BBDO Marks World Autism Day With Ad Featuring Band-Aid, Campbell Soup and AT&T

To mark World Autism Awareness month, BBDO NY and Autism Speaks have partnered to create a, one time, :60 commercial message which aims to help raise awareness of autism and to encourage parents to look for the early signs of autism because it's been shown early intervention can make a big difference.

The :60 message is actually made up of four, stand-alone, short :15 commercials woven into one story that features the same family as they take a journey through their child's upbringing. It begins with a family visit to a pediatrician, and then is followed by a series of short commercials for BBDO clients like Campbell Soup Company and AT&T Wireless.

As you watch the commercials, you'll notice changes in the four to six year span between each advertiser's spot. The same parents appear in each commercial as the young boy grows up, interacting with his family in everyday situations involving each of these client products.

The last story shows the young man in graduation gear with copy, "You just saw how early diagnosis can make a lifetime of difference. Watch again and learn the signs at www.autismspeaks.org/signs."

The film aired live this morning -- and will air only once -- during CNN's New Day.

In a coda to the to the ads, we realize the boy in the final segment, Reece Brown, was diagnosed with autism when he was young. And the actor who plays his father is his real father. The father talks about how Reece didn't speak for the first five years of his life but can now build actual computers from scratch.