up… and how to make people actually care.

Ready to turn your expertise into visibility and demand—without feeding the content machine?

📞 Schedule your FREE “Standout On Video” call here: standoutcall.com

Because when you start showing up with clarity, confidence, and the right content—your ideal clients won't just notice you. They'll choose you.

Thanks for tuning in. If you found this episode helpful, share it with another expert entrepreneur who’s ready to stop blending in.

Episode Transcript

Brad Powell (00:00):
So here's a cool story.
A few weeks ago, I wasscrolling through Instagram and
I wasn't looking for anything inparticular and I stumbled on
this video.
It looked like your typical manon the street interview.
You know the kind where there'sa guy in the street with a
microphone, there's a busysidewalk, there's a lot of
street noise, but this one wasdifferent.

(00:20):
The guy in the video waslistening, like really listening
.
He was asking New Yorkers abouttheir rent, their childcare,
about what they thought, aboutwhat was going on in Gaza, who
they voted for.
This was stuff that's kind ofhard to talk about and it wasn't
until the very end that he saidit.
I'm Zoran Mandani and I'mrunning for mayor and I remember

(00:42):
thinking wait, what?
This wasn't a campaign ad.
This was something reallydifferent.
It felt native to the platform.
It didn't feel like marketing.
Then it made me, and apparentlythousands of other people, stop
and actually pay attention.
Meanwhile, his opponent, who isthis well-known political name

(01:03):
with millions of dollars tospend on ads, he was running all
these ads on television.
What happened next wasn't evenclose.
Madani won.
He won big time, and here's whyI'm telling you this If you're
an expert trying to buildreputation, trying to break
through online, trying to earntrust, when you're not the

(01:24):
biggest name in the room, thisstory matters, because the same
exact tactics that helped ano-name candidate take down a
political juggernaut are thesame tactics you can use in your
content.
Today's story isn't aboutpolitics.
It's about attention and how alittle guy can win.
It's really a perfect David andGoliath story told in 60 second

(01:49):
videos, and today we're goingto break it down how to earn
attention in a world that'stuning you out.
I'm Brad Powell and this is theStandout Business Show, the
podcast for those who want tomake a bigger difference by
showing up differently.
This is episode number four inour current series on ditching

(02:10):
the content machine.
If you missed episodes numberone through three, definitely go
back and check those out.
We covered why posting morewon't make you visible, how your
expertise is already enough andwhy your content isn't building
trust and what to do instead,but today I want to show you a
real-world example of someonewho did everything differently

(02:34):
and broke through.
This episode is for everyexpert entrepreneur who feels
like the little guy going upagainst louder, flashier or more
well-known competitors.
By the end, you'll walk awaywith five specific lessons from
a political campaign that turnedshort-form video into a giant

(02:54):
killer.
So let's get started.
So what we have going on here isa collision between two
attention strategies.
On the one hand, you had theold way.
You've got former GovernorCuomo.
He's got big name recognition.
Everybody knew who he was.
He had all the money he neededto spend on ads, and he did a

(03:16):
lot of traditional media buying.
He literally spent millionsjust blanketing the airwaves and
on the other hand, you had thisunknown guy.
Like nobody knew who Mamdaniwas before he started running
for mayor.
So this was truly a David andGoliath contest, but instead of
a slingshot a hero of our story.

(03:36):
He had a smartphone and he knewhow to use it and guess who won
.

Zohran Mamdani (03:42):
Did you get a chance to vote on Tuesday?
I didn't vote.
And why did you not vote?
Because I don't believe in thesystem anymore and did you get a
chance?
to vote on Tuesday.
Yes, and who did you vote forTrump?
Ah, the million dollar question, trump.
Hillside Avenue in Queens andFordham Road in the Bronx are
two areas that saw the biggestshift towards Trump in last
week's election.
Most of these people areworking families.

(04:04):
They're working one to two,three jobs, and rent is
expensive.
Foods are going up, utilitybills are up and that's your
hope to see a little bit more ofan affordable life.
Absolutely, gaza.
Who should I vote?
Either side, we'll go ahead,send bombs from here to kill my
brothers and sisters.
You know we have a mayor's racecoming up next year and if
there was a candidate talkingabout freezing the rent, making

(04:27):
buses free, making universalchild care a reality are those
things that you'd support?
Absolutely, he'd have my voteall day.
We need child care that isaffordable.
Buses should be free.
The hike in the MetroCards istotally unaffordable.
My name is Zoran Mamdani.
I'm going to be running formayor next year.
Yes, yes, sir, and I'm going tobe running on that platform.

(04:52):
I'm going to vote for you.
Your energy is Thank you.
Thank you.
My energy is getting up toinflation.

Brad Powell (04:55):
Now, as I said, this show isn't about politics.
This is a show about standingout.
So let's break down exactly whythat clip and Mondani's whole
approach worked so well, and howyou can do the same thing even
if you don't have any kind offollowing to start with.
So here's five standout lessonsthat we can take away from this
example.

(05:15):
Number one use familiar formats.
Mondani didn't invent a newgenre when he started making his
videos.
He borrowed from things thatwere already out there.
So in this case, he tooksomething that people already
recognized the man on the streettype of interview and he used
it in his own content.
And the reason this works sowell is because people already

(05:38):
know the format.
It's casual, it's candid, andthe other thing about this is
that it's absolutely authentic.
You see him talking to realpeople and you see him listening
to real people.
None of this is made up.
None of this looks like atypical political campaign ad at

(06:00):
all.
It's just hey, what do youthink about this?
And then getting an honestopinion.
Don't worry so much when you'remaking content about
overproduction.
Stop overthinking your content.
You don't need a lot ofcreative.
You just need something that'sfamiliar and native to the
platform.
Number two listen first andcreate second.

