'Dirt Balls' Headline for Stanley Steemer

Wacky pair reveals cleaning blind spots in every home

“One minute, you’ve got an entire grout palace of Italian tile. The next, you’re cleaned out! Not a spore in sight.”

And so it goes for the stars of Stanley Steemer’s latest campaign. They portray “The Dirt Balls”—bits of moldy household detritus livin’ the good life in carpets and air ducts.

They laugh at mops, sprays and vacuums. Only Stanley Steemer’s cleaning service fills their filthy hearts with dread.

The characters “represent the dirt you don’t see,” says George Ellis, co-owner and creative director of Bandolier Media, which developed the campaign “There’s a real gap between what may feel clean and what is actually clean. ‘The Dirt Balls’ brings that to life in a way that’s entertaining and impossible to ignore.”

The cartoonish performances are annoying. But so are real dirt balls. So, the approach feels on point. Strident and weird: how else can actors—in this case Micah Sudduth and Becca Seferian—play crud?

“The first question was what the ‘Dirt Balls’ would look like,” Ellis tells Muse. “Would they have bodies and human heads on top? Faces within the bodies? CGI? After funny conversations with the client, we decided that practical costume builds were the way to go.”

“Then, the costume process began with Royale Film Co., a frequent collaborator. They brought in an art person, Meredith Johns, who does art and makeup for commercials and also creates costumes for cosplay/Comic-con folks.”

“During the costume creation process, we debated types of fur, the ‘bulbosity’ of the Balls and then finally, on set, the makeup, hair and teeth coloring.”

“We were lucky to have great clients who were willing to push the humor and find unique ways to weave in the services,” Ellis says. “It’s always good when we’re able to be on the same page on set with the clients and team. That’s where most of the magic happens.”

The clips bowed a few weeks back on Stanley Steemer’s YouTube channel, with support across social and interactive platforms.

And now, the filthiest BTS shots ever…