Cog
Honda2003
Cog is a 2003 two-minute television and cinema commercial for Honda, created by Wieden+Kennedy, London.
The line
Isn't it nice when things just work?
Why it works
Two minutes of Honda Accord parts toppling, rolling and swinging into each other in a flawless Rube Goldberg chain reaction — ending with a finished car rolling off a ramp and the line, "Isn't it nice when things just work?" Shot for real over months of testing (the finished film is two one-minute takes joined invisibly; the legendary "606 takes" figure was a joke from the making-of that the press took literally), it became one of the most talked-about and awarded commercials of its decade. It is studied for engineering-as-message — the ad's own precision is the product claim — and for earned-media economics before YouTube: people sought the film out, emailed it, and wrote news stories about it, multiplying a cinema budget many times over.
Techniques
- Demonstration Accord parts topple and roll into each other in a flawless real-world chain reaction ending with the car, so the ad's own precision proves things just work.
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