(06:21):
Madani didn't go out like whatnormal politicians do and talk
at people.
He started by asking questionsand then he listened and then he
used what he heard in hiscontent.
This is like market research101.
Go talk to your audience, findout what they're interested in,
find out what they need from you, find out all the things that

(06:42):
you can about them and then takeall of that and make more
content in response.
When you compare this approachto the typical campaign ad, this
was so refreshing, it was sodifferent, it was so distinctive
.
It made people think, oh, thisguy actually cares.
He's actually hearing what wehave to say.

(07:04):
Imagine that your most powerfulcontent wants to act like a
mirror.
You want to reflect the needsof your audience back to them.
Go, turn your next piece ofcontent into a question.
Then use your audience'sanswers as the raw material for

(07:24):
everything else that you produce.
Number three look like youbelong.
How you show up actuallymatters more than what you say.
In this case, ondani, he didn'tfeel like a politician.
He felt like every othercontent creator native to the
feed.
There was no stiff studio set.

(07:45):
There's no like fancy desk withAmerican flags in the
background, which is what mostpolitical people do.
You know all this politicalpolish.
He just got rid of all of thatand he went out on the street
and he just acted like a normalhuman, which is what you can do.
You don't need to quote unquote.
Act like a business.

(08:05):
Instead, you need to show uplike a peer, be the face of your
brand, do something that makesyou recognizable.
Like I show up with my glasseson top of my head, my white hair
, and literally when people seeme on the street, they go oh
yeah, I've seen you, I know you,and this is the response that

(08:26):
you're looking for.
You want people to recognizeyou.
So be yourself, but with a lotof intent and a lot of your
conviction.
Number four gain momentum overperfection.
So using video, using verticalvideo on your phone, can be the

(08:48):
to unforgettable.
You don't need to worry aboutfancy edits.
You don't need to wait forapproval from someone else.
You can just start shippingyour videos as often as you can.
Instead of working on beingpolished, mandani worked on
being present, and the takeawayhere is be willing to show up
scrappy, show up often and showup with your heart.

(09:10):
So your homework is.
Go out there, ask somequestions and then start
publishing, create some small,bold ideas.
These are what I call mic dropmoments, and do it often.
Perfection is so forgettable,but your presence, your presence
is powerful.
So, number five you can't buytrust, you've got to earn it.

(09:34):
You just can't buy attention inthe way that we used to.
The old school marketing is nowfeeling kind of invisible.
This is probably the moststriking contrast of all between
these two campaigns.
Cuomo absolutely carpetbombedthe airwaves with ads and they
were done in a style that mostpeople completely tuned out.
All that ad spend, all those TVads nobody watched that stuff,

(09:58):
you know.
They'd see the ad come up andlike blank right out, whereas
Mondani posted videos withmessaging that mattered to
people.
Cuomo was trying to interruptpeople and Mondani was inviting
them into a movement.
People, and Mondani wasinviting them into a movement, a
movement that they could join.
So your takeaway here is stoptrying to scale before you've

(10:19):
connected.
Remember that right nowattention is earned.
Take all the old schoolmarketing tactics and throw them
out the window.
If you lead with your truth,people will feel the difference
and they'll start carrying yourtorch One of the most
interesting things that happenedwith Mandani's campaign was

(10:40):
that, in addition to the videosthat he made, other people,
ordinary people, picked up thetorch and they started making
videos in response to what hewas doing, because his message
resonated so much that theyliterally wanted to share it.
They wanted to share what theythought about it.

(11:00):
His main message was actuallyreally simple.
It was like hey, what it wouldbe like if we could make this
city affordable enough so thatwe could all live here.
And people are like yeah,that's a good idea.
It's something that resonated,it's something they wanted to
talk about, it's something theywanted to get behind and it's
something they wanted to seehappen.
This is exactly the kind ofresonance that you want to

(11:22):
create with your own messaging.
All right, so here's mylightning round wrap up of what
I think Mandani understood andwhat we can learn from it.
So, number one be findable.
Know how your audience willdiscover you.
Number two use formats thatthey trust.

(11:44):
So find a format that works foryou, borrow it and then own it.
Number three go vertical.
Show up where people actuallyconsume content.
Number four build a visualidentity.
Be recognizable.
Be instantly recognizable.

(12:04):
Number five earn attention.
Don't try to buy it.
Number six, last one ditch theold playbook, start showing up
like a native.
So what does this all mean foryou?
Well, you don't need to postmore, you don't need to spend
more, you don't need to tryharder to be everywhere.

(12:26):
You need to say one thingclearly, with conviction, and do
it often.
You need to listen harder thananyone else in your space and
you need to tell the truth andtell it on camera so people see
your face.
If you want attention today,you don't go looking for it.
You earn it by showing up likesomeone worth listening to.

(12:50):
And if you want help doing that,if you want to turn your lived
experience into the kind ofcontent that builds trust and
gets shared, well, come talk tome, because that's exactly what
I help my clients do with MicDrop Moments.
They show up for one interviewand we turn it into a video
content that connects.
Just go to standoutcallcom andlet's make something that

(13:14):
matters Next week on the show.
Your message isn't boring, it'sjust not sticky.
Yet I'm going to walk youthrough how to make your
audience feel seen in your storyso your message doesn't just
land, it lingers.
And until then, keep showing up, because the right people are

(13:34):
waiting for you.