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They took apart two Honda Accords. They made a chain reaction with its parts. But it almost didn't happen — because the idea was rejected at first.   This is the story behind Honda's legendary "Cog" ad, which got global attention in 2003.   Honda’s agency, Wieden+Kennedy, originally pitched the idea to promote the Honda Civic. Honda said no.   Later, it came back in discussions about the Accord. To prove it could work, W+K drew up a complete version of the chain reaction using actual parts from an Accord. Honda greenlit a test. The ad team got to work, sending months’ worth of videos showing their progress. Finally, Honda greenlit the full ad — for a £1m budget. Looking back on it, W+K executive creative director Tony Davidson gives Honda a lot of credit: “You just can’t believe that you were given that time and that openness to prove something,” he told the Guardian. It’s a great lesson for us all. Big ideas often scare us, because they seem wild and uncertain. But what if, sometimes, we give our big ideas TIME and OPENNESS? Encourage experimentation and exploration. We don’t win by settling for the safe, fast ideas. We win by thinking big. And winning takes time. If this post was helpful, please share it and follow Jason Feifer for more. 🚀 Join 70K readers who get my tips and tactics weekly — designed to create major professional breakthroughs: jasonfeifer.com/newsletter