Stéphane Xiberras Dishes the Dirt on Cillit Bang

"Bang! And the dirt is gone!" goes the phrase of former Cillit Bang brand mascot Barry Scott through the 90s, but the annoying character has been ditched in a new ad from BETC Paris that sees a clean-cut mechanic take over with some serious moves.

Set to a catchy 80s soundtrack and blasting away all the connotations attached to cleaning, the brand's first global campaign sees the hero left to a dirty garage before he stylishly wipes away the filth in favour of a spotless working space to his boss's surprise.

The ad is a brilliant new direction for the old school cleaning product and below, BETC CCO and president Stéphane Xiberras, talks about the fresh phase - and face - for the company and why Cleantertainment was the way forward for the brand. 

What was the brief for the new campaign?

Cillit Bang challenged us by asking us to renew the genre completely. The first idea that came to us was that of Cleantertainment, based on the fact that even if we wouldn’t admit it, we sometimes find cleaning rather satisfying. We might even have a little dance and a sing-along while scrubbing away. That was the insight that led to the result.

Did you look at the old Barry Scott ads and did the brand make a conscious decision to move on from that?

Hum.. yes, I know the ads. Barry is not a personal friend of mine, but Barry, if you do read this, thanks for the cool job you’ve done. It’s a shame you’re not as good a dancer as Daniel Cloud Campos, otherwise I would have chosen you buddy, promise.

On a more serious note though, yes the client is well aware that it’s quite a turn. We’re talking about two years of work, tests all over the world. New tests. Storyboards. Hours of casting and of pre-production. So, yes, it’s a conscious decision. It’s Reckitt Benckiser - they don’t mess around!

Tell us about the new hero? He’s quite cool for a cleaner…

Isn’t he? And as if that wasn’t enough he’s a mechanic. Can you imagine? He’s handy, he dances like a God, and he will clean your toilet. You’ll have to marry him. Quick.

And how did you cast the role; was it a lot of dance sessions?

Initially, Daniel Cloud Campos was supposed to just be the choreographer of the film. You have got to know that the guy is a genius. When we tried to cast dancers we just kept saying it’s impossible… when anyone tries to repeat what Cloud just did they’ll go and cry backstage and we will go and hang ourselves.

Cloud has an instinctive dance style, inimitable, for me he’s like Jackson (seriously). It was absolutely amazing to have him on board. On top of that he’s a great guy, intense and lovely. During the rehearsals (I wasn’t there but I’ve seen some photos) it was magical; director Michael Gracey (a choreographer himself) plus Cloud was just something else.

Tell us about choosing the music – how did you arrive at the soundtrack?

The soundtrack is everything. We wanted to make a nod to the musical films from the 80s (Dirty Dancing, Footloose…), to avoid a pretentious humourless film, like a model cleaning his lush apartment with a view over Central Park. It’s an ad, OK, it’s a product demo, all right, but above all it’s a little piece of musical comedy.

And what was the biggest challenge in achieving all the shots?

What makes the film really cool is that the performance is real. There are a couple of cables here and there, but Cloud’s performance is real and live. I’d say the biggest challenge was for Michael to catch Cloud’s energy in every scene.