Why an Ad Agency Drove a ‘92 Cutlass Into a Boulder Demolition Derby

At this year’s Boulder County Demolition Derby, the crowd was ready for roaring engines, crunching metal, and clouds of dust. What they did not expect was to see an ad executive behind the wheel of a ‘92 Oldsmobile Cutlass wrapped in client logos. That was the entry of Standard Practice, an independent creative agency that decided the best way to prove its philosophy was not through a case study or a deck, but through an actual car crash and lots of them.

The car was christened Traffic Driver, a vehicle that literally carried client brands into a demolition derby. For Standard Practice, the spectacle was meant to prove one simple idea: the best agencies create impact, loudly and unmistakably. Founder Dave Schiff was the one in the driver’s seat. “I was thinking: ‘What was I thinking?’ Specifically, what sequence of decisions led me here, to this seat, and how can I do things different so this never happens again,” Schiff said when asked what was going through his mind as he buckled in.

The Oldsmobile was wrapped with client branding, a bold move considering the setting. Schiff admitted not everyone was fully on board. “One said we used the wrong logo for this kind of placement,” he said. Still, the creative decision delivered on Standard Practice’s intent: to make noise, attract attention, and put brands at the center of a story people would talk about.

If the spectacle was wild, the soundtrack was unexpected. Schiff revealed that he did not go in blasting rock anthems or motivational tracks. “I listened to Windhand, melodic doom metal with haunting female vocals. Not empowering at all. More of a gentle reminder that there’s no hope,” he said.

Schiff has launched Coke Zero, helped Lyft transform into a true competitor to Uber, and rebooted Firefox against Google Chrome. Yet he did not hesitate to put the demolition derby stunt at the very top. “It’s the absolute Apex. My five-year-old daughter cried while it was happening, then ran and jumped into my arms when it was over, like I was Neil Armstrong returning from the moon. None of my children have ever done this after I emerged from a successful presentation,” he said.

Asked if this could be a new model for agencies to follow, Schiff was clear. “I can’t, in good faith, recommend this as a way forward for anyone. But it’s definitely not an approach humans will have to cede to artificial intelligence. In fact, you can’t have any intelligence at all,” he said.

Standard Practice has always leaned into bold moves. Its founders built their reputations by engineering some of the most talked-about campaigns of the past twenty years. They helped Coke Zero achieve the most successful product launch in the brand’s modern history, turned Lyft into a household name and a serious competitor to Uber, and brought Firefox back into the fight against Google Chrome. The demolition derby added an exclamation point to that spirit. By driving into the arena, Standard Practice showed that great agencies do more than participate in culture. They collide with it. The result was loud, unforgettable, and worth celebrating.