23 million video views boost sales at Spectrum Designs of Port Washington

Spectrum Designs, a Port Washington nonprofit, has gone viral after posting a video that’s snagged over 23 million views as well as new customers over the last two months.

Spectrum manufactures custom clothing and apparel as part of a mission to employ Long Islanders with autism. The nonprofit published the social media post in August, and within its first two weeks received 206 new business requests, resulting in the most successful month in Spectrum’s 13-year history.

“The amount of new customers and quote requests has been great,” said Patrick Bardsley, co-founder and chief executive of Spectrum. The business surge has grown the nonprofit’s sales for the year past $5.5 million, its previous annual record set in 2023.

The video, a collection of snippets of current Spectrum employees talking about the importance of steady employment for adults with autism, has reached nearly 1 million views on Instagram alone.

Spectrum plans to see $6.2 million in sales this year.

“This is something marketing teams dream of,” Bardsley said.

Kelli Fisher, the marketing professional behind the viral video, said she made the post as part of her normal social media marketing duties with no expectation that it would garner as much attention as it did.

“We have gained over 100,000 followers in less than two months,” said Fisher, who joined Spectrum five years ago at its now-closed sister operation, Spectrum Bakes.

“We’ve had a quite a few celebrities like the video,” she said.

Across all its social media platforms, the video has gained over 23.5 million views and has been shared and commented on by celebrities including Jennifer Garner, Meghan Trainor, SZA and Ty Pennington.

Spectrum is also in talks to make an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" as a result of its newfound internet fame.

Fisher, 35, of Plainview, said she wanted to create an impromptu video “highlighting as many people who work at Spectrum as possible and explain why Spectrum is so important.”

Fisher is also the mind behind Spectrum’s advertising and TV campaign launched earlier this year. That campaign, inspired by her experiences as an adult with autism, promoted the nonprofit’s custom clothing work while emphasizing the importance of treating autistic adults as individuals and not a monolith.

“Everyone just loves the video, and I’m happy the message is getting across that just because you have a disability doesn’t mean you can’t work and do things,” Fisher said.

The timing of Spectrum’s viral success overlaps with National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) in October. Federally recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, NDEAM is meant to serve as a reminder of the contributions of workers with disabilities, as well as the challenges they face.

Nationwide, around 14% of adults with autism are employed full time, according figures from the National Autism Indicators Report.

Fisher is the first employee with autism to work in a marketing capacity for the design outfit.

“This is a neurodiverse marketing team doing things we’ve never been able to accomplish before,” Bardsley said. “They have a very clear sense of how to communicate our message and of what people want to see.”

“It was a pretty straightforward video, but I think it just captured people’s imaginations,” he said.