How a Real-Life Soldier Dad Inspired This Tear-Inducing Commercial

One real-life military family has inspired a commercial to help those children whose parents are deployed overseas.

Robert Nilson, a navy air traffic controller, took a basic teddy bear and fashioned a battery-powered recorder that played a loving message from him to his young girls.

The people at Duracell found out about his smart invention during a market research visit to the Nilson's home.

"We were basically in the house of this family, and we asked one daughter to show off her favorite toy," the company's brand manager, Ramon Velutini, said. "We were expecting regular toys — remote-control cars and all this — and they came running with this battery-powered bear."

Duracell got permission from the family to create an ad campaign about it, in which a girl — whenever she misses her dad — just has to give her stuffed animal a squeeze to hear his voice saying, "I love you, baby girl."

See one father's loving gift to his daughter come to life in the 90-second video above — just be sure to have a few tissues on hand.