In part 1, I wrote what Zohran Mamdani's win in New York means to me. The crab bucket mentality. The maintenance problem. The toothpaste argument.
But in this post I want to talk about why I'm seeing those exact same patterns play within how brands play. Because the way we think about political competition is identical to how most brands think about market competition. And it's killing both.
The Launch Addiction
Here's what happens in most companies:
Team spends months on a launch. Product, campaign, rebrand, whatever. Big push, big budget, all hands on deck.
It works. Momentum builds. Customers respond.
Then, three months later, leadership asks: "What's next?"
So the team pivots. New initiative, new launch, new "big bet."
Meanwhile, the thing that was working? Slowly dies from neglect.
Nobody got promoted for maintaining something. Launches get you visibility. Maintenance gets you "well what have you done for me lately?"
But here's what I keep telling clients: your competitors aren't maintaining either. They're all chasing the next launch too.
The brand that keeps showing up, keeps refining, keeps improving what already works? They don't maintain position. They pull ahead while everyone else is distracted.
Mamdani understood this. He didn't just campaign, then disappear. He kept showing up. TikToks about policy. Jumping in the ocean in a suit. Making rent policy make sense to people who've never thought about zoning laws.
Maintenance isn't boring. It's compounding.
The Crab Bucket Economy
Most brand strategy meetings sound like this:
"Our competitor launched a loyalty program. We need one too."
"They're targeting Gen Z. We should target Gen Z."
"They're doing influencer marketing. Where's our influencer strategy?"
Everyone fighting over the same customers, same positioning, same "premium but accessible" territory.
Nobody asking: what if we climbed out of the bucket entirely?
I'm working on launching a bodycare startup right now. We could fight in the "sensitive skin" category. Try to out-clinical Cetaphil. Out-luxury La Mer.
Instead, we asked: what if families don't organize products by skin type at all? What if they organize by emotional state?
Not "products for dry skin." Products for when you need to feel grounded. Energized. Reset.
That's not naive. That's pattern recognition. When everyone's fighting over the same territory, the real opportunity is in the territory nobody's claimed.
Mamdani didn't try to beat his opponent at their game. He changed what game they were playing.
The Toothpaste Trap
Every time I pitch a strategic shift, someone says: "But we've spent years building equity in this positioning. Can't put toothpaste back in the tube."
Here's what they're missing: the tube is still open. You're still squeezing.
Every campaign, every product launch, every customer interaction is a choice about direction. The question isn't "can we undo the past?" The question is "where are we squeezing next?"
Most brands keep squeezing in the same direction because changing feels risky. Better to optimize the declining path than risk a new one.
But optimization has a ceiling. You can't 10x by doing 10% better at the same thing.
Mamdani didn't promise to reverse decades of policy. He promised to change direction. To squeeze the toothpaste toward working people instead of continuing to squeeze it toward people who already have six vacation homes.
Strategic direction isn't about reversing time. It's about recognizing when the current path has hit its ceiling.
The Ratchet Effect
Here's the thing nobody wants to hear about brand building: progress isn't permanent.
You don't win market share and then coast. You don't build brand equity and then stop.
Because your competitors aren't stopping. Culture isn't stopping. Customer expectations aren't stopping.
I see this constantly with legacy brands. They built something great 20 years ago. They're still trading on that equity. Wondering why younger customers don't care.
Because they treated success like a ratchet. It only clicks forward, it locks in place.
But markets don't work that way. Brand perception doesn't work that way.
The work never ends. That's not a bug, that's the design.
New York's motto is "Excelsior", ever upward. Not "we made it, let's coast."
Mamdani's win isn't the finish line. It's proof the climb is still possible.
Same with brands. Launch isn't the finish line. It's proof the climb is possible.
Then you keep climbing.
What This Actually Means
If you're in strategy, here's what to take from this:
Stop optimizing dead paths. If your current positioning has hit its ceiling, 10% improvements won't save you. You need new territory.
Maintenance is strategic. The brands winning right now aren't launching more, they're showing up consistently to what's already working.
Zero-sum thinking kills categories. When everyone fights over the same space, the real opportunity is in the space nobody's fighting over yet.
Your competitors are exhausted too. They're playing the same crab bucket game, fighting over the same customers, chasing the same "next big thing."
The brand that recognizes the pattern first, that climbs out of the bucket, that keeps maintaining what works while everyone else is distracted?
That's who wins the next decade.
This is what we do at Between Minds, find patterns others miss and turn them into strategic advantage. I write about this every week in my newsletter. And if you're wrestling with a strategy problem that feels impossible to pin down, contact us. That's usually where the best work starts.
