Charlie Wheelan is a lecturer in public policy at the University of Chicago and a first-time candidate, running to replace Rahm Emanuel in Illinois' 5th Congressional District.  He's an economics expert and the author of Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science and the former Midwest correspondent for The Economist magazine. North Woods' creative and attention-getting work for Wheelan has catapulted him to among the frontrunners in the race.

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Chicago Tribune: "Candidate takes campaign underwater"

Alan Grayson was able to defeat the DCCC-endorsed candidate in the primary and go on to win as a Democrat in this Republican district because of work like this and strong support in the progressive blogosphere.

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Huffington Post: "Obama Needs To Hire Grayson's Ad Agency"

Badly underfunded, and running in a state that hadn't elected a Democratic Senator since the 1930s, Jim Slattery nevertheless managed to get a lot of attention with humorous ads that got a low-profile candidate a lot of attention and that became some of the most viral non-presidential election ads of the 2008 cycle.

For more information: - National Journal: Ad Spotlight

Long before the economy tanked and early in the presidential debate season, there was a lot of discussion about which issues would dominate the 2008 election.  The League of Conservation Voters ensured that the environment remained a top concern with advertising and viral messages like this one.

For more information: The Atlantic "It ain't easy being green"

In an election year that featured very few notable independent expenditure ads, the National Nurses Organizing Committee was unable to simply sit back and watch when John McCain named his running mate.  This parody of music videos ran in swing states and received hundreds of thousands of views on the web.

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USA Today: "Independent groups fire barrages through ads"

National Journal: Ad Spotight

Ned Lamont took on entrenched three-term Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary in 2006 to challenge Lieberman's stance on the Iraq war. Ned's campaign was highly viral, receiving most of his early support from young people and progressives in the blogosphere.

In a poll of political consultants, our ads for Lamont were deemed to be nearly twice as effective as Lieberman's ads, and most of Ned's messages had a robust second life on the web, where they were viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

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The Hill: "Lamont Ads Widely Praised"

"A new kind of political ad incorporates the ironic humour familiar to fans of Jon Stewart"

New York Times: "Scary, Like Funny Scary"

Jewish-cowboy/singer-turned-author Kinky Friedman's insurgent run for governor of Texas was the talk of the country for much of 2005-2006.

As an independent, Kinky had to navigate Texas' insanely complicated ballot access laws and petition his way onto the ballot. Our innovative "KinkyToons" made the case for Kinky's candidacy, helped explain the ballot process, and attracted hundreds of campaign interns and volunteers.

Kinky's campaign quickly went viral, with more than 20,000 friends on Facebook and 34,000 supporters on MySpace.  These supporters helped Kinky collect over 130,000 certified signatures, contributed $2 million to the campaign over the internet, and bought more than $2 million of campaign merchandise from the website.  More than 70% of Kinky's donors were political newcomers who had not contributed to any Texas candidates in the past five years.  

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Internet presence couldn't save Kinky's campaign

Despite being grossly outspent by the opposition, this group was able to cut through the advertising clutter on both the airwaves and the internet; and make its voice heard with an ad that became one of the most-noticed and talked-about in California in 2006.

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San Jose Mercury News: "Ad viewed 16,000 times in less than 48 hours"

LA Times: "...one of the slickest and most engaging political ads in California right now"

North Woods launched the Pew Wilderness Center's Campaign for America's Wilderness with an acclaimed video written by Hollywood screenwriter/director Scott Z. Burns, directed by superstar TV and motion picture producer/director Peter Berg, and featuring a voiceover by actor David Duchovny.  This compelling message was a labor of love for everyone who worked on it, an important cause which reached audiences in all kinds of innovative ways. Crosby Stills & Nash even took the video on concert tour with them and played it before taking the stage.