Bike Matadors and Censorship Towels Spring From Ad Firm’s Creative Offshoot

WTF?

Thats what several bicyclists in Minneapolis were probably thinking recently as they encountered a fully dressed matador squaring off with them on as they rode down one of the citys many bike paths.

Turns out it was an art project from the Carmichael Collective, which over the past 10 months has created a series of similarly wacky and creative stunts.

Its all about creativity for creativitys sake, says Dave Damman, the founder of the collective, which is comprised of employees from Carmichael Lynch, an advertising firm based in that city.

Back in May we covered a project called Bug Memorials which was one of the collectives first projects and ever since theyve been pushing out new ideas as a way to help employees at the firm get their creative juices flowing.

Damman, who is also the chief creative officer for Carmichael Lynch, says that when staffers participate in the collective he doesnt want them worrying about meeting client needs or tailoring projects to reach a specific audience. He just wants them to have fun and think outside the box.

The mantra for the whole thing is What if? he says.

Like many of the collectives projects, the idea for the Bike Matador just popped into an employees head one day. Damman says Thako Harris was riding his bike to work and thought about how he might spruce up the commute.

If he was doing this with cars he probably would have been run over or at least flipped off, Damman says. But none of the bikers had unfavorable responses.

Other recent projects include the Censorship Towel, Piata Anatomy and Urban Plant Tags.

Originally posted here:
Bike Matadors and Censorship Towels Spring From Ad Firm’s Creative Offshoot