“Isn’t it nice when things just work?”
In an era of computer-generated images (CGI) and artificial-intelligence graphics, it is fun to look back on the technology of 2003 and the creativity from pre-computer imaginations.
Very impressive for pre-CGI times is this commercial for Honda cars. There is no computer-generated filming in this two-minute commercial — it is all real. It was filmed in two parts because the set wasn’t big enough (you can see the splice by looking at the floor when the muffler starts to roll, at about 56 seconds into the video). This is true, functioning Rube Goldberg machine.
The commercial itself. Two minutes.
Ad agency, Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Oregon.
Directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet. The two-minute commercial consists of just two continuous dolly shots. Over 100 trial shots were done over a period of four days, to get it all working right.
The making of this commercial
From the Wikipedia entry on “The Cog”
The full Wikipedia article with links can be seen here.
“Cog” is a British television and cinema advertisement launched by Honda in 2003 to promote the seventh-generation Accord line of cars. It follows the convention of a Rube Goldberg machine, utilizing a chain of colliding parts taken from a disassembled Accord. Wieden+Kennedy developed a £6 million marketing campaign around “Cog” and its partner pieces, “Sense” and “Everyday”, broadcast later in the year. The piece itself was produced on a budget of £1 million by Partizan Midi-Minuit. Antoine Bardou-Jacquet directed the seven-month production, contracting The Mill to handle post-production.
The 120-second final cut of “Cog” was broadcast on British television on 6 April 2003, during a commercial break in ITV’s coverage of the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The campaign was very successful both critically and financially. Honda’s UK domain saw more web traffic in the 24 hours after “Cog”‘s television début than all but one UK automotive brand received during that entire month. The branded content attached to “Cog” through interactive television was accessed by more than 250,000 people, and 10,000 people followed up with a request for a brochure for the Honda Accord or a DVD copy of the advertisement. The media reaction to the advertisement was equally effusive; The Independent’s Peter York described it as creating “the water-cooler ad conversation of the year”,[3] while Quentin Letts of The Daily Telegraph believed it was “certain to become an advertising legend”.[2]
The Honda Canada Commercial — 19 seconds
A funny take-off of the original “Cog” commerical.
“Only use Honda genuine parts.”