Lifetime of Difference
Autism Speaks
Issue 32 | September 2014
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officers David Lubars Greg Hahn Associate Creative Directors Peter Alsante Matthew Zaifert Art Director Jon Kubik Copywriter Adam Noel Director of Integrated Production David Rolfe Senior Integrated Content Producer Darbi Fretwell Director of Digital Operations Clemens Brandt Senior Interactive Producer Tara Toliver
Production Team
Production Company Anonymous Director of Photography Larkin Seiple Interactive Company Undertone Editorial Company Number Six Edit Music Company Beacon Street Studios Music Company SFX Company Sound Lounge
Other Credits
Account Team Kirsten Flanik Mark Mulhern Phil Brolly
Date
April 2014
Background
The earlier autism could be diagnosed, the better the outcome for both the parents and the child. For Autism Awareness Month, Autism Speaks needed a fresh and impactful way to share this information with parents and get them to take action. Most immediately, they wanted parents to go to the Autism Speaks "Signs" page to learn about the early signs of autism.
Idea
Lifetime of Difference launched on April 28th to cap off Autism Awareness Month. Instead of just telling parents that early diagnosis could make a lifetime of difference, the campaign set out to show them exactly what that lifetime of difference could look like.
And it did so by rethinking the way conventional media was used to tell a story. On television, four seemingly unrelated ads from four different brands ran in sequential order during a single commercial block. They revealed the story of a family and their child diagnosed with autism. The difference early diagnosis can make was revealed across the four 'commercials'.
Online, the campaign used behavioral retargeted banner ads (a technology primarily used in retail) in a brand new way. The banner ads showed each sequential chapter of the story as users navigated from site to site. Users were encouraged to view again in full on YouTube.
On YouTube they were met with additional content revealing that the actor who played the graduate has autism in real life and the actor who played his father is his real father. This further proved the message about the importance of early diagnosis.
Results
The Lifetime of Difference story was immediately picked up by the press, helping further spread the message about early diagnosis and raising awareness. Wall Street Journal and Fast Company, as well as a number of industry websites, praised the campaign's innovative use of media to tell a story. After airing only once, Lifetime of Difference earned more than 20 million impressions in less than a week. It has even been adopted as an education tool by autism resource centers.
Our Thoughts
I am a big fan of BBDO New York. The agency may have lost its No.1 spot in the 2013 Directory Big Won rankings but every year for the last three years the agency has produced a broader range of award winning work than any other agency anywhere. At Cannes, BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson gave a ‘Lightning Talk’ at the Google Sandbox, talking about drugs. Well, about the chemical secretions in the brain induced by great advertising. Big dollops of dopamine get released by ideas that make us laugh, oxytocin when we are moved. This is an oxytocin job. It is also creative people doing their damndest to get people to take notice – and doing pretty well since they got Donald Trump and Yoko Ono to tweet about the campaign.
Incidentally, while most CEOs in Cannes were there to talk about business, how encouraging that Robertson came to talk about the work.